Charlotte Merz
| Charlotte Merz | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1961 Saarland, Germany |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| 👩 Spouse(s) | Friedrich Merz |
Charlotte Merz (born Charlotte Gass; 1961) is a German judge and the director of the Amtsgericht (district court) in Arnsberg. She is the wife of Friedrich Merz, the Chancellor of Germany.
Life
Early life and education
Merz was born Charlotte Gass[1] in 1961 in Saarbrücken, Germany, where she grew up.[2] She is the oldest of five siblings and comes from a family of lawyers; her father and grandfather were already lawyers and her aunt was a judge.[3] After Abiturs, she followed family tradition by beginning her legal training in Bonn.[4]
Career
Since 1994, Merz has worked as a judge in Amtsgericht Arnsberg, the district court of Arnsberg. Her speciality is family law.[5] She was made the director of the court in 2025.[6][7][8] In 2005, she founded the Friedrich und Charlotte Merz Stiftung für Bildung und Ausbildung (English: Friedrich and Charlotte Merz Foundation for Education and Vocational Training) with her husband.[9][10]
Husband's Chancellorship
In 2024 she became part of a scandal when she stopped comedian Lutz van der Horst from doing an interview with her husband for Heute-show on ZDF. The situation caused a stir and Hendrik Zörner, a spokesperson for the Deutscher Journalisten-Verbandes (German Journalists Association) said that the fact that Ms Merz wanted to educate journalists on etiquette was outrageous.[11][12][13] Der Spiegel speculated that her increased appearance was a political tactic to win women's votes for her husband.[14]
In an interview Merz gave in 2025, she states that she wanted to remain in her job even if her husband became Chancellor.[15] Additionally, she said that she found references to her husband in court annoying, but is able to deal with them.[14]
Personal life
In 1980 she met Friedrich Merz at a graduation party in Bonn, and they married in June 1981.[16] The pair have three children; a son and two daughters.[11][17] and live in Arnsberg-Niedereimer.[18] Merz is close friends with Franca Lehfeldt, because of which Merz and her husband were invited to Lehfeldt's wedding to Christian Lindner.[14]
Charlotte Merz is a Protestant and member of the Church synodal executive of the Soest-Arnsberg Church district.[19] Like her husband, she is a member of the CDU.[20]
References
Citations
- ↑ Von Stefenelli (2025): "Name: Charlotte Merz, geborene Gass"
- ↑ Von Stefenelli (2025): "Charlotte Merz wurde 1961 im Saarland geboren und verbrachte dort ihre Kindheit"
- ↑ Von Stefenelli (2025): "Als ältestes von fünf Geschwistern wuchs sie in einer Juristenfamilie auf; sowohl ihr Vater als auch ihr Großvater waren Anwälte, ihre Tante Richterin."
- ↑ Von Stefenelli (2025): "Nach dem Abitur entschied sie sich, der Familientradition zu folgen, und begann ein Jurastudium in Bonn."
- ↑ Von Stefenelli (2025): "In ihrer Funktion als Richterin befasst sie sich hauptsächlich mit familienrechtlichen Angelegenheiten."
- ↑ "Impressum". Arnsberg District Court. Archived from the original on 6 May 2025. Retrieved 6 May 2025. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Charlotte Merz: "Habe vor, mein Leben wie gewohnt weiterzuführen"" [Charlotte Merz: "I intend to continue living my life as usual"]. T-online (in Deutsch). 26 February 2025. Archived from the original on 6 May 2025. Retrieved 6 May 2025. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Von Stefenelli (2025): "Charlotte Merz ist Juristin und bekleidet die Position der Direktorin des Amtsgerichts Arnsberg."
- ↑ "Die Idee" (in Deutsch). Merz Stiftung. Retrieved 8 March 2025.
- ↑ Von Stefenelli (2025): "Gemeinsam gründete das Paar die 'Friedrich und Charlotte Merz-Stiftung für Bildung und Ausbildung'."
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs named:0 - ↑ Auster, Oliver (2024-05-13). "DJV mit Kritik: "Dass Frau Merz Journalisten Benimmregeln beibringt, ist eine Unverschämtheit"". Kölner Stadtanzeiger (in Deutsch). Retrieved 2025-03-08.
- ↑ Von Stefenelli (2025): " 'Dass Frau Merz den Journalisten Benimmregeln beibringen will, ist eine Unverschämtheit', sagte DJV-Sprecher Hendrik Zörner dem 'KSTA'."
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "Wer ist Charlotte Merz?". spiegel.de. 2024-05-13. Retrieved 2025-03-08.
- ↑ ""Habe vor, mein Leben wie gewohnt weiterzuführen": Charlotte Merz über ihre Zukunft". t-online.de (in Deutsch). 2025-02-26. Retrieved 2025-03-08.
- ↑ Von Stefenelli (2025): In Bonn lernte sie 1980 auf einer Examensparty Friedrich Merz kennen. [...] Ein Jahr später, 1981, heirateten sie."
- ↑ Von Stefenelli (2025): "Das Paar bekam insgesamt drei Kinder: einen Sohn und zwei Töchter".
- ↑ "Mit "Kanzler-Boulevard": Wie sich Niedereimer auf Friedrich Merz vorbereitet". wp.de. 2025-03-25. Retrieved 2025-03-09.
- ↑ "Kreissynodalvorstand". Evangelischer Kirchenkreis Soest-Arnsberg. Retrieved 6 May 2025.
- ↑ "Ehefrau des CDU-Chefs: Wer ist Charlotte Merz?". Der Spiegel. 2024-05-13. Retrieved 2025-03-07.
Sources
- Von Stefenelli, Anna (3 March 2025). "Charlotte Merz im Porträt: Ehe mit Friedrich Merz, "heute-show"-Vorfall, Beruf" [Charlotte Merz in portrait: marriage with Friedrich Merz, "heute-show"-scandal, profession]. Watson (in Deutsch). Archived from the original on 6 May 2025. Retrieved 6 May 2025. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help)
External links
This article "Charlotte Merz" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Charlotte Merz. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
