Hundreds of people yesterday besieged the Luxor Palace of Books in the centre of Prague, where former German Chancellor Angela Merkel signed her memoir, entitled ‘Freedom’. At a meeting with the public at Lucerna Palace later that evening, Merkel used her visit to Prague to call for EU unity in the face of global challenges, arguing that individual states would be in a weaker position to face the world than when they act together.
The book-signing event was accompanied by strict security measures. All attendees underwent personal searches, and only visitors to the book signing were allowed in. Merkel arrived with a large security team, accompanied by Martin Vopenka, chairman of the Union of Czech Booksellers and Publishers and owner of the Prah publishing house, which released the book. Also present in the delegation were representatives of the Goethe-Institut in Prague.
Merkel, who has visited Prague in the past for study stays, greeted the onlookers in Czech. In a short speech, she thanked them for the opportunity to present and sign her book. Prague is one of four destinations she chose for presentations of the book. ‘Freedom: Memoirs 1954-2021’ became a bestseller in Germany, selling more than 200,000 copies in its first week of publication.
It was published in Czech at the end of last year. To date, the Czech edition of the book has sold 7,000 copies. According to Vopenka, biographies are among the best-selling books on the domestic market, even though they are often expensive and bulky publications.
For many years, Merkel was a dominant figure in European politics. She led the German government for 16 years, from 2005 to 2021, during which she dealt with the financial and debt crisis, the migration crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine.
Merkel co-wrote the memoir with her long-time collaborator Beate Baumann. In more than 700 pages, she describes her childhood, her adolescence in the totalitarian German Democratic Republic (GDR) and her political career in the Federal Republic of Germany, which led her to the chancellorship. On several pages she also mentions Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic.
According to the German media, however, the book does not include any major revelations and does not contain a great deal of self-criticism. The most quoted passages from the memoirs describe the chancellor’s meetings with top politicians, notably Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, in Germany, the debate about German policy towards Russia, which was largely shaped by Merkel and which has come under scrutiny in light of the invasion of Ukraine, has flared up again since the book’s publication.
Later that evening, hundreds of people came to Lucerna Palace for a 90-minute public debate organized by Respekt magazine. During her comments, Merkel issued a call for EU countries to work together, arguing that individual states would be in a weaker position to face today’s geopolitical challenges.
The former Chancellor acknowledged that critics of the EU often argue that the bloc makes decisions slowly, and that sometimes states have to defer to the majority decision of others, but argued that European cooperation is based on the fact that the resulting agreements benefit everyone. The EU needs to be strong if it wants to assert itself in the world against Russia, China, or during trade negotiations with Donald Trump.
Merkel also discussed the armed conflict in Ukraine, the political situation in Germany, and her reflections on politics from her career. She received a round of applause at the end of the discussion, and she said goodbye in Czech to the audience at the end.
