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All Quotes by author - 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" For me it is completely clear that our air bases in Germany would be available to the Americans. "

" George Bush was for me the most important ally on the road to German unity. "

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

" Germany is our fatherland; Europe is our future. "

" Gorbachev's legacy is that he called time on communism, partially against his will, but in fact, he finished it off. Without violence. Without bloodshed. Beyond that, I am struggling to think of much else in terms of real legacy. "

" I ask myself where Germany stands today and where it wants to go. "

" I don't want to give myself grades. I will leave evaluation of my achievements to history. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I have been underestimated for decades. I have done very well that way. "

" I have every reason, despite the resentment and exasperation, to be proud. I have nothing better to be proud of than being proud of German unity. "

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

" 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 like everything that makes you fat. "

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

" In German history, we don't have many reasons to be proud. "

" 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. "

" It was a stroke of luck that there were about four to six leaders in power in the mid-'80s who really trusted one another and could really make things happen. "

" My childhood ended in 1942. I was 12, and for the next three years, I lived under incessant bombings. It was a life of constant fear. "

" 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. "

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

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

" Peace must be more than the absence of war. "

" 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. "

" Political life is like this - elections go back and forth. Representative democracy can only be successful if one sits down and says, 'That's it. I will connect myself,' - as I did - 'connect my existence to a political project.' Then you automatically have in your party a lot of people who say, 'If that fails, so do I'. "

" Russia is Germany's most important neighbor in the East, and it will remain so. "

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