Helmut Kohl

Helmut Kohl

Helmut Kohl governed the Federal Republic of Germany from 1982 to 1998 — longer than any other post-war chancellor. His term coincided with an era of profound upheaval: the economic boom of the 1980s, the crisis of the Eastern Bloc, and finally the collapse of East Germany in the autumn of 1989. Kohl decisively seized the narrow window of opportunity after the fall of the Wall; within a few months he drove forward a unification process that many observers considered far premature. On 3 October 1990, the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic — an outcome that would have been unthinkable without Kohl's diplomatic network in Washington, Paris, and Moscow. For his role in reunification, he is often referred to internationally as the "Chancellor of Unity."

Equally formative was Kohl's commitment to European integration. Together with French President François Mitterrand, he pursued the deepening of the European Community, which culminated in 1992 in the Maastricht Treaty, and pushed emphatically for the introduction of the euro as a common currency. Kohl understood European unification as a historical necessity — a safeguard against a repetition of the wars of the 20th century. In 2030, Germany honors him with a 2-euro commemorative coin from the "Unity and Justice and Freedom" series, which commemorates outstanding figures in German history. Kohl died on 16 June 2017 in Ludwigshafen and was the first German honored with a European state ceremony in Strasbourg.