Rebel Girls Lead: 20 Tales of Extraordinary Women

Rebel Girls Lead: 20 Tales of Extraordinary Women — page 3
Born July 17 1954 ANGELA MERKEL CHANCELLOR Once upon a time in Templin Germany there lived a seven her father’s sermon in church when her mother started to cry year-old girl called Angela One Sunday she was listening to What’s the matter Angela asked They are going to build a wall her mother said They want to seal off the border between East Germany and West Germany Angela was stunned Why would they build a wall she thought People should be free to go wherever they like Not only would East Germans be stopped from going to the West but they would be barred from listening to the news coming from the other side Every day Angela would hide in the school washroom with a little radio and try to catch a station from the West It was illegal to do this but she didn’t care she wanted to know what was happening to her country When Angela grew up she studied quantum chemistry and wanted to become a university professor The secret police told her that she would be promoted only if she spied for them Angela refused and she never became a professor She was working as a researcher in a lab when the Berlin Wall was demolished She called her mom and said I think we’re free to go to the West Indeed they were Angela eventually became chancellor of Germany a determined leader who knew the pain walls could cause and never wanted her people to be divided again GERMANY 1