Helmut Kohl

Helmut Kohl served as Chancellor of West Germany between 1982 and 1990, and as Chancellor of Germany between 1990 and 1998. The story of German reunification, which Kohl presided over, is the focus of today’s episode.

In thirty years, Kohl’s West Germany, divided and incomplete, has become the powerhouse of Europe, rebuilding Eastern Europe after the Fall of Communism and becoming master of the Euro. But despite this, Germany has also become more internally polarised, more unequal, and more anxious about its place in the World.

In this sense, Germany is a sort of microcosm for the entire Western Alliance; it has become larger than ever before, but also more fractious, and less self-confident than it was before.

My guest for this conversation is Kristina Spohr. Kristina is a Professor of International History at the London School of Economics, and is the author of several books, including Post Wall Post Square, which details the building of the post-Cold War World in the crucial years between 1989 and 1992.