The Legend of Paul and Paula
Anyone for The Legend of Paul and Paula, Angela Merkel’s favourite film? At least that’s what the German chancellor (as she was at the time) told an audience at a 2013 screening. Coming out in 1973 when Merkel was 18, it caught the young Merkel at an impressionable age. But she wasn’t alone. The Legend of Paul and Paula is also the most popular film in the entirety of the existence of the German Democratic Republic, where Merkel grew up behind the Iron Curtain. Hugely controversial, it wouldn’t have made it onto the screen at all without the personal blessing of Erich Honecker, East Germany’s boss at the time. Only two years into … Read more