Editing Helmut Kohl (section)

=== Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F028914-0002, Ludwigshafen, CDU-Kongress, Helmut Kohl.jpg|thumb|Kohl in 1969]]
Kohl was elected [[Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate|minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate]] on 19 May 1969, as the successor to Peter Altmeier. As of 2017, he was the youngest person ever to be elected as head of government in a German ''Bundesland''.<ref name=swr>{{cite web |title=Kohl – der Reformer |url=http://www.swr.de/archiv/diekohlstory/biografie-der-junge-wilde-mischt-die-partei-auf/kohl-der-reformer/-/id=6008018/did=6011708/mpdid=6115530/nid=6008018/fxq4r7/index.html |publisher=SWR |access-date=18 June 2015 |language=de |date=12 March 2010 |archive-date=31 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031054229/https://www.swr.de/archiv/diekohlstory/biografie-der-junge-wilde-mischt-die-partei-auf/kohl-der-reformer/-/id=6008018/did=6011708/mpdid=6115530/nid=6008018/fxq4r7/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Just a few days after his election as minister-president, Kohl also became vice-chair of the federal CDU party.<ref name=swr /> While in office, Kohl acted as a reformer, focusing on school and education. His government abolished [[school corporal punishment]] and the parochial school, topics that had been controversial with the conservative wing of his party.{{sfn|Schwarz|2012|pages=101–114}}<ref name=swr /> During his term, Kohl founded the [[University of Kaiserslautern|University of Trier-Kaiserslautern]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Vogel |first1=Bernhard |title=Wie alles begann: Die Gründung der Universität Trier-Kaiserslautern vor 40 Jahren |url=https://www.uni-trier.de/fileadmin/organisation/Presse/andere_Publikationen/Reden-40_Jahre_01.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.uni-trier.de/fileadmin/organisation/Presse/andere_Publikationen/Reden-40_Jahre_01.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |publisher=Universität Trier |access-date=26 June 2015 |language=de |year=2010}}</ref> He also finalised a territorial reform of the state, standardising codes of law and re-aligning districts, an act that he had already pursued under Altmeier's tenure, taking the chairmanship of the Landtag's committee on the reform.<ref name=swr />{{sfn|Köhler|2014|pages=126–127}} After taking office, Kohl established two new ministries, one for economy and transportation and one for social matters, with the latter going to [[Heiner Geißler]], who would work closely with Kohl for the next twenty years.{{sfn|Schwarz|2012|p=104}}