Merkel describes her visit to Transcaucasia in 1983 as "unforgettable”

In her “Freedom: Memoirs 1954-2021” Angela Merkel writes that in 1983, together with friends she “backpacked around Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan” and it was an “unforgettable tour”.

“Back then, I was like a sponge, absorbing anything that could broaden my horizons beyond East Germany, even if this curiosity and thirst for knowledge did not necessarily help me get my doctorate finished quickly,” Merkel writes.

The ex-chancellor does not reveal any other details of her 1983 visit to Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan in her book.

In November 2019, the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper published an interview with the chancellor, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In it, Merkel spoke in particular about her feelings during her first visit to the Federal Republic of Germany.

“I slept alone in a hotel and wondered whether I, a woman traveling alone, could sleep in a West German hotel without fear. This was really a problem for me, although I had already been to Romania or Armenia, where it was definitely not safer,” Merkel said at the time.