Helmut Kohl

Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (German: Helmut Josef Michael Kohl, pronunciation: [ˈhɛlmuːt ˈkoːl]; April 3, 1930 – June 16, 2017), German politician. He served as governor of Rhineland-Palatinate (1969-1976) and chairman of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (1973-1998). He was the last Chancellor of West Germany (1982-1990) and the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (1990-1998) after the reunification of Germany. Kohl played a key role in the reunification process of the two Germanys and also made many contributions to the European integration process. However, in his later years, Kohl's Christian Democratic Party was involved in the illegal political donation scandal. Kohl admitted that he had also accepted millions of marks in illegal political donations, and the court imposed a fine in exchange for shelving criminal proceedings, making his historical evaluation controversial.