I refer to J.G Vassallo’s article on Helmut Kohl’s career. He wrote: “In Germany, Helmut Kohl’s brilliant career was abruptly interrupted when it was discovered that he had been playing surreptitiously with secret political funds”.

I fully agree with his article but unfortunately on Mr Kohl he is wrong:

What Mr Vassallo had in mind refers to party financing where a donator personally well known to Dr Kohl after an evening election campaigning speech handed him over a cash amount of equivalent USD250,000 and asked not to disclose his name because of family reasons. Dr. Kohl accepted in a hurry (had no new party financing rules in mind), forwarded that amount to his party cashier immediately. When the new Social Democrat government of Mr Schroder came in power and Mr Kohl honestly made public his acceptance of cash money but denied to make the donator's name public according his promise and “word of honor” but against new rules. Mr Schroder and his party, in particular the new parliament's president from the SPD urged Dr. Kohl to disclose the donator's name to the German parliament authority. And all media joked about Dr. Kohl's “word of honor” what he meant but nobody accepted. For that and only for that he got punished by the parliament and paid Euro 700,000 from his own money he had not at that time but found wealthy donators who made their donations to him public – and media joked about them as well. One of them, a newspaper tycoon and member of the Social Democrats Party of Kohl's successor Mr Schroder, was even expelled from membership. Dr. Kohl stood almost alone in his party. Always keep in mind today's chancellor Dr Merkel was one of the first opposing Dr Kohl. Dr. Kohl's reaction: He laid down his honorary chair of his party and refused years later to accept it again when offered.

Tom Hauser

Germany