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A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 17 June 2017
Helmut Kohl, chancellor who reunited Germany, dies at 87

tion party switched sides.
By GEIR MOULSON Once viewed as a provin-
Associated Press cial bumbler, Kohl com-
BERLIN (AP) — Helmut Kohl, bined an understanding
one of the towering figures of the worries of ordinary
of European politics whose Germans with a hunger
greatest achievement is for power, getting elected
considered the skillful re- four times. Only Otto von
unification of a divided Bismarck, who first unified
Germany, has died at 87. Germany in the 1870s, was
Kohl, who was chancellor chancellor longer, for 19
first of West Germany and years.
then of a united Germany Kohl was helped in secur-
from 1982 to 1998, com- ing German unity by his
bined a dogged pursuit of friendships with French
the European idea of unity President Francois Mitter-
with a keen instinct for his- rand and Soviet leader
tory. Mikhail Gorbachev, who
Less than a year after the approved NATO mem-
November 1989 fall of the This April 5, 2013 photo shows former German chancellor Helmut Kohl on the shore of Lake Te- bership for a united Ger-
Berlin Wall, he spearhead- gernsee in Bad Wiessee, southern Germany. Kohl, one of the towering figures of European politics many and agreed to pull
whose greatest achievement is considered the skillful reunification of a divided Germany, has
ed the end of Germany’s died at 87. Soviet troops out of East
decades-long division into (Frank Leonhardt/dpa via AP) Germany.“It was real luck
East and West, ushering Soviet Union that a strong, that Kohl answered the big world had lost “a true friend that, at that difficult time,
in a new era in European united Germany could fi- questions of his time “cor- of freedom.”“Working leading nations were
politics. nally live at peace with its rectly for Germany, cor- closely with my very good headed by statesmen with
The close bond that Kohl neighbors. rectly for Europe, correctly friend to help achieve a a sense of responsibility,
built up with other world “Helmut Kohl was the most for the United States, cor- peaceful end to the Cold adamant about defend-
leaders helped him per- important European states- rectly for the future of the War and the unification of ing the interests of their
suade both anti-commu- man since World War II,” world.” Germany within NATO will countries but also able to
nist Western allies and the former U.S. President Bill Former U.S. President remain one of the great consider the interests of
leaders of the collapsing Clinton said in 2011, adding George H.W. Bush said the joys of my life,” Bush said. others, able to overcome

While physically imposing, the barrier of prevailing
Kohl moved nimbly in do- suspicion about partner-
mestic politics and among ship and mutual trust,”
rivals in his conservative Gorbachev said Friday in a
Christian Democratic message of condolences
Union, holding power for released by his foundation.
16 years until his defeat by In a poignant gesture of
center-left rival Gerhard reconciliation in 1984, Kohl
Schroeder in 1998. held hands with Mitterrand
That was followed by the during a ceremony at a
eruption of a party financ- World War I cemetery in
ing scandal which threat- Verdun, France.
ened to tarnish his legacy. Chancellor Angela Merkel,
Born on April 3, 1930, in once Kohl’s protegee, said
Ludwigshafen, a western Germans could be grateful
industrial city on the Rhine, for the trust her predeces-
Kohl joined the Hitler Youth sor established with other
but missed service in the nations’ leaders, “from
Nazi army. Washington to Moscow,
As a 15-year-old, he was from Paris to Warsaw.”
about to be pressed into Speaking from Rome,
service in a German anti- Merkel said Kohl’s decision
aircraft gun unit when to take advantage of the
World War II ended. His pro-democracy protests
oldest brother, Walter, sweeping through the East-
was killed in action a few ern bloc in the 1980s dem-
months earlier. onstrated his acute politi-
A Roman Catholic, Kohl cal instincts.
joined the CDU shortly af- “He held fast to the dream
ter its postwar founding. He and goal of a united Ger-
became governor of the many, even as others wa-
western state of Rhineland- vered,” she said.
Palatinate in 1969. “Like millions of others, I was
Kohl’s first attempt to un- able to go from a life under
seat Social Democratic a dictatorship to a life of
Chancellor Helmut Schmidt freedom,” Merkel added.
failed in 1976, but Kohl “He will continue to live in
seized his chance six years our memories as a great
later, taking power on Oct. European and as the chan-
1, 1982 when a junior coali- cellor of reunification.”q