Angela Merkel autobiography book tour

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has begun a series of public appearances to promote her autobiography, ‘Freiheit’. Initial events included a scheduled book signing in Saarbrücken at the Bock & Seip bookstore, which required mandatory ticketing and specific security measures.

Following this, Merkel held a 90-minute reading in Peenemünde, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, for approximately 1,200 people. During her address, she read excerpts from her book and emphasized the need to protect democratic institutions, stating, “If we want to live in freedom, we must defend our democracy against those who threaten it.”

Her remarks were prompted by the significant electoral success of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which recently secured 43.8 percent of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt. Merkel reflected on her political legacy, including the 2015 refugee crisis and the Eurozone crisis, acknowledging that these decisions provided political momentum to the AfD. She urged democratic parties to work together and engage collectively to protect institutions, while cautioning against abandoning core principles—such as European unity, freedom of movement, and human dignity—in an attempt to marginalize the far-right.