Helmut Kohl – Man of Germany and Europe
Helmut Kohl – Man of Germany and Europe

Summary/Abstract: The date I am contemplating is 22 June 1990. Hungarian Premier József Antall is on an official visit to Bonn, Germany. The guards of honour line up in front of the Chancellery, as do the delegates from Hungary. We wait briefly, then a tall, burly man steps outside and greets the guards with the words “Guten Tag, Soldaten!” His soldiers roar “Guten Tag, Herr Bundeskanzler!” in reply. Mutual introductions follow. The Chancellor greets József Antall, then stops in front of us, looks at us, and says, “What a young staff you have, Jozef!” I believe his glance fell on György Matolcsy first, but he may have meant myself as well. More to the point, when the Chancellor glimpses György O’sváth, our Premier’s Personal Advisor, his eyes grow wide in surprise. “Was treibst du denn hier?” (“What are you doing here?”), he asks incredulously. “Ich wollte dich einmal von dieser Seite begrüssen…” – “I wanted to greet you from this side for once.” I am telling you this story because this visit marked for me the moment when I probably realised what all this great geopolitical reshuffling was all about, with the democratic transition conducted in many places including Hungary, and German unification in progress. Things were falling into place, you know. O’sváth, the freedom fighter of 1956, turned Christian Democrat activist in Germany, had returned from emigration to become Personal Advisor to Hungary’s Prime Minister, while his comrade in the Christian Democratic movement had become Chancellor of a unified Germany. At long last, the pieces of the puzzle had been put together.

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