Yahoo – AFP,
Hui Min NEO, June 16, 2017
Tributes are flooding in from world leaders for former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl |
Germany's
longest serving post-war leader Helmut Kohl, the father of national
reunification and an architect of European integration, died Friday at the age
of 87.
Kohl helped
a Germany that was split during the Cold War between a capitalist west and a
communist east make the traumatic transition to a unified democracy.
The
towering figure of European contemporary history also worked with France's
Francois Mitterrand to shape the European project and pushed Germans to part
with their cherished Deutschmarks in favour of the single European currency,
the euro.
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a moving tribute to her mentor, declaring that
"Kohl changed my life decisively".
Merkel, who
grew up in the communist German Democratic Republic, said that thanks to him,
she, "like millions of other people, could leave a life of GDR
dictatorship and enter into a life of freedom".
"All
that has happened in the past 27 years from then until today would have been
unimaginable without Helmut Kohl," said Merkel, dressed in black.
"It
will be a while before we will truly be able to measure what we have lost with
his passing," Merkel said, adding that she was "personally thankful that
he was there".
"I bow
down before his memory," said Merkel, who described Kohl as a "great
German and great European".
Germany's
longest serving post-war leader Helmut Kohl, shown here with Soviet
president
Mikhail Gorbachev, has died
|
Tributes
also poured in from abroad, with former US president George H.W. Bush hailing
"one of the greatest" post-war leaders, and European Commission chief
Jean-Claude Juncker honouring him as the "very essence of Europe".
Former
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev underlined Kohl's role in ending the Cold War,
noting that "he was without doubt an exceptional personality who left his
mark on German, European and international history".
Kohl,
Gorbachev said, had demonstrated "a deep interest for Russia" and had
helped bridged East and West as he "warned the West against taking on a
contemptuous attitude towards Russian interests".
'True
friend of freedom'
Kohl died
peacefully in his bed at home in Ludwigshafen, in the southwestern state of
Rhineland-Palatinate, said the Bild newspaper, adding that his wife Maike
Kohl-Richter was by his side.
Mourning
his mentor and friend, Juncker said: "Helmut Kohl filled the European
house with life -- not only because he built bridges to the west as well as to
the east, but also because he never ceased to design even better blueprints for
the future of Europe."
Bush,
describing Kohl as "a true friend of freedom", said: "Helmut
hated war -- but he detested totalitarianism even more".
Kohl worked
closely with French president Francois Mitterand to shape the
European project
and cement Franco-German reconciliation
|
"Working
closely with my very good friend to help achieve a peaceful end to the Cold War
and the unification of Germany within NATO will remain one of the great joys of
my life," added the former US president.
France's
President Emmanuel Macron posted on Twitter a picture of Kohl standing with the
late Mitterrand, saying: "An architect of united Germany and Franco-German
friendship: with Helmut Kohl, we have lost a great European."
- 'Mantle
of history' -
Born into a
Catholic family on April 3, 1930 in the industrial city of Ludwigshafen, Kohl
studied history and political science and rose quickly through the conservative
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, his ever-smiling first wife Hannelore,
with whom he had two sons, by his side.
He became
chancellor of West Germany in 1982 and as the Cold War ended with the Berlin
Wall coming down in November 1989, he moved to "grab the mantle of
history," as he later said, forging a political stature commensurate with
his towering height.
Kohl
persuaded Bush to accept a larger, reunified Germany, and convinced Gorbachev
to withdraw troops from East Germany.
His vision
was for a reunified Germany that was at the heart of an enlarged European Union
and a staunch NATO member.
Merkel
lauded his contribution to German and European integration in 2012, on the 30th
anniversary of his becoming chancellor, declaring that Europeans were
"united in our luck" thanks to Kohl's efforts.
'Don't
close doors on Britain'
Kohl
considered Konrad Adenauer -- West Germany's visionary first chancellor, who
allowed the nation to make a fresh start after World War II -- as an
ideological forefather.
Mentor to
Merkel, Kohl was later ousted by his protege, who urged their party to drop the
self-declared "old warhorse" when he became embroiled in a campaign
finance scandal in 1999.
Key dates in the political career of #HelmuthKohl - the father of German reunification and an architect of European integration pic.twitter.com/2RjjUbemmK— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 17, 2017
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