Editing Helmut Kohl (section)

== Personality and media portrayals ==
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F045625-0010, Bonn, Pressekonferenz CDU Bundesvorstand, Kohl.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Kohl in 1975. In his years as minister-president, Kohl was treated by the media as a progressive reformer in his own party. This image changed during the 1970s with Kohl's assumption of leadership in the federal party. {{Citation needed span|He experienced a fundamental animosity of journalists towards him.|date=June 2023}}]]
Kohl faced stiff opposition from the West German political left and was mocked for his large physical stature, alleged provinciality, simplistic language, and (slight) local [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]] dialect including [[hypercorrection]]s. Similar to historical French cartoons of [[Louis-Philippe of France]], Hans Traxler depicted Kohl as a pear in the left-leaning satirical journal ''[[Titanic (magazine)|Titanic]]''.<ref>[http://www.taz.de/!34964/ Hans Traxler wird 80, Der Erfinder der "Birne"], ''die Tageszeitung'', 20 May 2009</ref> The German word "Birne" ("pear") became a widespread nickname for and symbol of the chancellor.<ref>[http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/883/312794/text Birne auf Breitwand, Dreharbeiten zu "Helmut Kohl – Der Film"], ''Sueddeutsche Zeitung'' 5 October 2008</ref>

Comedians like Thomas Freitag and Stefan Wald imitated the chancellor,<ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13511297.html Se quätschn], in: Der Spiegel, 12 November 1984. Retrieved 18 June 2017.</ref> and books were sold with jokes rewritten with Kohl as the stupid protagonist. When Kohl died, left-wing newspaper TAZ presented a title page showing a flower set typical for funerals, with a pear and the caption ''flourishing landscapes'', Kohl's prediction for the future of East Germany after reunification. Following protests the editor-in-chief apologised.<ref>[http://www.focus.de/politik/videos/das-ging-daneben-taz-chef-tut-titelseite-zu-kohls-tod-leid_id_7254227.html "taz"-Chef tut Titelseite zu Kohls Tod leid] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170618162412/http://www.focus.de/politik/videos/das-ging-daneben-taz-chef-tut-titelseite-zu-kohls-tod-leid_id_7254227.html |date=18 June 2017 }}, in: FOCUS ONLINE, 17 June 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2017.</ref>

The minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate (1969–1976) was a young reformer in a somewhat backward state and a newcomer who heavily criticised the older party leaders. The national media, for as much as they took notice of him, regarded him with curiosity. But this changed when Kohl became chair of the federal party in 1973, and even more dramatically when in late 1975 his party made him a candidate for the chancellery. His opponents within the federal party, but also journalists and other observers, had their doubts whether the parochial, though successful moderniser of a manageable smaller state was the right person to lead the Federal Republic, a big and complicated industrial country.<ref>Hans Peter Schwarz: ''Helmut Kohl. Eine politische Biographie.'' DVA, Munich 2012, p. 215.</ref>

Biographer Hans Peter Schwarz names five problems of the 46-year-old candidate: being unfamiliar with the complicated relations in the Bundestag group, having no international experience, having no profound knowledge of economics, but also: a lack of charisma and no cultural acceptance in Northern Germany.<ref>Hans Peter Schwarz: ''Helmut Kohl. Eine politische Biographie.'' DVA, Munich 2012, p. 209.</ref>

In small circles Kohl was fascinating and a perfect host; the larger the crowd, the vaguer, weaker and paler he appeared. His gaze into the TV cameras made him look helpless. When attacked, e.g. in election campaigns, he became a good fighter. But in general, he was no great orator, his speeches were lengthy and verbose, according to Schwarz. Additionally, the Catholic with his [[Palatine German language|Palatinate dialect]], a folksy man who had culture but was no intellectual – to North German journalists (like from the important newspapers made in Hamburg, including weeklies ''Der Spiegel'' and ''[[Die Zeit]]'') he just felt foreign, more than any previous CDU chairman.<ref>Hans Peter Schwarz: ''Helmut Kohl. Eine politische Biographie.'' DVA, Munich 2012, p. 217.</ref>

Unlike many politicians of his era, including predecessors Helmut Schmidt and Willy Brandt, successor Gerhard Schröder or rival Franz Josef Strauss, Kohl was never regarded as charismatic or media-savvy and many of his peculiar coinings were heavily lampooned and criticised. Nonetheless, many of them have entered the general lexicon despite or perhaps because of attempts by his opponents to mock them.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.welt.de/kultur/article166145036/Wie-Helmut-Kohl-diese-unsere-Sprache-praegte.html|title=Helmut Kohl: Wie der Kanzler unsere Sprache prägte|newspaper=Die Welt|date=July 2017|last1=Heine|first1=Matthias}}</ref> Examples of "Kohlisms" that have gained some currency include his description of the 1982 change in government as {{ill|geistig-moralische Wende|de|italic=y|quote=y}} ("spiritual and moral turnaround") or the "Grace of late birth" ({{ill|Gnade der späten Geburt|de|italic=y|quote=y}}) meaning that Kohl, born in 1930, was only involved in the war as a [[Flakhelfer]] and escaped the possibility of involvement in Nazi atrocities by virtue of being too young at the time. Another frequently mocked turn of phrase by Kohl was his prediction the [[New States of Germany]] would soon turn into {{ill|blühende Landschaften|de|italic=y|quote=y}} ("flowering landscapes") with some cynics pointing out that former industrial sites were indeed turning into flowering meadows in the course of [[ecological succession]] as a consequence of deindustrialisation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stern.de/fotografie/25-jahre-nach-dem-mauerfall--bitterfeld---von-bluehenden-landschaften-und-beleuchteten-wiesen-in-der-ex-ddr-3251756.html|title = Von blühenden Landschaften und beleuchteten Wiesen| date=7 November 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mdr.de/geschichte/eure-geschichte/nachwendegeschichte/mitteldeutsche-Industrie-bluehende-Landschaften-neuseenland-schulprojekt-eure-geschichte-100.html|title = Von der mitteldeutschen Industrie zu "blühenden Landschaften" &#124; MDR.DE}}</ref>

Kohl was a true „people person“ and loved to be in the company of others. His tremendous memory of people and their lives helped him to build up his networks in the Christian Democratic Union, in government and abroad. In a study of German chancellorship as political leadership, Henrik Gast highlights how much time Kohl invested in personal relationships even with the backbenchers in the Bundestag and also party officials up to the local level. This worked because it fitted Kohl's character and was authentic.<ref>Henrik Gast: ''Der Bundeskanzler als politischer Führer. Potenziale und Probleme deutscher Regierungschefs aus interdisziplinärer Perspektive.'' VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften / Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden 2011, p. 208/209, S. 242.</ref>

Kohl knew that all these people were the basis of his political power and that he needed their loyalty and personal affection. He could also be rude to subordinates and assistants, and confront political adversaries. "He was capable of both – being empathetic and being extremely confrontational! If you did not do what he wanted, empathy was over!", as Gast quotes a federal minister of Kohl's own party. There was also a difference between the younger Kohl and the chancellor in his later years. A parliamentary state secretary recalled: "A sense of tact and politeness? The early and the later Kohl – that was a tremendous difference. In the early years, he had all of that, in the later years no more."<ref>Henrik Gast: ''Der Bundeskanzler als politischer Führer. Potenziale und Probleme deutscher Regierungschefs aus interdisziplinärer Perspektive.'' VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften / Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden 2011, p. 264.</ref>