Merkel grew up with a strong Protestant influence from her father, who became a pastor before moving the family to the DDR. The Chancellor's Protestant upbringing was visible in her early years on the political stage. She lived a frugal lifestyle, working behind the scenes and avoiding political power-grabbing. Her established moral compass continued guiding her throughout various events in which she had to make tradeoffs between public opinion and human dignity. The most notable being the 2015 refugee crisis, where Merkel made Germany a European leader in the number of refugees accepted. She forged her own 'moral leadership' which wrestles with the balance between what is right versus what is politically favorable