Former Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a self‑confessed passionate reader, admitted in an interview with the “Rheinische Post” that he has not yet read Angela Merkel’s memoirs or her 2024 book ”Freiheit”. He also said he hasn’t read the works of other colleagues, and when asked whether he had ever read a novel by Green politician Robert Habeck, he replied simply: “No”. When pressed for a reason, Scholz joked that he “might get around to it”.
Scholz explained that he doesn’t read in a systematic way. “I pick up whatever catches my eye in the literary supplements or directly in the books, and then move on to whatever seems like the next logical step” he said. He added that reading has been a constant throughout the different phases of his life. “During a period when I was deputy chair of the Young Socialists, for instance, I only read science‑fiction” he recalled. “I bought books at the station kiosk for my Hamburg‑Bonn trips and back”.
Scholz served as Germany’s chancellor from December 2021 to May 2025. On Monday he will speak at Lit‑Cologne, sharing the titles that have most inspired him.