Helmut Kohl
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Helmut Kohl (pronounce: Helmoot Kaul)
Statesman, former German chancellor
Longest serving head of government of Western democracies. Won four consecutive general elections (1983, 1987, 1990, 1994).
Kohl was born on 3rd April 1930 in Ludwigshafen which then still belonged to Bavaria. But be not mistaken: Mr. Kohl does not speak a single word of the renowned bavarian dialect, he merely utters dismal sounds originating from the swamps of the River Rhine.
With regard to his date of birth Kohl later coined the phrase "grace of late birth", meaning that the Third Reich had perished in 1945 before he had reached adulthood. Thus unlike his predecessors in office he did not participate in World War II and therefore, as he would have it, did not bear any responsibilities for War & Crime in the Third Reich.
Kohl studied history in Heidelberg (dissertation: "History of the political parties of the Palatinate after World War II). In 1966 he became Ministerpräsident of Rheno-Palatinate, one of the German "Länder". In 1973 he was elected chairman of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
1982, in midterm, he overthrew the Government of Helmut Schmidt (Social Democrats) and became chancellor. Elections were held early the next year.
Owing to his clumsy way to speak, intellectuals never took to him (1). Soon he was nicknamed "pear" referring to the shape of his head. Nevertheless he won the election in 1987.
The turn of the tide came in 1990. After the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9th November 1989, Helmut Kohl implemented German reunification on 3rd October 1990, doubtlessly the lasting historical achievement of his government.
Easily he won the next two elections and was only beaten in the 1998 poll by Gerhard Schröder (Social Democrats). But mind you: With 16 years in office he had already surpassed Konrad Adenauer, the first German chancellor after World War II, (14 years) and only narrowly missed Bismarck´s mark (19 years).
The cruel twist: In 1999 Kohl came to be responsible for a nearly fatal crisis of his CDU as it was revealed that by his consent the party had hidden millions of Mark in Swiss bank accounts thus evading taxes and building up secret campaign funds. He nearly faced a legal suit.
(1) Just to illustrate the esteem he was held in: Typical joke handed down to us from these unfortunate years, obviously made up by hard thinking intellectuals: A power cut in Bonn: Mr. Genscher (the then foreign secretary) was stuck for three hours in a lift. In the meantime Mr. Kohl sternly faced the same fate on an escalator.
Statesman, former German chancellor
Longest serving head of government of Western democracies. Won four consecutive general elections (1983, 1987, 1990, 1994).
Kohl was born on 3rd April 1930 in Ludwigshafen which then still belonged to Bavaria. But be not mistaken: Mr. Kohl does not speak a single word of the renowned bavarian dialect, he merely utters dismal sounds originating from the swamps of the River Rhine.
With regard to his date of birth Kohl later coined the phrase "grace of late birth", meaning that the Third Reich had perished in 1945 before he had reached adulthood. Thus unlike his predecessors in office he did not participate in World War II and therefore, as he would have it, did not bear any responsibilities for War & Crime in the Third Reich.
Kohl studied history in Heidelberg (dissertation: "History of the political parties of the Palatinate after World War II). In 1966 he became Ministerpräsident of Rheno-Palatinate, one of the German "Länder". In 1973 he was elected chairman of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
1982, in midterm, he overthrew the Government of Helmut Schmidt (Social Democrats) and became chancellor. Elections were held early the next year.
Owing to his clumsy way to speak, intellectuals never took to him (1). Soon he was nicknamed "pear" referring to the shape of his head. Nevertheless he won the election in 1987.
The turn of the tide came in 1990. After the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9th November 1989, Helmut Kohl implemented German reunification on 3rd October 1990, doubtlessly the lasting historical achievement of his government.
Easily he won the next two elections and was only beaten in the 1998 poll by Gerhard Schröder (Social Democrats). But mind you: With 16 years in office he had already surpassed Konrad Adenauer, the first German chancellor after World War II, (14 years) and only narrowly missed Bismarck´s mark (19 years).
The cruel twist: In 1999 Kohl came to be responsible for a nearly fatal crisis of his CDU as it was revealed that by his consent the party had hidden millions of Mark in Swiss bank accounts thus evading taxes and building up secret campaign funds. He nearly faced a legal suit.
(1) Just to illustrate the esteem he was held in: Typical joke handed down to us from these unfortunate years, obviously made up by hard thinking intellectuals: A power cut in Bonn: Mr. Genscher (the then foreign secretary) was stuck for three hours in a lift. In the meantime Mr. Kohl sternly faced the same fate on an escalator.
