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When he died in July, Helmut Kohl had been out of public life for nearly 20 years. For many, his towering presence in Germany and Europe has faded from memory. Much of his reputation was tarnished by political scandals uncovered after he left office. After 2007, Kohl lived increasingly in isolation and in declining health and was forced to watch from the sidelines as his protégé, Angela Merkel, became the face of the new Germany. Meanwhile, his predecessor and arch enemy, Helmut Schmidt, was celebrated as Germany’s ruling elder statesman.
But Kohl’s legacy in the chancellorship, where he served from 1982 to 1998, is both meaningful and lasting for Germany and for the world. For more than three decades in politics, he worked tirelessly to ensure that a newly powerful Germany would be the trusted global partner that it has in fact become. Long before the end of the Cold War, he had built partnerships in both the East and West, which allowed for a relatively smooth German reunification process.
