In December last year an Islamic extremist hijacked a truck and ploughed into shoppers, killing 12 and injuring 56.
Families of the victims have repeatedly criticised Mrs Merkel for not acknowledging their grief in the year since the attack.
This week she finally said she will hold her face-to-face meetings with relatives of those killed in the attack.
Some of the family members of the victims wrote a letter to the Chancellor saying: “At a time when the threat posed by dangerous Islamists has greatly increased, you have failed to push ahead with expanding resources and reforming the confused official structures for fighting these dangers.”
The sick killer behind the December 19 attack was identified as Anis Amrim, a Tunisian failed asylum seeker. Four days after the attack, he was killed in a shootout with police near Milan in Italy.
The Chancellor was pictured in a thick, brown coat as she braved the freezing German temperatures to visit the market in Berlin’s busy shopping district.
Many of the families of the victims said that Chancellor Merkel failed them with political inaction – as well as by failing to reach out to grieving relatives.
There were even reports of some families receiving an invoice from forensic investigator, who were demanding cash for identifying the bodies of victims.
Germany’s Christmas markets will be protected by a ring of steel this year amid fears that they could once again be the target of terror attacks.
The tight security measures are designed to prevent a repeat of the devastating attack in the German capital this year.
Germany is well known around the world for having 2,600 Christmas markets, which are famous for their nuts, sausages, mulled wine and local handicrafts.
The incident was the deadliest terror attack in Germany since an attack at Oktoberfest in Munich in 1980, which killed 13 people and injured 21 others.
The market was packed with tourists and locals near Berlin’s famous Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
The lorry drove around 80 meters through the market and sent stalls flying, leaving a trail of debris and casualties.