Editing Helmut Kohl (section)

=== Third cabinet, 1987–1991 ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F075760-0020, Brüssel, Sitzung des Europarates.jpg|Kohl at a 1987 [[European Council]] meeting with vice-chancellor and foreign minister [[Hans-Dietrich Genscher]]|thumb|right]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-0907-017, Bonn, Besuch Erich Honecker, mit Helmut Kohl.jpg|thumb|upright|Kohl (right) and [[Erich Honecker]] at the [[Federal Chancellery in Bonn]], 1987]]
After the [[1987 West German federal election|1987 federal elections]] Kohl won a slightly reduced majority and formed his [[Cabinet Kohl III|third cabinet]]. The SPD's candidate for chancellor was the [[Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia]], [[Johannes Rau]].<ref>Giuliano Bonoli, Martin Powell, ''Social Democratic Party Policies in Contemporary Europe'', p. 173, Routledge, 2004, {{ISBN|9781134408917}}</ref>

In 1987, Kohl hosted East German leader [[Erich Honecker]] – the [[Erich Honecker's 1987 visit to West Germany|first ever visit]] by an East German head of state to West Germany. This is generally seen as a sign that Kohl pursued ''Ostpolitik'', a policy of [[détente]] between East and West that had been begun by the SPD-led governments (and strongly opposed by Kohl's own CDU) during the 1970s.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.fpri.org/article/2013/03/the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall-the-power-of-individuals-and-the-unpredictability-of-history/|title=The Fall of the Berlin Wall, the Power of Individuals, and the Unpredictability of History|publisher=Foreign Policy Research Institute|language=en-US|access-date=31 January 2017}}</ref>

==== Internal struggle for CDU leadership ====
The CDU's general secretary, Heiner Geißler, considered the party to be in a downward spiral following the relatively poor showing in the 1987 elections. Behind the scenes, he attempted to find a majority to unseat Kohl as the party's chairman and replace him with [[Lothar Späth]], the [[Minister-president]] of [[Baden-Württemberg]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wagner |first1=Joerg Helge |title=Putschisten und Paladine |url=https://www.weser-kurier.de/startseite_artikel,-putschisten-und-paladine-_arid,1614189.html |publisher=Weser-Kurier |access-date=28 June 2019 |language=de |date=17 June 2017}}</ref> Before the CDU party convention in [[Bremen]] started on 11 September 1989, Kohl was diagnosed with an inflammation of his prostate.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Luley |first1=Peter |title=Kohl und wie er die Welt sah |newspaper=Die Tageszeitung: Taz |url=https://taz.de/!5154176/ |publisher=[[die tageszeitung]] |access-date=28 June 2019 |language=de |date=16 October 2009}}</ref> His doctor recommended immediate surgery, but Kohl refused to miss the convention and attended while wearing a [[catheter]] and with his doctor by his side, whom he introduced as his new speech writer.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spöcker |first1=Christoph |title=Helmut Kohl: Kleine Anekdoten aus dem Leben eines großen Politikers |date=2017 |publisher=riva Verlag |location=Munich |isbn=978-3-86883-826-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kblbCwAAQBAJ |language=de}}</ref> In the end, the "coup" was unsuccessful, as Kohl was re-elected as chairman with 79.52% of the votes.<ref>{{cite news |title=Die Wahlergebnisse aller bisherigen CDU-Vorsitzenden |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/die-wahlergebnisse-aller-bisherigen-cdu-vorsitzenden/134980.html |newspaper=[[Der Tagesspiegel]] |access-date=28 June 2019 |language=de |date=10 April 2000}}</ref> Späth, who did not stand for the position of chairman after support for Kohl became apparent, was punished by his party, failing to be elected as vice-chairman with just 357 of 731 votes.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hofmann |first1=Gunter |title=Kanzlerstark, aber kopflos |url=https://www.zeit.de/1989/38/kanzlerstark-aber-kopflos |access-date=28 June 2019 |work=[[Die Zeit]] |issue=38/1989 |language=de}}</ref> Geißler meanwhile was relieved of his duties as general secretary and replaced by [[Volker Rühe]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Parteitag: Siegen oder untergehen |url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13507108.html |access-date=28 June 2019 |work=[[Der Spiegel]] |issue=38/1989 |pages=26–28 |language=de}}</ref>

==== Road to reunification ====
{{Main|German reunification}}

Following the breach of the [[Berlin Wall]] and the collapse of the East German Communist regime in 1989, Kohl's handling of the East German issue would become the turning point of his chancellorship. Kohl, like most West Germans, was initially caught unaware when the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party]] was toppled in late 1989. Well aware of his constitutional mandate to seek German unity, he immediately moved to make it a reality. Taking advantage of the historic political changes occurring in East Germany, Kohl presented a ten-point plan for "Overcoming of the division of Germany and Europe" without consulting his coalition partner, the FDP, or the Western Allies. In February 1990, he visited the Soviet Union seeking a guarantee from [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] that the USSR would allow German reunification to proceed. [[1990 East German general election|One month later]], the [[Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)|Party of Democratic Socialism]] – the renamed SED – was roundly defeated by a grand coalition headed by the East German counterpart of Kohl's CDU, which ran on a platform of speedy reunification.<ref name=Thompson>{{cite book |title=The World Today Series: Nordic, Central and Southeastern Europe 2008|last=Thompson |first=Wayne C. |year=2008 |publisher=Stryker-Post Publications |location=Harpers Ferry, West Virginia |isbn=978-1-887985-95-6}}</ref>

On 18 May 1990, Kohl signed an economic and social union treaty with East Germany. This treaty stipulated that when reunification took place, it would be under the quicker provisions of Article 23 of the Basic Law. That article stated that any new states could adhere to the Basic Law by a simple majority vote. The alternative would have been the more protracted route of drafting a completely new constitution for the newly reunified country, as provided by Article 146 of the Basic Law. However, the Article 146 process would have opened up contentious issues in West Germany. Even without this to consider, by this time East Germany was in a state of utter collapse. In contrast, an Article 23 reunification could be completed in as little as six months.<ref>Alexander von Plato, ''The End of the Cold War?: Bush, Kohl, Gorbachev, and the Reunification of Germany'', p. 226, Springer, 2016, {{ISBN|9781137488725}}</ref>

Over the objections of [[Deutsche Bundesbank|Bundesbank]] president [[Karl Otto Pöhl]], he allowed a 1:1 exchange rate for wages, interest and rent between the [[German mark|West]] and [[East German mark|East Marks]]. In the end, this policy would seriously hurt companies in the [[New states of Germany|new federal states]]. Together with Foreign Minister [[Hans-Dietrich Genscher]], Kohl was able to resolve talks with the former Allies of World War II to allow [[German reunification]]. He received assurances from Gorbachev that a reunified Germany would be able to choose which international alliance it wanted to join, although Kohl made no secret that he wanted the reunified Germany to inherit West Germany's seats at NATO and the EC.<ref>P. Caldwell, R. Shandley, ''German Unification: Expectations and Outcomes'', p. 26ff, Springer, 2010, {{ISBN|9780230337954}}</ref>

[[File:KohlModrowMomperBrandenburgerTor.jpg|thumb|Kohl speaks at the official opening of the [[Brandenburg Gate]] in 1989.]]
A reunification treaty was signed on 31 August 1990 and was overwhelmingly approved by both parliaments on 20 September 1990. At midnight [[Central European Time]] on 3 October 1990, East Germany officially ceased to exist, and its territory joined the Federal Republic as the five states of [[Brandenburg]], Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, [[Saxony]], Saxony-Anhalt and [[Thuringia]]. These states had been the original five states of East Germany before being abolished in 1952 and had been reconstituted in August. East and West Berlin were reunited as a city-state which became the capital of the enlarged Federal Republic.
[[File:Helmut Kohl & François Mitterrand - 1989.jpg|thumb|Kohl and French President [[François Mitterrand]] at the [[European Council]] Summit in Strasbourg, 9 December 1989]]
After the [[fall of the Berlin Wall]], Kohl affirmed that [[Former eastern territories of Germany|former German territories]] east of the [[Oder-Neisse line]] were definitively part of Poland, thereby relinquishing any claim Germany had to them in a [[German–Polish Border Treaty|treaty signed]] on 14 November 1990 in [[Warsaw]]. Though, earlier in March of that year, Kohl caused a diplomatic firestorm when he suggested that a reunified Germany would not accept the Oder–Neisse line, and implied that the Federal Republic might wish to restore the frontier of 1937, by force if necessary.<ref>Merkl, Peter H. German Unification in the European Context University Park: Penn State Press, 2010 page 132.</ref> After the statement caused a major international backlash that threatened to halt German reunification, Kohl retracted his comments after knuckling under international rebuke and assured both the United States and the Soviet Union that a reunified Germany would accept the Oder–Neisse line as the final border between Poland and Germany.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |title=Kohl Retreats, Says He Accepts Polish Borders |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-03-07-mn-1895-story.html |work= Los Angeles Times |date= 7 March 1990 |access-date=}}</ref> In 1993, Kohl confirmed, via treaty with the Czech Republic, that Germany would no longer bring forward territorial claims as to the pre-1945 [[ethnic German]] [[Sudetenland]]. This treaty was a disappointment for the German [[Heimatvertriebene]] ("displaced persons").<ref>Rödder 2009, S. 236 f.; Heinrich August Winkler: Der lange Weg nach Westen. Zweiter Band: Deutsche Geschichte vom «Dritten Reich» bis zur Wiedervereinigung. Fünfte, durchgesehene Auflage, München 2002, S. 552.</ref><ref>"Während die polnische Seite noch weiter auf die Heimatvertriebenen zugehen muß – Worte allein sind eben nicht genug – müssen die ... Verständliche Enttäuschung und Verbitterung in den Reihen der Vertriebenen, die vielfach zu einer Verweigerungshaltung geführt haben, dürfen ..." (Friedbert Pflüger, Winfried Lipscher, Feinde werden Freunde: Von den Schwierigkeiten der deutsch-polnischen Nachbarschaft, Bouvier Verlag, 1993, p. 425.)<!-- isbn needed --></ref><ref>"Kohl hat das Gegenteil getan und dadurch Enttäuschung und Bitterkeit geradezu vorprogrammiert. Dieser innenpolitischen Einschätzung Vogels ist nichts hinzuzufügen. (Jahrestag der Charta der deutschen Heimatvertriebenen am 5....)" Richard Saage, Axel Rüdiger, Feinde werden Freunde: Elemente einer politischen Ideengeschichte der Demokratie:historisch-politische Studien, Duncker & Humblot, 2006, p. 285.<!-- isbn needed --></ref>