Helmut Kohl in 2013
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
Almost four years after the death of the former Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the Bundestag initiated the establishment of a foundation for the CDU politician.
It is intended to commemorate the life and work of the conservative who was Federal Chancellor from 1982 to 1998.
At the first reading of the bill, there was a lot of support from all political groups.
»Helmut Kohl had many facets - as a person, as a politician.
You should be remembered, "said the deputy chairman of the Union parliamentary group, Gitta Connemann.
But there were also breaks, "as we all know," she said.
The SPD MP Katrin Budde said that it was completely indisputable that Kohl was a Chancellor "who shaped the Federal Republic".
But there were also critical voices.
For the Greens, Erhard Grundl described the legacy of the former Chancellor as "highly ambivalent".
"The so-called spiritual and moral turnaround, which Helmut Kohl announced with pathos at the beginning of his term as Federal Chancellor, culminated in his CDU of black suitcases, illegal donations, and dubious machinations."
Simone Barrientos from the Left also said she would support her parliamentary group, but they would have a "critical look at the work of Helmut Kohl," she said.
Barrientos expressed the hope that it would finally be possible »to free the files that are still stored in the basement of Helmut Kohl's own home in Oggersheim because Maike Kohl-Richter refuses to hand them over and to bring them where they belong, namely in the Federal Archives «.
Dispute over estate
After being voted out of office as Federal Chancellor in 1998, Helmut Kohl sent the CDU-affiliated Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung a van full of files for its archive in Sankt Augustin near Bonn - but had it picked up again in 2010.
To this day, Kohl's last wife, the 34 years younger Kohl-Richter, watches over his estate.
Without their consent, it will be difficult to make the documents available to a wider public.
Maike Kohl-Richter (right) and Kohl in 2010 in Frankfurt am Main
Photo: Ralph Orlowski / Getty Images
Kohl-Richter told Deutschlandfunk in 2018 that she wanted something to be done about her deceased husband "in agreement" with her.
"It's not about me ruling alone," she'd said at the time.
Germany has a right to truth - only with her in a foundation.
The establishment of the foundation was delayed because of the dispute, and Kohl-Richter is no longer mentioned in the draft law.
The seat of the foundation should be in Berlin.
The foundation's role models are the Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt Foundation or the Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt Foundation.
Both foundations were established less than two years after the death dates of the two former German chancellors.
hba / dpa