Political life is a paradox. Politicians seek to achieve results in the short run because electoral success depends on this. However, they are often concerned about how ‘history’ will ‘judge’ them. The nature of their work binds them to act in the present, yet, they often see themselves in a historical time continuum. The late former chancellor of Germany, Helmut Kohl, understood the significance of ‘history’ in the life of a politician.

He was born in 1930 to a conservative Roman Catholic family in the town of Ludwigshafen on the bank of the River Rhine in the Palatinate. The Palatinate was once at the centre of the Holy Roman Empire while the Rhine is the river which both unites and divides, serving as both a transportation link and a natural border between nations and states. Living in such historical crossroads undoubtedly shaped Kohl’s worldview.

His life was bound to both the history and the modern development of the Palatinate.

His doctoral dissertation in history focused on political developments in the Palatinate after 1945. His first significant political role was that of regional minister-president between 1969 and 1976.

Life for the Kohl family was challenging. His older brother was killed during the war. The young Helmut was forced to enrol in the Hitler Youth. In the wake of the war, Germany emerged divided, chastised and humiliated.

The Christian Democrat leader, Konrad Adenauer, had to inspire a new generation. This task was not simple. He was aggrieved at the thought of a divided Germany and, yet, unlike the Social Democratic opposition, he believed that Germany could not remain neutral for the sake of unity. Unity would come once freedom was secured.

Benedict XVI, Kohl’s contemporary, summed up his appeal: “Adenauer formed a new image of Germany in which he saw us bound up with the West... We had the feeling that Germany… must be redesigned as a German State, so, with this approach, we also stood at a new beginning.”

Kohl, inspired by the post-war German statesman, joined the reconstituted Christian Democratic Union at the age of 16. Although deeply rooted in his province, he was not provincial. His vision was bolstered by a dogged determination and unwavering ambition. These qualities made up for his shortcomings. He was a poor speaker; he was not charismatic and was disliked intensely by some factions within his party.

Helmut Kohl sought to mould Germany in the image of Europe

In 1976, he lost his first bid for the Chancellorship. The CDU lost to the ruling Social-Democrat/FDP coalition headed by Helmut Schmidt. In 1980, Franz Josef Strauss, from the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, was the candidate for the Chancellorship. Strauss and Kohl had an uneasy relationship marked by personal rivalry and disagreements. Strauss failed in his attempt and returned to his home-state; Kohl stayed on to lead the Opposition.

In 1982, the FDP left the governing coalition and joined the CDU. Kohl was appointed Chancellor – a role he occupied for the next 16 years. He went on to win both the 1983 and the 1987 elections. His style was unique and pragmatic. He called for a “spiritual and moral renewal”, harking back to the great conservatism of Adenauer. Simultaneously, he continued to pursue the policy of détente, thereby echoing the views of his Social-Democrat predecessors.

By the late 1980s, his support within the CDU declined. Accusations of scandal and various foreign policy gaffes began to erode on his authority. When this unpopularity began to translate into a loss of votes in regional elections, different factions within the CDU began to plot his downfall.

However, the cracks in the Eastern bloc could no longer be contained. The Iron Curtain began to dismantle. Kohl, aware of the historical significance of the unfolding events, embarked on the mammoth task to try and unite east and west. This effectively silenced his political foes.

There were several hurdles. On the international front, both Francois Mitterand and George H.W. Bush were supportive. Margaret Thatcher was not. Her fears of a strong united Germany were neither unfounded nor isolated. Germany’s neighbours were equally apprehensive.

Kohl’s response was to bind reunification with greater European integration.

In Germany, westerners did not want to experience a decline in their standard of living while East Germans were concerned that they would be treated as second-class citizens.

Against all the odds, he successfully oversaw reunification and won a further two electoral mandates. On balance, reunification was politically and socially beneficial. However, it came at a very high price. One estimate values the cost of German reunification at €2 trillion over a period of 20 years.

There were errors of an economic nature. Kohl stubbornly refused to heed the advice of the Bundesbank and pursued his plan to value the Ostmark on par with the Deutschmark. Moreover, the doctored economic statistics of East Germany failed to depict the economic scenario realistically.

Towards the end of his last term, unemployment had risen sharply and urgent economic reforms were needed. Kohl was voted out in 1998; it was up to his successors to make good for his shortcomings. The scandals concerning political donors further marred his legacy. In 2000, he was stripped of the honorary presidency of the CDU and retired to private life.

This private life was tortuous at best. His first wife, Hannelore, committed suicide in 2001. His two sons were estranged. The eldest wrote a damning autobiography claiming that his father had sacrificed his family life for the CDU: “My father often reproached me for not appreciating the advantages I had because of my background. But I didn’t want advantages; I simply wanted to be allowed to be like others my age.”

In pursuing the ‘judgement of history’, Kohl failed those who were closest to him.

The ‘historical’ judgement he so longed for will be broadly positive but fair. The European Union will be holding an act of state to mark his death, and he will be interred in the grounds of the historic Speyer Cathedral. This is fitting since no other modern German statesman can ever claim to have reunited a divided country.

Kohl sought to mould Germany in the image of Europe. It was through this strategy that Germany became, once again, a political giant. His protégé, Angela Merkel, now seeks to mould Europe in the image of Germany. Whether this will be the undoing of Kohl’s legacy remains to be seen.

André DeBattista is an independent researcher in politics and international relations.

andre.deb@gmail.com