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»For Angela«: First grader Angela with the former chancellor's autograph card
Photo: Christoph Reichwein / dpa
School cone, satchel – and a photo of the ex-Chancellor: For six-year-old Angela, the beginning of her school days was pretty exciting.
Shortly before she started school in Cologne, she received an autograph card from her namesake, Angela Merkel, along with a dedication.
"For Angela," it said.
Signed by Angela.
The reason: Little Angela and Merkel have a special story in common.
The six-year-old was born in Cologne at the end of 2015, as her parents report – shortly after the family fled Syria.
Out of gratitude for the refugee policy, the daughter was named after the Chancellor, says Father Ezzat.
'She's helped a lot of people.
She helped us,” he explains.
Out of respect for the chancellor, a number of refugee families from Syria, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Nigeria and Iraq gave their children born in Germany the first name Angela.
Or Merkel.
Or both together .
The contact to Merkel's office came about through a couple of friends who have been supporting the family on a voluntary basis for years.
The office confirmed that the card had been sent.
Little Angela now goes to school with the good wishes of the once most powerful woman in the world on her back.
If you ask her if tall Angela is nice, she says: »Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee from.
Although she can already write something: her first name.
sun/dpa
