Looked up Merkel and found a couple of interesting things: She was a pator's kid in East Germany, and she keeps a portrait of Catherine the Great on her office wall.
pator=pastor's
If I recall correctly, back during the startup to the war, a German legislator made a comment comparing Bush to Hitler and we here at FR, among other concerned Americans, let the German government/embassies know they were, shall we say, completely out of line.
Again, if I recall correctly, Merkel spoke up quite eloquently in Bush's defense at that time, and also condemned as ignorant anyone who lightly used Hitler's name and legacy.