Helmut Kohl Quotes

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Helmut Kohl

Profession : Politician

Birth : April 3, 1930

I experienced Nazism as a child. Like many of my generation, I was motivated by the desire to prevent another war at any price.

Helmut Kohl

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.

Helmut Kohl

Europe has, to put it mildly, been in a poor state since the transition to the 21st century. This is down to national issues, European missteps, and an economic and financial crisis that crashed down on us with enough force to dislodge the essential European idea.

Helmut Kohl

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.

Helmut Kohl

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.

Helmut Kohl

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.

Helmut Kohl

Nations with a common currency never went to war against each other. A common currency is more than the money you pay with.

Helmut Kohl

Germany is our fatherland; Europe is our future.

Helmut Kohl

In a democracy, if you don't get the votes, nothing else is possible, no matter how wonderful your dreams.

Helmut Kohl

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.

Helmut Kohl

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.

Helmut Kohl

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.

Helmut Kohl

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.

Helmut Kohl

Solitary decisions, no matter how well-founded they may appear to individuals, must belong to the past - along with national, unilateralist action.

Helmut Kohl

We Germans have learned from history. We are a peace-loving, freedom-loving people. There is only one place for us in the world: at the side of the free nations.

Helmut Kohl

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.

Helmut Kohl

Our shared historical experiences led myself and Mitterrand to the decision that we must do everything to prevent further wars.

Helmut Kohl

When I was elected to head the German government, I was fortunate enough to find a partner in Francois Mitterrand.

Helmut Kohl

I have made a very good living, for more than 30 years, by being underestimated.

Helmut Kohl

German and European unification are two sides of the same coin.

Helmut Kohl