Helmut Kohl dies at 87

Helmut Kohl dies at 87

The ex-Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1982 to 1998, the Father of Reunification, has died aged 87.

Helmut Kohl can also be called the Father of the Euro along with French President François Miterrand. Certainly he will be known for the two things - German reunification and European integration.

Leading the Christian Democrats, Helmut Kohl was the longest-serving Chancellor of Germany in the twentieth century. He was the protegé of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who turned against him in a financial scandal at the end of the 1990s. In 2011 he criticized Merkel's policies of austerity.

He died at home in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. He fell in 2008 and since then had been in a wheelchair.

Photo: By Cezary p - Own work, GFDL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3781156