Economics
Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of German Reunification, Dies at 87
- In office for 16 years, Kohl paved way for monetary union
- Merkel pays tribute to her mentor for changing her life’s path
Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl at his official birthday reception in 2010.
Photographer: Andreas Rentz/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Helmut Kohl, the German chancellor who oversaw his country’s 1990 reunification after the Cold War, helped forge Europe’s economic and monetary union and gave incumbent Angela Merkel her first cabinet post, has died. He was 87.
Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, which Kohl led for a quarter century, confirmed his death. Bild newspaper, which was first to report the news, said the former chancellor died at his home in the western German city of Ludwigshafen. Kohl had been ailing since suffering a fall at his home in 2008.