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Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has passed away. He died on Friday, June 16, at the age of 87 at his home in Ludwigshafen, German tabloid Bild reported.

The message about the death of the politician is confirmed in Twitter the Christian Democratic Union party, of which he was chairman from 1973 to 1998.

As Reuters notes, in recent years Kohl was ill and used a wheelchair.

Helmut Kohl was Chancellor of the German government from 1982 to 1998, becoming the only politician in German history to hold this position four times in a row.

Kohl is called the Chancellor of German unity, since under his rule in 1990 the process of unification of the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR took place.

Helmut Kohl visited several times Soviet Union and played an important role in establishing good neighborly ties between the USSR and Germany. Great importance in this regard, Kohl had meetings with the leader of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev, which resulted in the signing of documents that created the legal foundation for new relationships, TASS notes.

Thus, in June 1989, Gorbachev and Kohl, in a joint statement, emphasized the intention of the two states to draw conclusions from the lessons of history and establish strong ties in areas such as disarmament, mutual trade and youth exchanges. In November 1990, the Treaty on Good Neighborliness, Partnership and Cooperation between the USSR and Germany was signed. The two leaders also discussed issues related to German reunification.

For the development of Russian-German contacts, the meetings of Helmut Kohl with Russian President Boris Yeltsin were of particular importance. Since December 1992, when Helmut Kohl's first official visit to Russia took place, about twenty such meetings have taken place.

“Helmut Kohl greeted Boris Nikolayevich very kindly. He always sincerely rejoiced at every new meeting. It seemed to me that the German Chancellor treated our President like a younger brother. He always said so touchingly, with an accent: “Borys, Borys” - and at the same time gently patted him on the shoulder,” recalled Boris Yeltsin’s security chief, Alexander Korzhakov, in the book “The Inner Circle of “Tsar Boris.”

After retiring, Kohl began writing memoirs and published about ten books, including “I Wished for German Unity” (1996), “My Diary 1998-2000” (2000), the three-volume “Memoirs” (2004, 2005, 2007), "Worrying about Europe" (2014). IN last book Kohl, in particular, criticizes the West’s decision to hold the G8 summit in June 2014 in a truncated format without Russia. In his opinion, “the West should have pursued a more deliberate policy regarding the Ukrainian crisis.”

Kohl always had a favorable attitude towards Russia and visited Moscow several times, having already left the post of chancellor. He continued to play a role in modern politics. According to the German magazine Spiegel, in 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote personal letters to Kohl asking him to “put in a word” for Russia in connection with the crisis in Ukraine. This information, however, was denied in the Kremlin, and Kohl’s office did not confirm it, but did not refute it either.

Curriculum Vitae

Helmut Kohl was born on April 3, 1930 in the city of Ludwigshafen (since 1946 Rhineland-Palatinate) in the family of a tax official. He was the third child of seven, his father Hans Kohl and mother Cecilia were strict Catholics and opposed to the idea of ​​National Socialism.

During World War II, Helmut's father and his older brother had to fight on the side of the Wehrmacht, and his brother died. Helmut Kohl in December 1944 was sent to military training to the Berchtesgaden training camp, but did not participate in hostilities.

From 1950 to 1956 he studied law, history, political science and philosophy at the universities of Frankfurt am Main and Heidelberg. In 1958 he received his doctorate from the University of Heidelberg. historical sciences, defending his dissertation on the topic “Political development of the Palatinate and the revival of political parties after 1945” - the first on this issue.

In 1947, he joined the newly created Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, was one of the founders of the party's youth organization in Ludwigshafen, going from member of the executive board of the CDU organization in Rhineland-Palatinate to chairman of the CDU Ludwigshafen from 1959 .

In 1959, he was elected to the Landtag (local parliament) of Rhineland-Palatinate, becoming the youngest member. In 1960, Helmut Kohl married translator Hannelore Renner, whom he met back in 1948. The couple lived together for 41 years; in 2001, Hannelore, who suffered from a severe allergy to light, committed suicide (she suffered from a severe allergy to light). The family has two sons: Walter (born in 1963) and Peter (born in 1965), who are engaged in business.

In 1966-1973 he headed the CDU of Rhineland-Palatinate, in 1966 he joined the federal board of the CDU, and in 1969 he became deputy chairman of the CDU (until 1973).

Kohl made his party career on his own, without influential patrons. He formed his own team, the core of which was his colleagues in the party youth organization.

In 1973-1998 headed the CDU. In 1978, a new party program was adopted, which reflected the softening of the CDU’s position in relation to the so-called “Eastern Policy”, launched in 1969 by Chancellor Willy Brandt (Social Democratic Party of Germany) and aimed at detente in relations with the Federal Republic of Germany countries of the socialist camp.

In September 1982, German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt announced the impossibility of maintaining the government coalition due to contradictions on economic and social policy issues. On October 1, the Bundestag passed a vote of no confidence in the government, and 52-year-old Helmut Kohl was elected Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. At that time he was the youngest chancellor in German history.

During Kohl's reign, control over government spending was strengthened, government intervention in the economy was limited, and new industries related to microelectronics and biotechnology were developed.

Since 1986, inflation has been below 1.5% for several years. In the same year, Germany for the first time took first place in the world in terms of export volume and held it for three years in a row (subsequently, the country repeatedly took leading positions in this indicator). Unpopular decisions were made, including cutting government spending on social services and tightening laws regarding strikes.

To the 85th anniversary of the former Federal Chancellor

G. Kohl had the rare happiness of becoming the first chancellor of the West and East Germans. Moreover, he played an important role in uniting all of Europe. During his reign, the doors to Germany were widely opened for Russian Germans who wanted to return with their families to the homeland of their ancestors.

Provincial from the Palatinate
Helmut Joseph Michael Kohl was born in April 1930 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein (Rhineland-Palatinate). The house in which the future chancellor was born (Hohenzollernstraße) has been preserved, and his parents and first wife Hannelore are buried in the local cemetery.
Hans Kohl, the father of the future chancellor, was a minor financial official, originally from Bavaria, a Catholic and a conservative who lived through several revolutions and two world wars. Helmut's older brother died during World War II. Fourteen-year-old Helmut was also mobilized - in air defense, but, fortunately, he did not have to fight. At the end of April 1945, he returned on foot from Bavarian Berchtesgaden, where he underwent paramilitary training, to his native Ludwigshafen.
At the University of Frankfurt, Kohl studied law and history, then continued his studies at the University of Heidelberg, after graduating from which he remained to work as a research assistant, in 1958 he defended his dissertation (“Die politische Entwicklung in der Pfalz und das Wiedererstehen der Parteien nach 1945”) and received a scientific Ph.D. degree.
But then his career took an unexpected turn: Kohl returned to Ludwigshafen and worked for a year as an assistant director at a foundry, then for another year as an assistant at the Union of Chemical Industry.
While still at school, Helmut joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and became a co-founder of the party's youth branch in Ludwigshafen. While studying at the university, he became even more interested in politics, joined the board of the CDU in Rhineland-Palatinate, headed the faction in the Landtag and the state branch of the CDU, and received the post of prime minister of this state. Since 1966, Kohl has been a member of the federal board of the CDU, two years later - deputy chairman of the party, and since 1973 - chairman. He held this post for a quarter of a century - until November 1998.
In the 1976 Bundestag elections, Kohl tried to take the post of chancellor from his party, but the CDU/CSU bloc lacked only a few percent of the votes to celebrate victory. But Kohl did not leave politics: he headed the opposition faction CDU/CSU in the Bundestag. Despite infighting even within this faction, he managed to maintain a tenuous unity by agreeing to the candidacy of CSU chairman Franz Josef Strauss for the post of chancellor in the 1980 Bundestag elections.
Strauss believed that Kohl could not be chancellor and adequately represent the country in the international arena. Opponents called Kolya a provincial, laughed at his pronunciation, ignorance of foreign languages, and “Bauer habits.” But in those elections, Strauss lost and was forced to return to Bavaria, content with the post of prime minister, and Kohl continued to lead the faction in the Bundestag, while trying to adhere to a centrist position.

Finest hour
Helmut Kohl was elected Federal Chancellor of Germany in October 1982, when the Bundestag expressed a vote of no confidence in then Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. This was the result of heated debates on issues economic policy. Kohl and the leaders of the CDU/CSU did not see the future of Germany in as rosy a light as the Social Democrats. At this time, the rapprochement of the CDU/CSU coalition with the FDP (Free Democratic Party) began, and negotiations on partnership began.
At the same time, Kohl passionately desired legitimacy, confirmation of his powers, and this pushed him to take a dangerous step: to hold a vote in the Bundestag on the issue of trust in himself. However, disagreements surrounding the approval of the country's budget for 1983 led to the fact that German President Karl Carstens decided to dissolve the Bundestag and call new elections for March 1983. These elections were won by the CDU/CSU and FDP coalition, and Kohl, who had already been nominated several times to the post of chancellor, finally took the coveted chair.
Kohl won the Bundestag elections in 1987 and 1994 again, and in January 1991 he became the first Federal Chancellor of a reunified Germany. Although he had to fight off not only oppositionists from other parties, but also opponents in his own ranks. New forces replaced Kohl; Social Democrats began to dominate the federal government and the Bundesrat, which ultimately led to the defeat of the CDU/CSU in the 1998 Bundestag elections. Society was tired of the “irremovable Kohl”, and the Christian-liberal coalition (CDU/CSU and FDP) was replaced by the red-green one (SPD and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), and the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Gerhard Schrüder, became chancellor.
But not everything was smooth in Kohl’s career - his name is involved in major scandals, in particular in connection with so-called “illegal donations”, illegal financing of CDU by large industrialists and other sponsors. Kohl violated the Law on Political Parties by withholding funds received from the public - allegedly up to two million German marks.
Kohl was repeatedly called to testify before the relevant Bundestag commission, but the case was essentially hushed up. The trial lasted two and a half years, accompanied by heated internal party debates. Politics became associated with corruption and scams. The prosecutor's office of Bonn and Koblenz was involved in this dark case, and only by a miracle did Kohl manage to evade responsibility and litigation. As a result of this scandal, in January 2000 he lost his post as honorary chairman of the party.
There are many scandals associated with the name Kolya. So, in the early 1980s, he promised to almost halve the number of Turks in Germany. This caused outrage in German society. Kolya was even condemned by his own son, Peter, who, by the way, was married to a Turkish woman.

"Father of Unity"
Kohl became the first federal chancellor to visit the GDR. In May 1988, he suddenly went on vacation to East Germany - without security or officials, only accompanied by his wife and son. He did not meet with GDR functionaries there, but spent, in his words, “three unforgettable days” in socialist Germany.
After the fall Berlin Wall in November 1989, Kohl proposed to the Bundestag a program to overcome the division of Germany and Europe. Within six months, the State Agreement on the Monetary, Economic and Social Union between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic was signed. Interestingly, despite the resistance of the Bundesbank, Kohl ensured that it fixed the exchange rate of the GDR mark for the German mark - one to one for salaries, rents and pensions. True, subsequently social departments and enterprises in the eastern federal states They barely coped with the responsibility assigned to them, but they could no longer refuse this contractual condition.
Another important step - Kohl achieved the consent of the four victorious powers in World War II to the unification of Germany and practically carried out this peace process. Therefore, Kohl is still called the “father of unity” (Vater der Einheit).
Kohl strengthened relations with Germany's former enemies in World War II - France, Great Britain, the USA, and the USSR. He visited Israel, spoke in the Knesset, citing the “mercy of a late birth” (Gnade der späten Geburt). By the way, this expression of his, borrowed from journalists, became popular. Germans born in the 1930s cannot be held responsible for the crimes of Nazism.
Under him, Frankfurt am Main became the financial capital not only of Germany, but also of a united Europe: the European Central Bank was opened in the Rhine-Main metropolis. In May 1998, a decision was made in Brussels to introduce the euro. Kohl understood that many Germans would not support this, but he consciously sought to unite Europe, including through a single currency. In an interview in March 2002, he said: “In this case (the introduction of the euro - Ed.) I acted like a dictator.”
The introduction of the euro cost him the votes of many voters. In addition, the German economy was increasingly plunging into crisis. By 1997, the number of unemployed in the country reached 4.4 million (12.7%). All this and much more led to the fall of Chancellor Kohl.

Hannelore and Mike
In 1960, Kohl married a girl he had met in 1948. Hannelore (Johanna Clara Eleonora) Renner came from the family of the director of the HASAG military plant in Leipzig, one of the largest in Germany, which employed tens of thousands of prisoners of war and workers brought from occupied territories. At the end of the war, the plant was destroyed and Renner went bankrupt.
Hannelore was three years older than Helmut, studied foreign languages, worked as a translator. The fate of this woman is tragic. According to journalist Heribert Schwan, who helped Kohl write his memoirs, he raped her as a girl soviet soldier in the occupation zone and threw it out of the window like an unnecessary thing. This terrible event, as well as the defeat of Berlin and Leipzig, left an imprint on her entire future life and, perhaps, became the cause of her serious illness - depression and allergies to daylight. In the last years of her life, she could not tolerate light at all and lived in complete darkness.
Hannelore gave birth to two sons (Walter and Peter), tried as best she could to be the “first lady” of Germany, but always kept in the shadow of her husband. And he did not pay too much attention to her, busy with state affairs and political struggle. She heard rumors about his hobbies with other women, and she experienced the “black cash” scam very painfully.
But they spent their holidays together - family photographs regularly appeared in the press, which were supposed to show that in the Kolya family - full order. But later the eldest son will write in his memoirs about the joyless life of his mother. In July 2001, Hannelore Kohl (68) committed suicide by taking a lethal dose of morphine.
In May 2008, 78-year-old H. Kohl, who by that time had undergone several operations and found himself in a wheelchair, married for the second time - to Maika Richter (44), who in the 1990s worked in the economic department of the Federal Chancellor's office. After the death of his wife, he stopped hiding his relationship with her, and at his 75th birthday party he admitted: “I am very grateful that I can again experience this happiness and a wonderful phase of life.”
And although the press was shocked by such a large age difference, the desire of the elderly politician to join his destiny with the energetic Maike can be understood. This was her first marriage. Before that, she headed the department of referents at the Federal Ministry of Economics and defended her doctoral dissertation.
The modest wedding took place in the hospital where Kohl was undergoing rehabilitation after a head injury due to a fall. “We are very happy,” was all Maike said after the wedding ceremony.
The sons were not invited to this celebration, and their comments in the press made it clear that the children did not approve of their father's choice. Perhaps this is a typical situation.
However, Kohl’s further life together with his second wife showed that the former chancellor most likely was not mistaken in this choice. At least the last years of his life are brightened by quiet family happiness. True, close friends of the family openly express in the press that Maike not only looks after her husband and protects him from stress, but also protects him from previous contacts and controls correspondence. Together with his second wife, he lives in his native Ludwigshafen (Oggersheim) and often visits Berlin. Kohl's sons live in the USA (Walter) and Great Britain (Peter).
In the spring of 2004, G. Kohl released the first part of his memoirs - “Memoirs. 1930-1982”, dedicated to the memory of his first wife. “Without her, without my Hannelore, all my successes and achievements would have been impossible,” he wrote. The second part, covering the period in power until 1990, was published in November 2005, and the third, ending in 1994, two years later.
G. Kohl received many honorary awards. In October 1998, second after Konrad Adenauer, he received the Grand Cross of a Special Class for services to the Federal Republic of Germany. That same year, the European Council awarded him “honorary European citizenship.” The British Queen Elizabeth II knighted him and awarded him the Orders of St. Michael and St. George. And he forever entered the history of Germany as the peaceful unifier of the country.
Tatiana Golovina

Image caption Helmut Kohl will go down in history as the chancellor who reunited Germany

Helmut Kohl became the first chancellor of a reunified Germany after the end of the Cold War. He was the leader of the country for 16 years. This is the longest reign since the days of the “Iron Chancellor” Otto von Bismarck, with whom Kolya, to his delight, was often compared.

Largely thanks to the tenacity of Helmut Kohl and his belief in a united Europe, the Maastricht Treaty was signed, which laid the foundations of the European Union and led to the introduction of a single European currency.

However, Kohl's political legacy in his homeland was overshadowed by a scandal related to the financing of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which he led for almost a quarter of a century.

Memory of the war

Helmut Kohl was born on April 3, 1930 in the small town of Ludwigshafen, into the modest family of a tax official.

In his youth he tried the most different ways earning money: from raising rabbits and breeding silkworms to working at a construction site as a loader and truck driver.

With the outbreak of World War II, Helmut's father and older brother went to the front, and he, like many of his peers, joined the children's organization of the Hitler Youth - Deutsches Jungvolk.

Helmut Kohl's political views were largely influenced by his years living in Ludwigshafen during World War II.

The city was heavily bombed because of its chemical plants, and Helmut Kohl well remembered how, as a 12-year-old boy, he helped pull the charred bodies of his neighbors from the rubble.

Kohl said that the only thing that saved him from serving in the Nazi army was that he was born too late to take up arms.

Illustration copyright Getty Images Image caption In 1973, Kohl took over as chairman of the CDU and retained it until 1998.

Kolya's father returned from the front alive, his brother died at the age of 18.

In difficult times post-war years Helmut worked in a barnyard, but dreamed of escaping the province.

In 1946, he returned to school and joined the newly created Christian Democratic Party.

Almost three decades later, in 1973, Kohl took the post of chairman of the CDU and retained it until November 7, 1998.

Golden era

Despite his strong provincial accent and the abundance of jokes associated with his large size and enviable appetite (he was called “Bear” and “Pear”), Helmut Kohl managed to turn his party into a mass organization.

Kohl was constantly ridiculed for his poor oratorical abilities and his allegedly inherent political myopia.

But Kohl's critics clearly underestimated his ability to skillfully use the levers of power and create a complex but extremely effective network of political allies and patrons.

In the German elections in 1982, he beat all his rivals and became the youngest chancellor in history. Federal Republic. He was 52 years old.

The 1980s were a golden era of German economic power and political influence. Together with his close ally, French President François Mitterrand, Kohl defined the contours of the European Union and laid the foundations for the introduction of a single European currency.

With an emphasis on economic and social policy, Kohl achieved success in both the economic and social spheres and won the next elections in 1987. He remained as chancellor for 16 years.

In 1987, East German leader Erich Honecker made a historic visit to Bonn. The visit took place thanks to the policy of détente, which Helmut Kohl actively advocated.

Illustration copyright PA Image caption Helmut Kohl and Margaret Thatcher argued over the need for European integration

Two years later, the Berlin Wall came down and Kohl began negotiations that eventually led to the unification of Germany.

Thanks to his persistence and patience, he managed to find a common language with world leaders Mikhail Gorbachev and George H. W. Bush, who once called him “the greatest European leader of the second half of the 20th century.”

"George Bush was my most important ally on the path to German unity," Kohl said in response.

Both Soviet and American leaders believed Helmut Kohl, who promised that a united Germany would not destabilize or threaten Europe, as it had under Adolf Hitler.

On October 3, 1990, Kohl the politician turned into a national hero who achieved what many considered unattainable: the peaceful reunification of East and West Germany.

Kohl's desire to unite Germany was not met with universal approval. For example, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin openly opposed it.

Image caption The wall divided the city for 28 years

The West generally welcomed the reunification of the Germans, but in some countries, particularly Britain and Poland, concerns remained that a united Germany would dominate the European continent.

On first name terms with Gorbachev and Yeltsin

While redrawing the map of Europe, Kohl also managed to deal with the affairs of its eastern outskirts, where during these years the ruins of the Soviet Union were crumbling into history. Kohl met with the author of perestroika, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, in negotiations on the unification of Germany.

After the Gorbachevs' family visit to the Kolyas in Oggersheim, Germany in the summer of 1990, politicians switched to being on first-name terms. Germany was of key importance for the Soviet government at that time: with the help of German loans, Gorbachev hoped to pull the country out of the abyss of the economic, financial and food crisis.

Kohl helped, but the unification of Germany was a priority, and Gorbachev did not wait for the new “Marshall Plan”. The USSR collapsed, and Kohl had a new interlocutor in the Kremlin: Boris Yeltsin.

Chancellor first Russian President called exclusively “my friend Helmut.”

In Kolya's presence, Yeltsin felt relaxed: at the ceremony for the withdrawal of troops from Germany in Berlin's Treptower Park, Yeltsin conducted the orchestra and sang "Kalinka".

Kohl did not forget Yeltsin even after his resignation. In 2005, already in the status of a political pensioner, the ex-chancellor went to visit “friend Boris” on a fishing trip to Lake Baikal, where he enjoyed it so much back in 1993.

Then, in the early 1990s, thanks to Helmut Kohl, a new page was opened in the history of Europe. As he often emphasized in his speeches, European unity was a matter of war and peace in the 21st century.

In close cooperation with France, Kohl defined the contours of a political union European countries, established in the Dutch city of Maastricht in February 1992, and laid the foundations for the single European currency.

According to former minister British Foreign Affairs Lord Geoffrey Howe, Helmut Kohl was a tough politician who could go ahead towards his goal.

“Kohl was known for his determination, patriotism, and devotion to the principle of peaceful coexistence in Europe. He managed to achieve a lot. It is unlikely that he would have been able to achieve his goals if not for some traits of his character, which sometimes bordered on cruelty,” says the British politician.

In relation to his opponents, Kohl sometimes behaved without unnecessary sentimentality.

Many residents of the former GDR blamed him for the deterioration of their economic situation after unification with Germany, although he managed to ensure that the unification documents fixed the exchange rate of one to one GDR marks to the German mark for salaries, rents and pensions.

Merger price

Kohl was also accused of not immediately responding to the burning of houses of Turkish immigrants and people from Africa, organized by neo-fascists and skinheads.

Sometimes he remained deaf to the opinions of countries less influential than Germany of Eastern Europe, such as the Czech Republic and Poland.

His relations with Britain and other countries that did not support his vision of a future federal Europe can hardly be called cloudless.

"I will never forget Margaret Thatcher's vicious remark: 'We beat the Germans twice. And now they are back,” Helmut Kohl once said.

In total, Kohl served as Chancellor of Germany for three terms, and such a track record could only be envied.

However, the unification of the country cost a pretty penny, against the backdrop of growing economic problems The chancellor's popularity was rapidly declining. In the 1998 elections, Kohl and his coalition lost to Social Democrat Gerhard Schröder.

The following year, the former chancellor was accused of illegally funding his CDU party by various individuals and organizations.

Kohl admitted that he personally received donations to the party in the amount of one and a half to two million German marks, but categorically refused to name the names of donors, referring to the word given to them.

Out of respect for the merits of the former leader of the country, the case was dropped, but the ex-chancellor had to pay a large fine, and his reputation was greatly tarnished.

Illustration copyright Getty Images Image caption In 2010, Helmut Kohl celebrated the 20th anniversary of German reunification with Chancellor Angela Merkel

In 2010, Helmut Kohl, whose health already left much to be desired, celebrated the 20th anniversary of German reunification with Chancellor Angela Merkel. The revival of a united country will undoubtedly forever remain his main achievement.

"I've been underestimated for decades," Kohl once said. "Considering that, I've done pretty well."

Personal life

In recent years, Kohl led a secluded life. He continued to write memoirs and assess current events in the international arena.

In 2001, his wife Hannilore, who suffered from an allergy to sunlight, committed suicide. This was a big blow for Kohl, who lived with her for more than 40 years.

In 2008, Kohl suffered a stroke, after which he remained confined to a chair. While still in the hospital, the former chancellor married Maika Richter, who was much younger than him.

Later, his two adult sons accused the young stepmother of trying to rift their relationship with their father and preventing his contacts with friends and colleagues.

However, as Germany says goodbye to its former leader, many will prefer to remember not these episodes from his private life, but what he achieved as a politician - in the country and abroad.

(b. 1930)
Federal Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998. Since 1973, Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Helmut Kohl can rightly be called the patriarch of German politics in the 20th century. Of course he went down in history
Germany as one of its best rulers. During his time in power, enormous changes took place in the country. It is not for nothing that the former chancellor is considered the main driving force behind the unification of Germany - an epoch-making event not only in the history of the German people, but throughout Europe of the past century.
Helmut Kohl was born on April 3, 1930, into a Catholic family of a tax official on the outskirts of the small town of Ludwigshafen. The family lived very frugally. Mother tried to buy cheaper products at the market. On Sundays, however, my father allowed himself a glass of beer, but he drank it at home; it was more expensive in pubs. From an early age, Helmut helped his parents around the house, and later worked part-time in order to study: he raised rabbits, raised silkworms, caught crayfish for sale in the mornings, carried bags of cement at a construction site, drove a truck at a store and at a gas station, worked grinding slabs.
Apparently already from early years the boy was ambitious. A favorite game is to pull a quilted teapot cover over your head, throw a sheet over your shoulders and solemnly walk through the garden, pretending to be a bishop. The desire for leadership was also evident at school. He organized debates, defended the interests of his comrades before teachers and played for the local football team.
When the war began, Helmut was only 10 years old. His parents were not inclined towards fascism. They preferred Christian values. But my father and older brother, like most German men, had to go to war. His father returned from the front with the rank of captain, and his brother died at the age of eighteen.
Following the example of his peers, Helmut joined the children's organization of the Hitler Youth - Deutsches Jungvolk. When the teenager turned fifteen, he had to go to a paramilitary camp in Berchtesgaden and swear allegiance to the Reich Youth Fuhrer. But it was the spring of 1945. Allied troops were approaching. Soon the guys fled to their homes, and Helmut walked 400 km, begging for potatoes from American soldiers for food.
Life was hard after the war. I had to hire a job at a barnyard. Having a certain inclination towards agriculture, Helmut still dreamed of a different fate. It was not for nothing that already in 1946 he joined the newly created Christian Democratic Party and resumed his studies at school.
Realizing that for a further political career - and this is how Helmut saw his future - it was necessary to obtain a university education, the future chancellor began to study history and philosophy in Frankfurt and Heidelberg. Later, he even wrote a doctoral dissertation on the formation of political parties in Rhineland-Palatinate. However, a scientific career did not appeal to him. Both education and an academic degree were needed only to gain weight in the eyes of fellow party members and other politicians. It is noteworthy that Helmut Kohl never acquired any specialty and does not know a single foreign language.
Kohl's political career was rapid. Having passed through local, district and regional elections, already in 1959 he became the youngest deputy, and in 1969 he took the post of prime minister of the state of Reynald-Palatinate. Among the heads of the state governments of the Federal Republic of Germany there was no one younger than him either. This man could do anything. For him, like for most of his peers, there were no authorities. This generation looked down on both their fathers, compromised by Nazism, and their grandfathers, who were striving for revenge. Kohl and his like-minded people needed a new Germany, built on the foundations of parliamentary democracy and brought out of a state of international isolation. They were interested in human rights and social problems.
In 1976, Helmut Kohl was elected chairman of the CDU and soon transformed it from a closed caste formation into a mass party. He believed that the CDU should become such a party that everyone in the country could vote for it. Soon, in addition to wealthy circles, Catholic, nationalist forces and peasants, workers, especially skilled workers, began to vote for the Christian Democratic Union. Kohl managed to gain supporters among voters of other faiths. He married a Protestant and thus secured the votes of many of her fellow believers.
The fruitfulness of Kohl's leadership began to show itself in the first years. In 1976, the party achieved unprecedented success in the elections to the Bundestag, and in 1982, in the elections, its leader beat all rivals and became the youngest chancellor in the entire history of Germany. He was 52 years old.
Kohl's main emphasis was on economic and social policy. Under him, the country became the largest exporter in the 80s. The position of the West German brand was strengthened by stimulating private enterprise. Old, unprofitable industries were curtailed or modernized. As a result, unemployment in the country did not decrease, but new jobs, especially for young people, were still created. The general increase in living standards, which became one of the highest in the Western world, added to his popularity: Kohl also won the next elections in 1987.
In area foreign policy Kohl did not allow a sharp turn, understanding the people's desire for stability and balance. But still, while maintaining close relations with the United States, he simultaneously achieved the development of cooperation with the USSR. The rapprochement with the Soviet Union did not happen immediately. Back in 1986, Kohl called Gorbachev the “Soviet Goebbels,” but soon changed his mind and even became friends with him. Much has also been done to intensify relations with the GDR; in particular, travel has been facilitated for relatives living on opposite sides of the border. In general, Kohl was an ardent supporter of European Integration. He even received the nickname “Chancellor of the two Es - unity and the euro.” However, national interests always remained in first place for him.
Into the history of the 20th century. Helmut Kohl entered as "Chancellor of German unity". In the minds of the Germans, he is the main politician who made the reunification of the German nation possible. It was the CDU in the late 80s. He unequivocally came out in support of the associations and ensured that it was not shelved. But in those days this event seemed something fantastic and dangerous. It is not for nothing that after November 9, at the moment the GDR authorities opened access to West Berlin, when crowds of jubilant East Germans poured there, Kohl said: “The chances that everything would end peacefully and rivers of blood would not be shed were fifty-fifty.”
In the first all-German elections in 1990, the ruling party coalition received an overwhelming majority in the Bundestag, and Kohl became the first chancellor of a united Germany, he was called the “Bismarck of the 20th century.” However, within a few years it became clear that the annexation of the backward GDR to the prosperous Federal Republic of Germany had negative economic consequences. Increased government spending required tax increases and cuts social programs. The chancellor's popularity was rapidly declining. Therefore, in the 1998 elections, he and his coalition lost to the Social Democrat Gerhard Schröder.
Helmut Kohl spent 16 years at the helm state power- longer than anyone in Germany. But this did not save him from major troubles. In 1999, the newspaper pages were full of murderous headlines: “Kol kaput”, “ Godfather Helmut Coleone”, etc. An unprecedented scandal broke out in Germany. The former chancellor, an “honorary citizen of Europe,” was accused of illegally financing the CDU by various individuals and organizations. Kohl admitted that in 1998 he personally received donations to the CDU in the amount of 1.5 to 2 million marks. But contrary to the requirements of the law, he categorically refused to name the names of the donors, referring to the word given to them.
However, Kohl was never accused of personal enrichment. His scrupulousness in the use of public funds was all too well known. For example, for an urgent flight on a Bundeswehr plane to Italy when his son got into a disaster there, Kohl paid 70 thousand marks from his own pocket. He even bought stamps for personal letters with his own money.
Kohl was very worried about what happened. On the day of his seventieth birthday, celebrated very modestly in the circle of family and close friends, the former chancellor asked the Germans for forgiveness for the mistakes they had made. And in order to help his party and somehow make amends to it, he mortgaged his house for 700 thousand marks and transferred the money to the CDU.
In February 2001, the case was dropped, but the former chancellor paid a fine of DM 300 thousand. The case against Kohl was closed, but the investigation into illegal financing of the CDU will continue.
Despite everything, Kolya continues to be loved in Germany and beyond. Throughout his political career, he has been and remains the butt of jokes. This has always been of little concern to the politician. He never denied voters the pleasure of laughing at him and often even provoked them to do so, emphasizing his provincial accent and impressive dimensions (height - 1.93 m, weight - 135 kg). For such a large physique he was nicknamed Bear, and for his large belly - Pear.
In private life, Kohl is no different from the average German, and this is his political capital. He always skillfully hid his intelligence under the guise of an ordinary German burgher. Kohl is modest in everyday life. As chancellor, he always spent his holidays on the shores of Lake Wolfgansee and, describing his family life, liked to repeat: “My wife washes the dishes, and I dry them.”
He got married in 1960. Helmut met Hannilore back in 1949 at a dance. The 15-year-old girl was wearing a dress made from two flags. Many years later, in an interview, the first lady of Germany would say: “I was so happy that I met a man as strong as a mountain to lean against.”
For many years, Hannilore became his faithful friend, her motto was the words: “Wait. Tolerate. Fit". Kohl devoted little time to his wife, but was a wonderful family man. Together they were actively involved in charity work, creating a fund to help people who have suffered brain injuries. Frau Kohl is a translator by training. Sometimes she helped her husband during official visits, for which she carefully prepared. Both had a passion for cooking and together wrote the book “A Culinary Journey through the German Lands.” But after 40 years happy life together Hannilore committed suicide. For many years she suffered from sun allergies; the thick dark curtains in their house were never raised to prevent people from entering the room. Sun rays. And the unbearable pain was temporarily relieved only by morphine. The loss of his wife was a terrible blow for Helmut. His two sons, Walter and Peter, help him cope with this.
Both sons of the Kohl family grew up to be wonderful people. They received higher education in the USA, became businessmen and never gave a single reason for newspaper scandals and gossip.
It is known that Kohl is very ambitious. It is obvious that he is not going to give up political activity, although, following the example of all “pensioners of state importance,” he sat down to write his memoirs. But at the same time, the former chancellor continues to appear in the Bundestag; advises the government South Korea, seeking to unite with its northern neighbor. There is no doubt that in the future Helmut Kohl may present more than one surprise and, despite his age, return to big politics. It is not for nothing that the General Secretary of the CDU, H. Geissler, once said: “G. Kohl is the will to power.”

Policy >> Germany

“Partner” No. 11 (182) 2012

Helmut Kohl. Man and politician

Success is what makes great people.

Napoleon

The words given in the epigraph can be attributed without any discount to the ex-Chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl. Not only his comrades, but also many political opponents consider him one of the most outstanding political figures in Germany and put him on a par with Otto von Bismarck and Konrad Adenauer. He is called the "father of German unity" and the "architect of a united Europe."

Unfinished biography

Helmut Kohl was born on April 3, 1930 in the family of official Hans Kohl and his wife Cecilia. The family adhered to conservative bourgeois views. Helmut was the third child in the family. The older brother died in the war. Helmut was also mobilized, but did not directly participate in hostilities.

In 1950, after graduating from high school, he entered the Faculty of Law at the University of Frankfurt, and the following year he moved to the University of Heidelberg, where he studied history and socio-political sciences. Having completed his studies in 1956, Kohl remained to work at the university, and in 1958 he defended his dissertation in political science. In 1960, Helmut Kohl married translator Hannelore Renner, with whom he lived for 41 years. In their marriage, they had two sons: Walter and Peter, who are now 48 and 45 years old, respectively. The eldest son lives in the USA, the youngest in the UK.

Someone said that at the Last Judgment, a person's parents are witnesses for the defense, and children are witnesses for the prosecution. This statement applies fully to the children of Helmut Kohl, who did not have a good relationship with their father. Recently, the eldest son published the book “To Live by Yourself or for Others,” in which he did not find a single kind word for his father. What did he write? There is only one paragraph about the huge role that Kohl played in politics. There are more than 250 pages about the suffering of a child who grew up as if without a father. The youngest son also wrote a book of memoirs about his mother, which they plan to make into a film.

Political career

Politics interested Helmut Kohl from his adolescence. While still at school, he joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). While studying at the university, he continued to be involved in politics and in 1953 became a member of the board of the CDU of Rhineland-Palatinate. Further: 1963 - leader of the CDU faction in the Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate, from 1966 - chairman of the CDU and prime minister of this state, from 1968 - member of the federal board of the CDU, from 1973 to 1998 - chairman of the CDU, from 1976 to 2002 - Member of the Bundestag, from 1982 to 1998 - Federal Chancellor.

In 1998, the majority of votes in the Bundestag elections were given to the SPD, and Gerhard Schröder became chancellor. By this time, Kohl's popularity had fallen noticeably and many members of the CDU board advised him not to stand for a fifth term. But Kohl decided to take a risk - and lost. It is unknown whether Kolya’s closest associates loved him, but it is known that they were afraid. No wonder they gave him the nickname “Huge Elephant.”

Not yesterday it was said that A It is expensive and poorly preserved. The end of Helmut Kohl's political career was overshadowed by a scandal caused by illegal financing of the CDU. He turned out to be a defendant in the case of “black funds” - anonymous donations to the party treasury. Referring to his word, ex-Chancellor Kohl refused to name the donors. As a result, the CDU had to pay a multimillion-dollar fine, and Kohl left his post as honorary chairman of the party. Today it is difficult to name those who did not “kick the old lion” during this difficult time for Kolya. It has long been known that among politicians there are especially many uncompromising fighters for other people's morality.

While collecting material for this publication, I asked my 22-year-old student grandson about his attitude towards the ex-chancellor. The grandson replied that he personally did not like Kohl because he was “machtgierig” (hungry for power). To this I objected to him that someone who does not strive for power, by definition, cannot become chancellor. The higher the position held, the more competition, envy and intrigue there is around it.

"Chancellor of German Unity"

After the democratic transformations taking shape in the GDR and the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, Kohl, without prior agreement with his coalition partners, spoke in the Bundestag with a clear program to overcome the split between Germany and Europe, consisting of ten points. On May 18, 1990, the State Treaty on the Monetary, Economic and Social Union between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic was signed. Despite the resistance of the President of the Bundesbank, Kohl ensured that this Treaty fixed the exchange of the GDR mark for the German mark at a one-to-one rate.

At negotiations in the “two plus four” format (two German states and four victorious countries), Kohl, together with the then German Foreign Minister Genscher, achieved the consent of the victorious powers to the unification of Germany. The personal friendship of Helmut Kohl and M.S. Gorbachev played a great role in achieving success in these negotiations.

So, 45 years after the end of World War II, the two German states united into one, and the German constitution was extended to new territories. The united Germany became a member of the EEC and NATO. The fact that the unification took place peacefully is very important. Kohl subsequently said: “The chances that everything would end peacefully were fifty-fifty.”

To finance the development of federal states that were previously part of the GDR, the so-called "solidarity tax". At first this tax was 7.5 percent of income tax, and in 1998 its amount was reduced to 5.5 percent. There were many other difficulties associated with the unification of Germany. But it was Kohl who convinced the Germans that the process of reunification was necessary and possible. But at that moment he had many opponents, even in his own party, and they had very weighty arguments. The economy of the GDR was at zero, and many believed that West Germany would be flooded by a wave of immigrants. This did not stop the chancellor, who always showed courage and determination in making important political decisions.

Architect of the European Community

On September 22, 1984, a significant meeting took place between Helmut Kohl and French President François Mitterrand, who arrived on the battlefield of Verdun to jointly honor the memory of those who fell in this battle during the First World War. Their handshake became a symbol of reconciliation between the Germans and the French. Subsequently, Kohl and Mitterrand developed a particularly trusting relationship. Steps towards European unity such as the Treaty of Maastricht and later the introduction of the single European currency were largely the result of close Franco-German cooperation.

The Maastricht Treaty, signed in 1992, sets out the criteria for the economic and financial activities of the countries of the European Economic Community (EEC). The following were strictly limited: the level of inflation, the state budget deficit, the level of public debt as a percentage of GDP and a number of other parameters. The Treaty provided in detail the conditions for countries to join the EEC and completely ignored the conditions for the exit from the Community of those countries that no longer meet the Maastricht criteria. This shortcoming resulted in the current financial turbulence associated with the insolvency of Greece and a number of other EEC countries.

Helmut Kohl and M.S. Gorbachev

Everything is relative. Here's a short one comparative analysis the activities of two of the most prominent European politicians of the last quarter of the twentieth century: the first President of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. In less than seven years in power, Gorbachev “managed” to create the conditions for the collapse of the “great, mighty” Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact Organization and the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). In addition, all the so-called “people's democracies” changed their political and economic orientation. During his “reign” there were massacres in Tbilisi, Baku, Riga and Vilnius, as well as bloody ethnic conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh, Fergana, Sumgait and a number of other places. Perestroika was carried out, as a result of which the economy was almost paralyzed, products disappeared from store shelves, and the so-called. The “Pavlovian reform” devalued all savings. In addition, the Soviet Union received huge loans (including from Germany), which were immediately stolen. Among the positive aspects, we can recall the cessation of the almost ten-year war in Afghanistan and the proclamation of glasnost.

During the sixteen years of his reign, Kohl managed to achieve the peaceful unification of Germany and the successful construction of a “European home,” and the country’s economy was a “block of stability” in an ocean of uncertainty and uncertainty. Things weren’t going smoothly for Kolya either. There were some setbacks and even failures, but overall the balance of his activities can be considered positive. One of his most significant merits can be considered the fact that you and I, dear readers, have the opportunity to live in Germany.

Kanzlera. D. (Retired Chancellor), or “Federal Pensioner”

Having thrown off the party and state burden from his shoulders, Helmut Kohl retired, concentrating on his memoirs and family matters. Soon he was overtaken by another, perhaps the most difficult loss in his life. On June 5, 2001, his beloved wife Hannelore, who suffered seriously from an allergy to daylight (the result of an old car accident), voluntarily passed away. Kohl dedicated the first part of his memoirs, published in 2004, to her. “Without her, without my Hannelore, all my successes and achievements would have been impossible,” writes Helmut Kohl.

The ex-chancellor's health left much to be desired. On February 23, 2008, Kohl was found in the kitchen lying in a pool of blood. Doctors believe that the fall, which resulted in a severe head injury, was the result of a stroke.

But life always takes its toll, and on May 8, 2008, 78-year-old Helmut Kohl married for the second time. His chosen one was 43-year-old Maike Richter, a certified economist who worked from 1994 to 1998 in the economic department of the Federal Chancellor's Office. A modest wedding ceremony took place in the presence of close friends in the hospital where Kohl was undergoing rehabilitation after a fall. In February 2012, Kohl underwent heart surgery.

In conclusion, I would like to repeat that Helmut Kohl certainly played a huge role in European and world politics. However, the Kohl era is not over yet, and today it is premature to sum it up. To quote the classic, we can say: “Face to face you cannot see a face. Big things are seen from a distance.”

Grigory Kalikhman (Dortmund)