Angela Merkel

Thousands celebrate the announcement of Germany's unconditional surrender to the Allies in World War II, on May 7, 1945, at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on VE Day. (AP Photo/File)

AP PHOTOS: How bitter wartime enemies France and Germany built a friendship that underpins the EU

His partner in reconciliation was Konrad Adenauer, who as West Germany’s first chancellor led its recovery from the Nazi disaster. Adenauer had himself been one of Nazism’s victims, spending several months in the hands of its murderous Gestapo.

CORRECTS THE DATE - Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives at the Vnukovo airport in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 7, 2025, ahead of celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany during the World War II. (Grigory Sysoev/RIA Novosti via AP)

Russia hosts world leaders for the 80th anniversary of its defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II

Friedrich Merz waits for the beginning of a session where he is supposed to be elected new Chancellor in the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Conservative leader Merz overcomes historic defeat to become Germany’s chancellor

Alice Weidel, co-leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), speaks during the election party at the party's headquarters in Berlin Germany, Feb. 23, 2025. (Soeren Stache/DPA via AP, Pool, File)

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Alternative for Germany is listed as a ‘right-wing extremist’ party by domestic intelligence agency

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How Putin uses USSR’s victory in World War II to rally support

Hardly any other country marks the end of World War II with the same fanfare and fervor as Russia, for which the victory over Nazi Germany 80 years ago remains a source of immense pride and a defining moment of history. Victory Day, celebrated on May 9, is Russia’s most important secular holiday, reflecting its wartime sacrifice.

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Who is Friedrich Merz, the man who has been elected Germany’s next chancellor?

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FILE -Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), left, and Friedrich Merz, right, leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), are pictured in tv studio ahead of a debate in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 19, 2025. (Fabrizio Bensch/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Center-left party approves German coalition deal, paving the way for Merz to be elected chancellor

Friedrich Merz, CDU candidate for chancellor and CDU federal chairman, attends the 37th federal party conference in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Who is Friedrich Merz, the man who has been elected Germany’s next chancellor?

Julia Kloeckner, right, talks to CDU leader Friedrich Metz after being elected new Parliament President during the constituent session of the newly elected German Parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

German parliament elects an ex-minister as speaker as it opens a potentially confrontational term

White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks speaks with reporters at the White House, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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Former Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel delivers the WTO Presidential Lecture on Friday, March 7, 2025 at the WTO's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Jamey Keaten)

World Trade Organization chief says US concerns on tariffs need to be heard

Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union, CDU, speaks to media prior to a faction meeting of the Christian Union party's lawmaker at the parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

German election winner Merz and center-left rivals start sounding out a possible coalition

Friedrich Merz, right, member of the German Christian Democratic Party, arrives for a press conference in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

Who is Friedrich Merz, the man on course to take Germany’s top job after election?

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz waves to applause after giving a speech at a special party convention in Berlin, Germany, Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

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Leader of far right AfD Alice Weidel waves a German flag at the AfD party headquarters in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, after the German national election. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

A far-right party saw a historic surge in support in Germany’s election. Here’s what to know

People gather to take part in the demonstration against right-wing extremism, in Hanover, Germany, Saturday Feb. 8, 2025. (Moritz Frankenberg/dpa via AP)

At least 200,000 protesters rally in Munich against far-right AfD ahead of German election

Friedrich Merz, CDU candidate for chancellor and CDU federal chairman speaks at the 37th federal party conference of the CDU in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Feb.3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Front-runner in German election says his party will ‘never’ work with the far right

People holding signs stand in front of the Reichstag in Berlin during a demonstration on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa via AP)

Protesters rally against German party leader who pushed migration proposal backed by far-right

Horst Koehler, Personal Envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations to the parties to the conflict in Western Sahara, arrives for a round table on Western Sahara at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Dec. 05, 2018. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP, File)

Former German President Horst Köhler dies at 81

Friedrich Merz, German opposition leader and chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, speaks during a session of the German parliament 'Bundestag' in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

German opposition’s migration bill narrowly defeated amid controversy over far-right support

FILE -Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech during a reception of the North Rhine-Westphalian Christian Democratic Union, CDU, in Duesseldorf, Germany, Jan. 18, 2025, ahead of the federal elections in February. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

Merkel criticizes German front-runner Merz over migration vote with far-right support

German opposition leader and Christian Union parties floor leader Friedrich Merz speaks at a debate about migration at the German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

German parliament backs election front-runner’s call for tough border rules with far-right support

Numerous candles are placed in Aschaffenburg, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025 following the fatal attack in a park. (Daniel Vogl/dpa via AP)

Scholz’s challenger vows tough border rules as attack puts migration in German election spotlight

President-elect Donald Trump smiles after a fireworks show at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

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Alice Weidel, parliamentary group leader, party chairwoman and candidate for chancellor of the AfD, prepares for a live X interview with U.S. billionaire Elon Musk in her office in the Jakob Kaiser House in Berlin, on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/Pool Photo via AP)

Musk uses X livestream to amplify German far-right leader’s views ahead of an election

French satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo" editor in chief Gerard Biard, center left, and publishing director Laurent Sourisseau, known as "Riss", attend a commemoration marking 10 years since an Islamist attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper and the Hypercacher jewish supermarket, outside the weekly's former offices in Paris Tuesday Jan. 7, 2025. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP)

France marks 10 years since deadly Charlie Hebdo attack

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier announces the decision to dissolve the German Bundestag and schedules a new election for February 23 next year, in Berlin, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (S'ren Stache/dpa via AP)

Germany’s president dissolves parliament, sets national election for Feb. 23

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during a plenary session at the German parliament Bundestag where he faces a vote of confidence, Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Germany’s Scholz loses a confidence vote, setting up an early election in February

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrives for the cabinet meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Scholz sets Germany on course for an early election as he requests a confidence vote next week

Anas Modamani, 27 a Syrian refugee in Germany, shows his famous selfie with German Chancellor Angela Merkel he took after his arrival in the country, in a Syrian restaurant in Berlin, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Syrians in Germany worried by some politicians’ eagerness for them to go home after Assad’s fall

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for the presentation of her memories in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. Book title reads "Freedom". (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Germany’s Merkel recalls Putin’s ‘power games’ and contrasting US presidents in her memoirs

FILE - A European flag waves in front of the Reichstag building with the inscription 'Dem deutschen Volke' ('To The German People') in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012. German politics are in a disgruntled, volatile state as the country's voters prepare to fill 96 of the 720 seats at the European Parliament on June 9, the biggest single national contingent in the 27-nation European Union. It's the first nationwide vote since center-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz took power in late 2021. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

European election tests an unpopular government and a scandal-hit far-right party in Germany

FILE - German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, talks to her office manager Beate Baumann, left, prior to a cabinet meeting as part of a two-day retreat of the German government in Meseberg north of Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 25, 2016. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel's memoirs will be released in late November, nearly three years after the end of her 16-year tenure at the helm of one of Europe's biggest powers, her publisher said Monday, May 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

Memoirs of former German leader Angela Merkel, titled ‘Freedom,’ will be published in November

FILE - A Eurofighter from the German Air Force Weapons School takes off for an exercise in Large, Germany, Friday, April 30, 2021. The German government has approved the export of air-defense missiles to Saudi Arabia, underlining a softening of its hard line of recent years toward arms exports to the kingdom. News of the approval comes after the foreign minister said on Sunday that Germany is open to delivering more Eurofighter jets, made by a multinational consortium in which Berlin is involved, to Saudi Arabia. (Bernd Wuestneck/dpa via AP, File)

Germany approves the export of air-defense missiles to Saudi Arabia, underlining a softer approach

FILE - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble attends a meeting of EU finance ministers at the EU Council building in Luxembourg on Friday, June 16, 2017. Wolfgang Schaeuble, who helped negotiate German reunification in 1990 and as finance minister was a central figure in the austerity-heavy effort to drag Europe out of its debt crisis more than two decades later, has died on Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. He was 81. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

Wolfgang Schaeuble, German elder statesman and finance minister during euro debt crisis, dies at 81

Poland's opposition leader and former prime minister, Donald Tusk, left, and his Civic Platform member, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, right, flash victory signs during an election campaign rally in Otwock, Poland, on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. Tusk is leading a march in Warsaw on Sunday aimed at mobilizing supporters in his against-the-odds battle to unseat the right-wing government in the Oct. 15 parliamentary election. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk seeks to boost his election chances with a rally in Warsaw