Museum Camera Films Merkel's Apartment in Security Breach

A German newspaper has uncovered a leak in the security system to protect Chancellor Angela Merkel: A security camera on top of a building close to Merkel's apartment has filmed the chancellor's private life for years.

For the past eight years German chancellor Angela Merkel has never been fully private in her living room.

According to Bild am Sonntag tabloid, a 24-hour security camera on top of the neighboring Pergamon Museum was not only able to film the outside of Merkel's apartment, but also recorded shots of the chancellor and her husband through a window.

Originally the camera was intended to protect the museum and its renowned treasures of world cultural history.

But it boasts a strong zoom factor that is also able to relay clear pictures to the museum's security personnel who monitor movements in and around the building through a number of closed-circuit surveillance cameras. Especially at night the brightly lit chancellor's apartment was open to observation from outside.

Police investigates security breech

So far it is not yet clear whether the museum's security personnel really have been watching Merkel and her husband. A spokesman for Germany's federal criminal office said this was currently being investigated.

The criminal office, which is in charge of the chancellor's security, wants to know specifically if any recorded footage of Angela Merkel's private life still exists. It also admitted that the camera hadn't been detected for years -- not even by its own security agents posted outside Merkel's apartment.

A spokesman for the Pergamon Museum told the tabloid on Monday that the camera had now been adjusted to prevent further filming.

After becoming chancellor in November last year, Angela Merkel and her husband Joachim Sauer decided against moving into an apartment situated in the chancellery building and reserved for government leaders.

Deutsche Welle 03/2006