German Chancellor Angela Merkel will step down next week after 16 years in office.
On Thursday, December 2, Germany bid an official farewell to its first lady chancellor who has led the country with intelligence and grace through turbulent times.
Please click on the images for a look at the ceremony.
IMAGE: German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks at the defence ministry during the Grand Tattoo (Grosser Zapfenstreich), a ceremonial send-off for her in Berlin.
Photograph: Odd Andersen/Pool/Reuters
IMAGE: Merkel, outgoing Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) Inspector General Eberhard Zorn arrive for the Grosser Zapfenstreich.
Photograph: Odd Andersen/Pool/Reuters
IMAGE: Merkel is escorted by an officer of the Bundeswehr.
Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
IMAGE: Merkel -- who has an PhD in quantum chemistry -- was born in the then East Germany and only entered politics a month after the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989.
Two years later, then Chancellor Helmut Kohl -- an early political mentor -- appointed her minister for women and youth.
Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
IMAGE: Merkel seen here with outgoing Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Bundeswehr Inspector General Eberhard Zorn.
Merkel had wanted Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed her, but AKK -- as she is known in German political circles -- resigned as leader of the Christian Democratic Union party in February 2020 and said she would not contest the chancellor's election.
Photograph: Odd Andersen/Pool/Reuters
IMAGE: In her speech, Merkel said her four terms as chancellor were 'eventful and often very challenging years.'
'They have challenged me politically and humanly and, at the same time, they were also fulfilling.'
Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
IMAGE: A Bundeswehr band performs at the ceremony.
As Britain's The Guardian newspaper noted: 'The military band played three songs chosen by Merkel: the Christian hymn Großer Gott, wir loben Dich (Holy God, we praise thy name), Hildegard Knef's chanson Für mich soll's rote Rosen regnen (It should rain red roses for me), Nina Hagen's Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen (You forgot the colour film) -- the last pick an GDR pop hit of the 1970s that pays tribute to Merkel's East German upbringing in a way she has rarely done while in office.'
Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
IMAGE: Merkel holds a rose at the end of the Grosser Zapfenstreich.
Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
IMAGE: Next week, Merkel will leave the chancellery in Berlin after her successor Olaf Scholz is sworn in as chancellor.
Photograph: Odd Andersen/Pool/Reuters
IMAGE: Merkel suffers from an undisclosed health condition which prevented her from standing for the national anthem at Rashtrapati Bhavan a few years ago. German chancellors usually fade away from the international arena after they leave office. At 67, Angela Merkel is too young to retire and one can expect world leaders to request her from time to time to use her enormous influence to mediate in global disputes.
Photograph: Odd Andersen/Pool/Reuters
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
