Merkel, the Red footsoldier: German chancellor under fire over Communist links as image of her in uniform is released
Photo found of her as 17-year-old marching with East German officer released as she's forced to play down book which alleges communist past.
https://archive.is/hcbAz
She denies she was close to the Communist rulers in East Germany, where she grew up.
So this 1972 photo of her in military-style uniform has left German Chancellor Angela Merkel ‘not amused’.
Then called Angela Kasner and aged 17, she is shown happily involved in a civil defence exercise under the gaze of an East German officer.
Drills included first aid and preparing for nuclear attack.
All children had to take part if they wanted to go to university, but Mrs Merkel is also alleged to have been a propaganda secretary for the youth movement, the FDJ.
The photo was found by an old schoolfriend, Sonja Felssberg, 58, and handed to a German newspaper.
It was published as Mrs Merkel, who was the subject of austerity protests in Italy at the weekend, tried to play down allegations in a new book that she was much closer to the Communist rulers of the lost Socialist state than she previously admitted to, including holding a post as a propaganda secretary in the youth movement the FDJ.
https://archive.is/VWeNl