biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1930– )
|
| biography:
| German statesman and chancellor (1982–98), born in Ludwigshafen-am-Rhein, SW Germany. He studied at Frankfurt and Heidelberg, became a lawyer, and joined the Christian Democrats. In 1976 he moved to Bonn as a member of the Federal Parliament, became Leader of the Opposition, and his party's candidate for the chancellorship. After the collapse of the Schmidt coalition in 1982, Kohl was installed as interim chancellor, and in the elections of 1983 formed a government which has since adopted a central course between political extremes. After the collapse of East Germany in 1989, he played a key role in German reunification and was elected chancellor of the united Germany in 1990. He is a strong supporter of a united Europe. In 1998 German unemployment was at its highest since World War 2, and Kohl lost power to Schröder, ending the longest period of chancellorship since Kaiser Wilhelm's rule. He resigned his leadership of the CDU, and in 1999 his reputation suffered when he admitted accepting illicit contributions to the CDU's party finances. |
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