Former German chancellor, Helmut Kohl dies at 87

                                    

Helmut Kohl, the former German chancellor, and architect of reunification in 1990, has died at the 87. Bild newspaper reports that he died today at his house in Ludwigshafen, in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Kohl served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 (of West Germany 1982–90 and of the reunited Germany 1990–98) and as the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. From 1969 to 1976, he was Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate.

His 16-year tenure was the longest of any German Chancellor since Otto von Bismarck, and by far the longest of any democratically elected Chancellor. Kohl oversaw the end of the Cold War and is widely regarded as the mastermind of German reunification. 

Kohl is also considered to be the architect of the Maastricht Treaty together with French President François Mitterrand, who both established the European Union (EU) and the euro currency.

Helmut Kohl is survived by his wife Maike Richter and his two children Walter Kohl and Peter Kohl.