German Chancellor Angela Merkel on October 2, 2020 in Brussels.

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AFP

The strict measures imposed on the Germans to fight the coronavirus pandemic bring back childhood memories in Angela Merkel.

The German Chancellor confided on Friday that they reminded her of life in the Communist GDR, before German reunification just 30 years ago.

"My childhood and my youth were very present in me during this period" of confinement, said the German Chancellor in an interview with the RND media group.

“In March, we had to drastically restrict people's freedoms,” she recalled.

“These were serious restrictions when I had to tell people that they could only walk in the streets with two or between people from the same household, that no demonstrations could take place, that children could not could no longer visit their parents in retirement homes, ”said the manager.

"I longed for freedom"

“In post-war Germany, schools have never been closed for so long,” continued Angela Merkel who, although born in Hamburg, grew up and lived in the GDR until the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. In these times of the new coronavirus pandemic which limits certain movements and demonstrations, Germany discreetly celebrates the 30th anniversary of its reunification on Saturday.

A scientist by training, Angela Merkel, who will celebrate her fifteen years in power at the end of November, began her political career in the wake of the fall of the Wall.

"My origins marked me, for example when I yearned for freedom during my life in the GDR," said the conservative leader.

“Until the fall of the Wall, I would never have believed that, while I was alive, German unity would become a reality,” she added.

When it finally happened, “it was a wonderful experience that taught me that change can be good and that change for the good is possible,” Merkel said.

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