Former Chancellor "Angela Merkel" received Germany's highest Order of Merit on Monday (17th April 2023).
* The Grand Cross award was handed to her by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
* The award has only been given twice before, to former chancellors Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl. All three former leaders belong to the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
* The Order of Merit entails no financial reward.
* Merkel led Germany from 2005 to 2021, totaling four terms in office. She did not seek a fifth term.
* She was the first woman to take the post of chancellor and the first German head of government to have grown up in socialist East Germany..
Source : DW