Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl Passes Away
Berlin (June 17, 2017): Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the architect of German reunification after the end of the Cold War, has passed away at the age of 87 years.
Kohl served as German chancellor for 16 years, from 1982 to 1998, and was Germany’s longest-serving leader since 1945. He worked tirelessly for the reunification of West and East Germany, the countries separated in the ashes of World War II.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said in a statement, “We have lost the father of modern Germany and my deepest sympathies and condolences are with his family and with the German people at this sad time.”
“Helmut’s death hurts me deeply,” European Commission Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said in a Twitter post. “My mentor, my friend, the very essence of Europe, he will be greatly, greatly missed.”
Former US President Bill Clinton — who honored Kohl with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999 — mourned the loss of his friend, saying his “visionary leadership prepared Germany and all of Europe for the 21st century.”
“He was called upon to answer some of the most monumental questions of his time, and in answering them correctly he made possible the reunification of a strong, prosperous Germany and the creation of the European Union,” Clinton said in a statement. Kohl was born on April 1930 in Ludwigshafen.
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