http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/merkel-had-senior-role-in-communist-party-claims-new-book-29263995.html ngela Merkel has denied claims made in a new book that she played a senior role in the East German communist youth movement.
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The allegations in the book relate to a period when the German chancellor studied for her doctorate and worked as a researcher at the Academy of Sciences in east Berlin.

The book, 'The First Life of Angela M', written by two German journalists, claims that in 1981 – when she was in her late twenties – she became "agitprop" secretary of the academy. This would have made her responsible for promoting communist ideology.

Mrs Merkel said she had never hidden anything about her life in East Germany, although she acknowledged that some things may emerge "because no one has ever asked me about them".

"What is important to me is that I have never hidden anything," she said after attending the screening of an old East German film in Berlin.

"I can only rely on my memory. If other things emerge, one can live with that too."

In the past, Mrs Merkel has said that she was a "cultural official" with the communist youth movement. Like many other young people who grew up in East Germany, Mrs Merkel was a member of the Free German Youth. She has said that she, "politically lived an assimilated life".

Mrs Merkel grew up in East Germany, the daughter of a pastor, and entered politics as communism crumbled in 1989, becoming involved in the democracy movement, Democratic Awakening.

According to the book, Mrs Merkel, who will seek a third term in an election in September, was responsible for Marxist-Leninist education in a unit of the state's youth wing, in a role that went beyond the cultural duties she has previously spoken of.

Honest

Merkel said she had always spoken openly and to the best of her memory.

"I can only fall back on my memories. You just have to accept this . . . if something else turns up, then I can live with it," said the 58-year-old chancellor."

Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for Mrs Merkel, said that she had over the years answered questions about her communist-era past "always openly and always on the basis of her honest memory . . . that stands for itself". (© Daily Telegraph, London)

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