'Cover Girl' chancellor: Angela Merkel in the press
On magazine cover pages she has been compared to Hitler, a dominatrix — but also Mother Theresa. Here's a selection of covers from the international press.
Euro branding iron or whip?
In 2011, in the midst of the euro crisis, the Spanish satirical magazine "El Jueves" portrays the German chancellor as a tough dominatrix. "(Euro) branding iron or whip?" she asks Spain's head of government, Mariano Rajoy. "It depends," he whimpers back. With the cartoon, the magazine wanted to highlight the very strict conditions via which Merkel would grant Spain financial aid.
Austerity Hitler
Alongside Spain, Greece also suffered a spiraling debt crisis and would not have survived without massive loans it could not initially pay back. Angela Merkel had promised substantial aid, but was demanding tough austerity measures in return. Greek newspapers, such as the daily "Democracy" on February 9, 2012, draw parallels to the German occupation in World War II.
Merkel as a concentration camp inmate
A different link between Merkel and the Nazi regime landed on a Polish magazine cover in 2013, when she was depicted as a concentration camp inmate in the right-wing weekly magazine "Uwazam Rze." The image referred to the ZDF documentary series, "Our Mothers, Our Fathers," which accused Germany of distorting the history of the war, especially in its portrayal of the Polish Home Army.
Poker face in Peking
Merkel has often been portrayed as a steely, uncompromising and resolute leader. "Poker Face" reads the title headline in this Chinese magazine from December 2011, which draws on the chancellor's renown as a political ice queen. It appeared shortly before Merkel's state visit to China, where she was discussing China's role in helping to stabilize the euro zone with Premier Wen Jiabao.
The Terminator
The image of the ruthless negotiator morphed into a political assassin in the June 2012 issue of the "New Statesman." Opposing Merkel's austerity policies that it claimed would push Europe into a new Depression, the magazine portrayed the chancellor as a "Terminator"-like killing machine. According to the cover story, Merkel was "the most dangerous" German leader since Adolf Hitler.
Mother Theresa
In 2015, Angela Merkel's image abruptly changed captured here by "Der Spiegel." After Hungary refused to take in Syrian civil war refugees and a humanitarian catastrophe threatened on Europe's borders, Merkel decided to allow asylum seekers to enter Germany. Her slogan "we can do it!" went down in history as a saint-like humanitarian gesture in the midst of an unprecedented migrant crisis.
Chancellor of the free world
"Time" magazine named Angela Merkel 2015 Person of the Year, praising her "as the chancellor of the free world." In the wake of opening German borders to refugees, the magazine praised Merkel for "using her mercy like a weapon." The cover painting by Northern Irish artist Colin Davidson aimed to capture "a bit of the Chancellor's dignity, compassion and humanity," the artist said.
"Controlling" Poland
Global praise for Merkel was not replicated by Polish media that opposed her open-door immigration policy. Running the headline, "They want to control Poland again," the weekly magazine "Wprost" again compared Merkel to Hitler. The image of the chancellor surrounded by EU representatives such as ex-Commission President Jean-Claude Junker, alluded to a historical photo of Hitler with his entourage.
The end of an era
After 16 years, Merkel has called time on her epochal reign as German chancellor. Despite the harsh portrayals of the leader in the media, much is already being written about her defining leadership. The eulogies include a biography of Merkel by Ursula Weidenfeld with the subhead, "portrait of an epoch." Who follows in her footsteps will be known after the federal elections on September 26.