Q 01/05

Merkel became the symbol of which remedy for the eurozone's debt crisis?

A) Stimulus spending

B) Austerity

C) Debt forgiveness

D) Leaving the euro

Answer · why

B) Austerity

Austerity made her the face of the bailouts: as Germany became their biggest paymaster she insisted on budget cuts in return, and protesters in Greece...

Q 02/05

Merkel's trademark gesture, fingertips pressed together in front of her stomach, is known as the Merkel what?

A) Heart

B) Bridge

C) Crown

D) Diamond

Answer · why

D) Diamond

Diamond is the shape her hands make; she said it began as an answer to the question of what to do with her arms, and in 2013 her party put the hands a...

Q 03/05

In 2013, leaked documents suggested which ally's intelligence agency had monitored Merkel's mobile phone?

A) The United Kingdom

B) The United States

C) France

D) The Netherlands

Answer · why

B) The United States

The United States drew a furious personal call from Merkel to its president, and German reporters traced the eavesdropping to a listening post in the ...

Q 04/05

Merkel was born in 1954 in which West German city?

A) Berlin

B) Munich

C) Frankfurt

D) Hamburg

Answer · why

D) Hamburg

Hamburg made her a West German by birth, but only briefly: within months her family moved east, and she grew up in the communist German Democratic Rep...

Q 05/05

What was Merkel's maiden name?

A) Sauer

B) Jentzsch

C) Krause

D) Kasner

Answer · why

D) Kasner

Kasner was her name until 1977, when she married fellow student Ulrich Merkel; the marriage ended in divorce, but she has kept his surname ever since,...