Helmut Kohl (1930–2017)

Helmut Joseph Michael Kohl was born in Ludwigshafen, Germany on April 3, 1930. As a teenager, he become a member of the Hitler Youth and was tasked to dig charred corpses from the ashes in his hometown. He later fed ammunition to antiaircraft guns in the Bavarian Alps. In the spring of 1945, after show more surviving a heavy Allied bombing of Berchtesgaden and its environs in the Bavarian Alps, Kohl decided the war was over for him. He and a few friends set off on foot for his hometown, which was 250 miles away. He joined the Christian Democratic Union when he was 17 years old. He became the state of Rhineland-Palatinate premier in 1967, his party's national leader in 1973, and chancellor in 1982. He was chancellor for 16 years and was an important figure in the reunification of Germany. Several autobiographies and memoirs were ghostwritten under his name. He also wrote With Concern for Europe with his second wife Maike Richter. He died on June 16, 2017 at the age of 87. (Bowker Author Biography) show less