Merkel's Defense of Euro Forged in East Germany.

DAVOS, Switzerland -- Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany seemed to wear Europe's debt crisis lightly when she stepped to the podium at the World Economic Forum last week -- perhaps because she has already lived through worse. Two decades ago, Mrs. Merkel experienced the collapse of East Germany, the country she grew up in. That personal history is worth remembering as the world looks increasingly to Mrs. Merkel to lead Europe out of its debt crisis and, perhaps inevitably, into an era of closer political and economic integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]