Wolfgang Schnur was an East German civil rights lawyer and a longtime informer of the East German Stasi. He was closely involved with the Association of Evangelical Churches and worked on many of the cases in which the BEK's leading figures were involved. He also became well networked, on more than one level, with the country's political establishment.

Angela Dorothea Merkel is a German retired politician and chemist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021 and was the first woman to hold that office. She previously served as Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union from 2000 to 2018. During her chancellorship, Merkel was frequently referred to as the de facto leader of the European Union (EU) and the most powerful woman in the world. Beginning in 2016, with Donald Trump's election, she was often described by liberal media as the leader of the free world.