I didn’t know that. I just looked at several biographies and I only see that she worked at an academy of science.
From Breitbart:
"The longitudinal interest by the US in all things Merkel may be informed by her past. She was a citizen of East Germany before reunification, and her personal history has long been controversial."
One Washington foreign policy expert, who did not wish to be named, this week described Merkel to Breitbart London as "a former member of the East German Communist Party who functioned as a mid-level propaganda commissar for the Free German Youth, that is, the young Communists."
"She and the then-KGB operative Putin, who is fluent in German, were active in East Germany at the same time. Whether they met or worked together, I don't know, but they were both in the same line of work."
In April Cliff Kincaid, a director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism, wrote "Merkel was known to be suspiciously pro-Russian when she ran for high office in Germany but that her political party, the Christian Democrats, nominated her anyway."
Kincaid notes that Merkel "grew up in the formerly communist East Germany and spent 35 years of her life under the dictatorship."
Germany's increasing dependence on Russian energy imports "is related to Merkel's decision, after the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, to phase out Germany's nuclear energy program."
Kincaid refers to a book by Günther Lachmann and Ralf Georg Reuth called The First Life of Angela M. He says the book suggests "that she had deeper ties to the communist regime than previously known or acknowledged."
"She has admitted joining the Free German Youth, the communist youth organisation, and a photo has surfaced showing her in a communist uniform. But the book argues that she hid her role in the youth group as secretary for agitation and propaganda, instead depicting herself as someone engaged in 'cultural' affairs."
"One of Merkel's defenders said she 'couldn’t remember whether she was involved in agitation and propaganda.'"
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/07/03/How-close-was-Young-Communist-Merkel-to-East-German-regime-Americans-want-to-know From AIM:
"Analyst J.R. Nyquist says Merkel was known to be suspiciously pro-Russian when she ran for high office in Germany but that her political party, the Christian Democrats, nominated her anyway, “and now Germany is more dependent on Russian natural gas than ever before.” Germany’s so-called “unique relationship with Russia” means that the country gets 36 percent of its natural gas imports and 39 percent of its oil imports from Russia."
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/the-nsa-glenn-greenwald-and-angela-merkel/