Good News for Germany -- Pastor's Daughter, a Quantum Chemistry Researcher, Is First Woman to be Nominated to Major German Political Party

Teresa Neumann : Jun 5, 2005
AP-NewsMax

Newsmax reports that for the first time in history, a woman has been nominated by a major political party in Germany to lead the country. She will be a prime challenger to Germany's current Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder.

Although Angela Merkel, now 50, was born in Hamburg, West Germany, her Protestant minister father moved the family to East Germany during communism's grip on Eastern Europe when she was 3 years old. At the age of 35, with a career as a scientific researcher in quantum chemistry at an East German scientific institute, she decided to join a pro-democracy political group as communism was collapsing.

She joined the Christian Democrats in August 1990 and was elected to parliament later that year. In 1991, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl appointed her minister for women.

Polls have shown a strong lead for Merkel's conservatives over Schroeder's Social Democrats, according to the NewsMax report, and a survey last week showed Schroeder losing his edge in personal popularity over Merkel.