Helmut Kohl
Overview
 
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (ˈhɛlmuːt ˈkoːl; born 3 April 1930) is a German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 conservative politician and statesman. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 (of West Germany between 1982 and 1990 and of the reunited Germany between 1990 and 1998) and the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. His 16-year tenure was the longest of any German chancellor since Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...

 and oversaw the end of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 and the German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...

.
Quotations

Entscheidend ist, was hinten rauskommt.

Translation: The crucial thing is what comes out at the end.

Die jungen Leute in Deutschland haben kein Problem mit dem Judentum. Ich gehe ja auch manchmal mit meinen beiden Jungs über den jüdischen Friedhof in Oggersheim.

Translation: The young people of Germany have no problem with Judaism. Me too, with my two sons sometimes walk across the Jewish cemetery in Oggersheim.

Die neue Armut ist eine Erfindung des sozialistischen Jet-sets

Translation: The new poverty is an invention of the socialist Jet-set.

Das ist eine klassische journalistische Behauptung. Sie ist zwar richtig, aber sie ist nicht die Wahrheit.

Translation: This is a typical journalistic statement: It is correct, but it is not the truth.

Erträge und Kosten müssen im richtigen Verhältnis zueinander stehen.

Translation: Revenue and cost have to be in the right relation to each other.

Von deutschem Boden muss in Zukunft immer Frieden ausgehen.

Translation: In all future, only peace may come from German soil.

Eine erfolgreiche Industrienation, das heißt eine Nation mit Zukunft, lässt sich nicht als kollektiver Freizeitpark organisieren.

Translation: A successful industrial nation, meaning a nation with future, can not be organized as a collective holiday resort.

Die Existenzgrundlage unseres Landes geht kaputt, wenn erst die Schleusen für die Ausländer geöffnet sind.

Translation: The means of existence of our country will break down, once the watergates are open to the foreigners.

Wir werden die Arbeitslosigkeit und die Zahl der in Deutschland lebenden Ausländer um die Hälfte reduzieren.

Translation: We will cut in half unemployment and the number of foreigners living in Germany.

 
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