Berlin
Angela Merkel was sworn in as German chancellor this week, becoming the first woman and the first person from the former communist East to hold that office. Announcing the results of the parliamentary vote making her chancellor, parliament speaker Norbert Lammert said, “This is a strong signal for many women—and certainly for some men, too.” Merkel’s election has launched a flurry of replacements of official signage. In German, Kanzler, the word for chancellor, becomes Kanzlerin if the officeholder is a woman. That means the names of many government offices and Web site addresses must be changed.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Trump hits Africa, Middle East with new travel banSpeed Read The travel ban bars visitors from 12 countries and restricts entry from seven
-
'The bilateral relationship has eroded'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
June 5 editorial cartoonsCartoons Thursday's political cartoons include a presidential get-out-of-jail-free card, masked ICE agents, and the Tooth Fairy's message for Senator Joni Ernst
