Former German chancellor Helmut Kohl dies

Helmut Kohl has passed away in Germany at the age of 87 following a lengthy struggle with ill health. He spent his last years in a wheelchair because of a head injury, DW reports.

Helmut Kohl was born in 1930. He studied Law and Political Sciences at university, after having joined the Ghrisian-Democratic Union at the age of 16. He was the German chancellor for a record of 16 years – from 1982 to 1988, and until 2002, a member of the German parliament.

The reunification of Germany took place under chancellor Kohl who initiated talks on the matter with the leaders of the US, Britain and the USSR. Helmut Kohl is seen as one of the architects of the EU in it’s present form and the euro as a common currency.