By Athena Papakosta

Berlin seems to be enchanted by it book of its 736 pages Angela Merkel“Freedom”. Thirty-five thousand copies were sold in the first 24 hours of its release alone. The publication of the book, writes the British Guardian, was timed not only just in time for the holidays, but also just three weeks after the collapse of the first government in the post-Merkel era.

For just 23-year-old economics student Finn, the five-hour wait to see the former German chancellor in person and get her hands on her book was worth it. “I couldn’t believe I had the chance to stand next to her,” he told reporters. Angela Merkel wearing one of her trademark lilac-hued jackets may have said very little to him, but she did sign three copies for him.

Selfies were forbidden, while there was no possibility for more personal dedications. The former chancellor worked hard to sign as many copies as possible within 90 minutes.

A sales assistant was helping her by handing her book open to the title page, while hundreds waited patiently in a block-long line.

“We grew up with Merkel. It is about such a familiar person to us, as he is Ronaldo or the Britney Spearsand even more,” said a group of women under 30 who left work during the scheduled break to buy a copy of her book signed by Angela Merkel herself.

On Tuesday afternoon, her voice familiar to all Germans filled the Deutsches Theater, writes The Guardian, her calm tone seeming to lull the audience, as happens when a loved one reads a child a fairy tale before sleep

“How is it possible that a woman who has lived until the age of 35 in the former communist German Democratic Republic is allowed to take the most powerful position the Federal Republic of Germany has to offer, and hold it for 16 years? How is it possible that she herself can leave on her own terms without having to resign or be voted against halfway through her term?” Merkel asked, for the British newspaper to comment that the specific second question, without a doubt, poses daily to himself her successor, Olaf Solz.

For the parliamentary editor of the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, what those inside the theater experienced seemed like a real moment of comfort. It was, he said, a pleasant welcome compared to everything happening outside the theater “from the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East to the collapse of the country’s government.”

Others, commenting online on a live blog where she broadcast minute by minute the former chancellor’s speech, emphasized that “listening to her talk about her life in politics takes you back to a time when everything was more or less okay.”

But she herself has the opposite opinion. “This book should not give the impression that by giving up power, I left ideal Germany behind.”

Of course, there are also its critics. In the days since the release of her book, Angela Merkel has come under fire for her role in today’s crises, such as Germany’s dependence on Russian gas, its very close relationship with the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, but also for its decision to open the country’s borders in 2015 and to welcome refugees from Syria.

However, Merkel insists and seems confident in her opinion that she always decided and acted in the best interest of Germany and Europe, turning a blind eye to those who say that “she was the best that Germany has ever exported. A 16-year success story that they miss.”

(Source: The Guardian)