Kohl’s widow in tug-of-war over unification Chancellor’s legacy | Reuters

Kohl's widow in tug-of-war over unification Chancellor's legacy | Reuters Reuters By Thomas Escritt | BERLIN BERLIN Less than a week after Helmut Kohl's death, a row has broken out between his widow, his sons and his political party over the funeral and legacy of the Chancellor who led Germany through the end of the Cold War and reunification.Der Spiegel reported on Thursday that his second wife, Maike Kohl-Richter, had tried to prevent Chancellor Angela Merkel, his one-time protege, from speaking at his memorial service and instead proposed a vocal critic of her, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.The young, liberal Orban was mentored by Kohl in the early years after the 1989 collapse of East European Communism, although as prime minister of Hungary he has steered an anti-EU, authoritarian course that many say is at odds with Kohl's legacy.Kohl-Richter has also clashed with his estranged son Walter, who said he was barred from visiting the couple's home to discuss funeral arrangements on Tuesday, a claim denied by his widow's lawyer.The Christian Democrat has been lauded as the statesman who seized the opportunity of collapsing Soviet power in Eastern Europe to win a prize few believed attainable: the reunification of East and West Germany. The post Kohl's widow in tug-of-war over unification Chancellor's legacy | Reuters appeared first on Firstpost. 1