Angela Merkel to Publish New Political Memoir Freedom: 'Without Democracy, There Is No Freedom'

Angela Merkel is looking back on her political career in a new book.

Per a statement shared by publisher St. Martin’s Press, a memoir from the former Chancellor of Germany, Freedom, is due to hit shelves in November.

The book, written with Merkel’s longtime political advisor Beate Baumann, will see the former Chancellor reflecting on her tenure as the first woman in Germany’s most influential office, as well as her life in the German Democratic Republic and in reunited Germany.

“What does freedom mean to me? This question has occupied me my entire life,” Merkel said in a statement. “Of course, politically, because freedom needs democratic conditions; without democracy, there is no freedom, no rule of law, no protection of human rights.”

“But this question also occupies me on another level,” she continued. “Freedom, for me, is finding out where my own limits are and pushing myself to those limits. Freedom, for me, is to never stop learning, to never stand still, to continue moving forward, even after leaving politics.”

Merkel's book will cover her personal and political life spanning her childhood and studies in the GDR, as well as her career beginnings in 1989, in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall. She will also share insight learned from conversations with impactful figures and her thoughts on significant turning points in German, European and international affairs.

Merkel ended her active political career in 2021, after serving as the Chancellor of Germany for 16 years, beginning in 2005. Prior to taking office, Merkel served as the Federal Minister for Women and Youth from 1991 to 1994, Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety from 1994 to 1998 and as the leader of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany from 2000 to 2018.

The book, according to the publisher, offers “unique insight into the inner workings of power – and is a compelling plea for freedom.”

"Angela Merkel is one of the most important leaders of our lifetime,” says St. Martin’s Press Publisher and President Jennifer Enderlin. “With democracy receding around the world, the invaluable lessons, deep insight and unwavering advocacy for freedom she shares in her book are more important now than ever."

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Freedom will be published on Nov. 26 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.