Situation on Global Stage is 'Far From What Helmut Kohl Was Expecting'

© REUTERS / Wolfgang Kumm/PoolGermany's former Chancellor Helmut Kohl attends a stamp unveiling ceremony during a reception in Berlin. (File)
Germany's former Chancellor Helmut Kohl attends a stamp unveiling ceremony during a reception in Berlin. (File) - Sputnik International
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Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl played an important role in the historic reunification process in Germany, prime minister of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1989-1990 Hans Modrow said in an exclusive interview with Sputnik Germany.

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Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, 87, died in his house in the German city of Ludwigshafen earlier on Friday. He served as the sixth Chancellor from 1982 to 1998, being the longest serving German chancellor since Otto von Bismarck.

Commenting on Kohl's death, Modrow said that he was struck by the sad news.

"It doesn't matter what our relationship from a political point of view was. From a human perspective, I can only say that my meetings with Helmut Kohl have always been marked by mutual respect — both at the time when I was the prime minister of the GDR, and later as we were colleagues in the Bundestag. He left us and he was the one who participated in the process of reunification of both German states, although he made his mistakes. But in the end, this process was completed and became history, of which Helmut Kohl is a part," Modrow told Sputnik Germany.

Modrow also noted that the current situation in the world is far from what Helmut Kohl was expecting.

"If we look at the modern world, full of wars and contradictions, I am sure that this is not what Helmut Kohl intended to achieve," he added.

Germany's former Chancellor Helmut Kohl attends a stamp unveiling ceremony during a reception in Berlin. (File) - Sputnik International
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From autumn 1989 to spring 1990 Hans Modrow was prime minister of the GDR and held the first talks with the FRG Chancellor Helmut Kohl about the reunification of Germany. Today he is the head of the Council of Elders of the German Die Linke party.

In 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall Kohl proposed to reunite Germany. The reunification occurred in October 1990. Helmut Kohl is the author of several books on German history. He was awarded German and foreign orders.

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