Helmut Kohl

Helmut Kohl (1930-2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1982 to 1998, the longest tenure in that office since Otto von Bismarck. Born in Ludwigshafen in the Rhineland, he was old enough to be drafted into the auxiliary forces in the closing months of the Second World War and entered politics through the Christian Democratic Union as a teenager in the immediate postwar years.

He earned a doctorate in history at Heidelberg in 1958 and rose through Rhineland-Palatinate politics, becoming minister-president of that state in 1969. He led the CDU at federal level from 1973 and became chancellor after a constructive vote of no confidence brought down the Schmidt government in October 1982.

His chancellorship coincided with the most consequential events in postwar German history. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 he moved quickly to negotiate German reunification, which took effect on 3 October 1990, and he is widely remembered as the Chancellor of Unity. He was also a steady advocate of European integration and worked closely with French President François Mitterrand to push forward the Maastricht Treaty and the single currency that became the euro.

He lost the 1998 federal election to Gerhard Schröder and was later drawn into a CDU party-finance scandal that damaged his standing. He died in Ludwigshafen in 2017.

The given name Helmut is German, from Old High German helm, meaning helmet or protection, joined to muot, meaning spirit or courage. Used for boys in German-speaking countries, it suited him through decades at the centre of European politics.