Amazon’s service in Germany reportedly blocked users from submitting reviews on former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s memoirs amid supposed “unusual review activity”.
Merkel, who dominated German and European politics for 16 years, released her autobiography Freedom: Memories 1954 – 2021 last week, however, users in Germany have reported not being free to give their thoughts on the memoirs.
According to the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, those attempting in Germany to submit a review to the book on Amazon were greeted with the message: “Unfortunately, we cannot accept reviews of this item. This product has limitations on submitting reviews. This can be for a variety of reasons, such as unusual review activity.”
The paper reported that speculation surrounding the move pointed to the relatively low ratings the book from the former German leader received on the website, with an average of 3.4 stars and a significant number of one star reviews.
A one star review cited by the paper stated: “’Freedom’ is ultimately a book for a small elite who want to feel confirmed in Merkel’s political decisions. For everyone who hoped for an honest assessment of the Merkel years, all that remains is disillusionment. This work is not a contribution to reconciliation or clarification, but an attempt to cement an all too one-sided legacy.”
However, a five-star review, which the paper claimed was the most frequently rated by other users stated: “I advise anyone who is interested in Angela Merkel as a person to read this book. Because even if we all think we know them, we don’t really and I think it’s definitely worth reading.”
While Merkel was one of the more popular political figures during her time in office, from 2005 to 2021, her legacy has come under increasing scrutiny following her departure from public life, particularly over her decision in 2015 to open the gates to mass migration from the Middle East and Africa sparking the European Migrant Crisis.
Despite even her leftist successor Olaf Scholz recently clamping down on migration amid rising public anger over the consequences of open borders, notably crime and terrorism, Merkel has refused to admit fault, and has continued to argue in favour of more mass migration into Germany, writing in her book that “a lack of manpower makes legal migration essential”.
Perhaps nearly as tarnishing for her legacy, however, was her approach towards Russia. Under Merkel, Germany increasingly relied on Moscow for its energy needs, in large part to make up for the inability of her green agenda to power the top European economy. This left Berlin particularly vulnerable following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, after which supplies of Russian energy were cut off in response to Western sanctions.
Stunningly, declassified documents released just months after the invasion showed that Merkel’s government believed in the lead up to the war that further increasing reliance on Russian natural gas would “not jeopardise” Germany’s long term energy security. This proved to be a massive miscalculation, with the Nord Stream pipelines being rendered useless after a suspected sabotage, an act which the German economy continues to suffer from.
Nevertheless, Merkel continues to defend her dealings with Moscow, claiming in her book that the natural gas deals she struck with Putin were necessary to maintaining peace between the West and Russia.