In June 2017, the former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl passed away. He has been the leader of the country for 16 years. It was under his leadership that Germany was reunited after the end of the Cold War.
Early years and family politics
Helmut Kohl's biography begins on April 3, 1930 in the small German city of Ludwigshafen. Now this settlement is called Ludwigshafen am Rhein, it is an important industrial and economic center of the Rhineland-Palatinate.
He was the third child in a modest family of a Bavarian tax worker, Hans Kohl and his wife Cecilia (née Cord). The parents of the future politician Helmut Kohl were opponents of National Socialism in Germany and held conservative views. They were Catholics, faith was of paramount importance in family life.
In his early youth, Helmut tried many works: he tried to raise rabbits to sell meat and fur, raise silkworms, helped workers at a construction site, he was a loader and even a truck driver.
During the Second World War
When the war began, father and elder brother went to the front. Helmut's older brother died during one of the battles at a young age. He was only 18 years old. Father managed to return home after the war.
Like many peers, Helmut Kohl then joined the children's organization Deutsche Jungfolk. With a twelve-year-old boy, he helped to remove rubble (the city was bombed by chemical plants), pulled out the charred bodies of its neighbors.
Later, the future statesman was mobilized in air defense. In December 1944, at the age of only 14, he was sent to a special training camp. Soon the war ended, so the fourteen-year-old Helmut, fortunately, did not have to take part in the hostilities.
Helmut Kohl's political views (briefly, later knowledge expanded and systematized) were formed precisely in Ludwigshafen during the Second World War.
Helmut Kohl's education
After the war, the future politician worked for some time in an ordinary stockyard, but already in 1946 he again returned to his school desk. It was necessary to continue education. Then the young Helmut joined the Christian Democratic Party. After almost thirty years, German statesman Helmut Kohl will lead her. He will retain this post for himself until 1998.
At the age of twenty, young Helmut Kohl entered the law faculty of the University of Frankfurt. Just a year later, he moved to another educational institution. Helmut Kohl continued his studies (only now he studied history and socio-political sciences) at one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Germany - Heidelberg, named after Ruprecht and Karl.
After graduation, he worked as a research fellow at the University of Heidelberg. At the age of twenty-eight years, Helmut Kohl's scientific career replenished with an important achievement. He defended his thesis and received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The theme of the work of the future politician was the revival of parties in Germany after 1945.
Almost immediately after this, the young scientist was invited to work at a foundry in his hometown. He was offered the position of assistant directorate. He occupied a place for a short time, after - he became a referent in the Union of Chemical Industry.
The beginning of a political career
The future politician joined the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) while still at school, and after the war he became the co-founder of the Youth Union in his hometown. Soyuz is a youth organization under the CDU bloc, which today is the largest youth political organization in Germany and Europe.
Kohl continued his political activities while studying at the university. For example, in the description of Helmut Kohl there are such lines:
- CDU board member in Rhineland-Palatinate;
- Deputy Chairman of the Youth Department of CSD;
- Chairman of the CDU District Office in Ludwigshfagen;
- Head of the faction in the city council;
- chairman of the faction in the parliament of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate;
- Chairman of the CDU Rhineland-Palatinate;
- member of the federal branch of the CDU;
- Deputy Chairman of the CDU.
The politician made a party career on his own, he did not have any influential patrons. The growth of Helmut Kohl in the service was quite fast. He formed his own team, the basis of which was composed of his colleagues in the youth organization.
Premier job
In 1969, Kohl became the youngest head of government. Helmut Kohl's domestic policy in this post was aimed at establishing partnerships between his native land and French Burgundy. This also led to improved relations between Germany and France.
As prime minister, Kohl carried out local administration reform and established the University of Trier (now the Technical University of Kaiserslautern). Under his auspices, Rhineland-Palatinate has become one of the most developed scientific and industrial regions of Germany. The politician led the government of the land until 1976.
Bad elections and opposition
In the elections to the Bundestag in 1976, Kohl was first put forward as chancellor. The CDU block received more than 38% of the vote - for them it was an excellent result. But still the political party from which Helmut Kohl was nominated lost the election, and the social liberals came to power.
After unsuccessful elections, Kohl was able to maintain unity in the party, agreeing to the candidacy of Franz Josef Strauss in the next election to the Bundestag. After another defeat, Strauss returned to Bavaria, and Kohl continued to lead the opposition. As chairman of the CDU, he adopted a new program, where he pointed out the need to comply with agreements with the socialist states. He was a deputy of the Bundestag from 1976 to 2002.
Federal Chancellor of Germany
In 1982, Kohl became Chancellor. This fact is not missed even by a brief biography of Helmut Kohl. He got the post because of the distrust of the previous government on the part of the people, the growing problems in economic and social policy. It was necessary to change something. Changed the Federal Chancellor. At that time, Kohl became the youngest chancellor in Germany (52 years old).
In domestic politics, the Chancellor developed microelectronics and biotechnology, tightened control over the budget and distribution of funds, and limited government intervention in the German economy. Under Helmut Kohl, inflation declined, over the course of several years, the rate was at about 1.5%. Then (1986) Germany took a leading position in the world in terms of exports and imports. But decisions were made that did not gain popularity. For example, people didn’t really like the reduction in social support costs and the tightening of legislation on strikes.
Kohl has repeatedly spoken out about the inevitability of the unification of Germany, but did not believe that he would witness this historical event. But the situation changed in the late eighties. Then mass protests began in the GDR, and Helmut Kohl presented his “10 points” - a plan for the unification of Germany. The country's unification occurred earlier than Kohl planned, and he himself entered the world history and the history of Germany as "chancellor of unity."
The main directions of Helmut Kohl's foreign policy included the establishment of good neighborly relations with the FRG, the USSR and other socialist states. The Chancellor has repeatedly met with Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin.
In 1998, politics had to leave his post. Then the victory was won by the Social Democratic Party.
CDU illegal financing
When Kohl resigned as chancellor, he was elected honorary chairman of the CDU. The following year a scandal broke out, which was associated with the discovery of bank accounts to which money was transferred for the needs of the political bloc. Kohl took full responsibility for the funds. He publicly stated that these were not bribes, but money that was intended to support local party officials. He did not name the sponsors, so in 2000 he resigned as chairman of the bloc. In 2001, the case was closed.
Memoirs of a German politician
Five years after completing a career in politics, Kohl wrote memoirs. In total, four parts of the autobiography were planned. The first was dedicated to the memory of his first wife, the second covered the period in power, the third - ended in 1994. As for the fourth part of the memoir, it was supposed to cover the remaining period of a politician’s life. But Helmut Kohl died in 2017, and no information about this part has appeared.
Scandalous statements
The former chancellor dictated his memoirs to the journalist, but he decided to publish his memoirs without the permission of the politician. A real scandal erupted, because the politician during the conversations was very frank, giving unpleasant characteristics to his contemporaries. Kohl himself indicated what should be sent to the press and what should be sent to the desk drawer. But the journalist made copies of which he cobbled together his book. Kohl tried to ban publication, but the court recognized the copy as the property of the journalist.
