The memoirs of the German former chancellor, entitled “Freedom. Memoirs 1954-2021”, will be published at the end of November, three years after the end of her 16-year tenure, her publisher announced today.

Angela Merkel, who led the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), overcame a series of crises during her tenure, including the large influx of migrants into Europe in 2015 and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The former chancellor co-authored the book with her longtime political adviser Beate Baumann.

According to the publishing house Kiepenheuer & Witsch, the book will cover Merkel’s life in the two German states, 35 years in communist East Germany and 35 years in reunified Germany.

In the press release, Merkel who was born in Hamburg in 1954 but moved to East Germany with her family shortly after, it is stated that the question of freedom, on a political and personal level, preoccupied her throughout her life.

“Without democracy there is no freedom, no constitutional state, no protection of human rights,” she says.

On a personal level, he adds, freedom means “not stopping learning, not having to stand still, but being able to move forward, even when you leave politics.”

The book will be released in more than 30 countries, the publishing house announced.

Merkel was at the helm of Europe’s largest economy for 16 years between 2005 and 2021. She was also the first woman to become Germany’s chancellor.