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In future, a Helmut Kohl Foundation will commemorate the life and work of the long-standing German Chancellor. The Bundestag decided on Thursday evening against the express will of Kohl's widow Maike Kohl-Richter. One of the tasks of the foundation, which the Bundestag approved without dissenting votes, is the establishment of a publicly accessible memorial in Berlin. "Helmut Kohl is still a great role model for many young people today," said CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak.
Maike Kohl-Richter, the widow of the former Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl, is against the establishment of a Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl Foundation.
"In my role as heiress and widow of Helmut Kohl, I did not agree to the project," she wrote on her website on Thursday.
"The project contradicts my husband's last will."
According to the draft law, the purpose of the foundation should be "the political work of Dr.
Helmut Kohls for freedom and unity of the German people, for peace in the world, for reconciliation with neighboring European states and for European integration ”.
This should contribute to an understanding of contemporary history and the further development of the Federal Republic.
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The foundation is intended to contribute to the research, strengthening and further development of the European integration process in a global environment.
In addition, it should deepen and expand knowledge of the current and future political, economic and social challenges in Germany, Europe and the world.
So far there are six comparable foundations in Germany such as the Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt Foundation and the Federal Chancellor Adenauer House Foundation.
Kohl was Chancellor from 1982 to 1998 and CDU Chairman from 1973 to 1998.
His name stands for the regaining of German unity and the expansion of European integration, but also for the CDU donation affair uncovered in 1999.
"Those in charge lack any human sensitivity"
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Kohl's widow wrote that the construction of the foundation did not correspond to her husband's ideas at the time.
"The CDU has not (so far) been impressed by my concerns and ideas, which I discussed with my husband over many years and which we developed together."
Kohl-Richter further criticized: “The CDU risks with sight that Helmut Kohl becomes the plaything of politics and new majority relationships: You just have to adapt the foundation law - which is possible at any time with a simple government majority - and reassign the committees accordingly. "
In an eleven-page press release from Kohl-Richter's lawyers, “the unconditional 'beating through' of the foundation idea in the rush-hour procedure in this legislative period” is criticized. The CDU would first have had to deal with the donation complex and "clarify its relationship with Helmut Kohl, for which those responsible - obviously - lack any willingness and any openness and (human) sensitivity".
Her client “simply doubts that an objective reappraisal of Helmut Kohl's life and politics within the framework of the planned foundation structure can succeed at this point in time and under these conditions and that it is on a good, clear foundation,” the law firm continued. "How can our client trust that the planned, allegedly (how recognizable not) politically independent foundation is not just the continuation of the political struggle against Helmut Kohl and his politics in line with the so-called donation affair?"