“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. 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.”
