Words matter. These are the best Helmut Kohl Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
I experienced Nazism as a child. Like many of my generation, I was motivated by the desire to prevent another war at any price.
Germany is our fatherland; Europe is our future.
Two decisions have damaged the stability both of the euro and of Europe: the premature admission of Greece to the euro area and the breach and subsequent weakening of the stability and growth pact.
People in Tel Aviv can not imagine, but in 1990, here in Leipzig or Dresden, whoever wanted to buy a car had to wait 14 years. The East Germans worked like people in the West, but the fruits of their labor were harvested by a criminal regime.
Our shared historical experiences led myself and Mitterrand to the decision that we must do everything to prevent further wars.
I knew that I could never win a referendum in Germany. We would have lost a referendum on the introduction of the euro. That’s quite clear. I would have lost, and by seven to three.
I have made a very good living, for more than 30 years, by being underestimated.
As a child, I personally didn’t really get to know any Jews. I was eight years old when the Night of Broken Glass happened. And Ludwigshafen was purely a workers’ city, so we didn’t have a very big Jewish community. What I did know about the Jews, I heard from my mother. My mother was very much pro-Jewish.
There must be no question for us that we in the European Union and the eurozone stand by Greece in solidarity.
The Christian Democrats always made you feel like the poor relation.
We were united not only by political respect for each other, but also by deep mutual sympathy as people.
Isolated decisions, however well-founded they might seem to the individual, and national go-it-alone moves must belong to the past. They should not be the 21st-century method of choice, particularly because the consequences of the European community’s actions must often be carried collectively.
I like everything that makes you fat.
When I was elected to head the German government, I was fortunate enough to find a partner in Francois Mitterrand.
As a German, in view of the history of World War II and the terrible deeds of the Nazi period, I feel a special obligation to help as much as I can to develop European-Israeli relations and thus contribute to ensuring Israel’s future and existence.
My parents were Christians – Catholics, but not in the close-minded sense. I remember my mother to be a very pious woman, but she was never against other religions.
For me it is completely clear that our air bases in Germany would be available to the Americans.
We humans have an abyss inside us. The more power people have, the greater the danger.
When people come to write about my period of office, I would be very happy if they say that I made a contribution to finding the happy medium again for the Germans.
If one has no compass, when one doesn’t know where one stands and where one wants to go, one can deduce that one has no leadership or interest in shaping events.
Where is Germany now and where does it want to go? It’s a question being asked by our partners and allies abroad. We have to return – urgently – to our old dependability. We have to make clear for others what we stand for, where we’re headed, and that we know where we belong.
Solitary decisions, no matter how well-founded they may appear to individuals, must belong to the past – along with national, unilateralist action.
If a Chancellor is trying to push something through, he must be a man of power. And if he’s smart, he knows when the time is ripe. In one case – the euro – I was like a dictator… The euro is a synonym for Europe.
German and European unification are two sides of the same coin.
The most important rule of the new Europe is: There must never again be violence in Europe.
