Little Rose

Ursula in a jeans suit seeing off Germany's first relief flight to Iraq
in support of the people suffering the IS invasion (©AP)

When I saw the photo above in yesterday's press I decided to write a blog about Röschen (little rose) not to be confused with Goethe's Röslein, that Little Rose on the Heath. Röschen is the nickname of our Minister of Defense Ursula von der Leyen.

She measures only 161 cm (5' 3'') und ist klein aber oho (and is small but what a performance)! Ursula is the daughter of Ernst Albrecht, former governor of the state of Lower-Saxony. She was raised in a family of seven siblings in Brussels and Lehrte near Hannover and she decided not to opt for less. She is a mother of seven children too.

From the grand stand in the Bundestag (House of Parliament):
Seven children and a husband observing Ursula taking oath of office as Minister of Defense (©dpa)

She became a medical doctor and spent four years at Stanford University where her husband, a physician too, was faculty member from 1992 to 1996. No wonder she speaks English and French fluently in addition to German.

She only joined the Christian Democrats (CDU) in 1990 and in 2003 became Minister of Social Affairs, Women, Family, and Health in the state of Lower-Saxony.

In 2005 Chancellor Angela Merkel made Ursula Federal Minister of Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. Elected into the Bundestag (Federal Parliament) in 2009 she became Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. Following Ursula's re-election in 2013 Merkel made her Minister of Defense. What a career!

Ursula on a visit to the German ISAF troops in Afghanistan.
Feeling well among her boys and sometimes girls (©Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)

When Ursula took over her new function many a soldier feared that he/she had to style his/her hair as the boss, vokuhila (vorne kurz, hinten lang = short in front, long in the back). In the meantime she made a good job.Today rumors have it that some soldiers even pinned up Ursula's photo.

©Found on Twitter

Is she interested to become Angela's successor? Here is a quick comparison:

	Angela Merkel	Ursula von der Leyen
Age	60	54
Religion	Protestant	Catholic
Education	Doctor in Physics	Doctor in Medicine
Family Status	Divorced and remarried	Married
Husband	Professor of Physics	Professor of Medicine
Children	0	7
Languages	German, Russian, English	German, French, English