As a child, I personally didn't really get to know any Jews. I was eight years old when the Night of Broken Glass happened. And Ludwigshafen was purely a workers' city, so we didn't have a very big Jewish community. What I did know about the Jews, I heard from my mother. My mother was very much pro-Jewish.

Helmut Kohl

Categorized in : Night Mother Broken Community

The future will belong to the Germans... ...when we build the House of Europe. In the next two years, we will make the process of European integration irreversible. This is a really big battle but it is worth the fight.

Helmut Kohl

fighting europe years

Peace must be more than the absence of war.

Helmut Kohl

absence war

The European Union Treaty... within a few years will lead to the creation of what the founding fathers of modern Europe dreamed of after the war, the United States of Europe.

Helmut Kohl

war father years

We were united not only by political respect for each other, but also by deep mutual sympathy as people.

Helmut Kohl

political sympathy people

I have been underestimated for decades. I've done very well that way.

Helmut Kohl

politics done way

Russia is Germany's most important neighbor in the East, and it will remain so.

Helmut Kohl

russia easter important

I doubt that the evil spirits of the past, under which we in Europe have already suffered more than enough this century, have been banished for ever.

Helmut Kohl

europe country past

Everybody should know that Germany will not go it alone: there will be no restless Reich.

Helmut Kohl

restless germany should

You didn't just pay lip service to the goal of overcoming the division of Europe and Germany... Rather, you put yourself at the forefront of those who encouraged us on the way to unity.

Helmut Kohl

unity goal europe

George Bush was for me the most important ally on the road to German unity.

Helmut Kohl

allies unity important

Simon Wiesenthal, like few others personally felt the shadow of history in its brutality.

Helmut Kohl

felt shadow brutality

The Christian Democrats always made you feel like the poor relation.

Helmut Kohl

poor christian made

German and European unification are two sides of the same coin.

Helmut Kohl

coin same sides two

I have every reason, despite the resentment and exasperation, to be proud. I have nothing better to be proud of than being proud of German unity.

Helmut Kohl

nothing better unity proud

The army is under orders to defend every place.

Helmut Kohl

defend every place army

For me it is completely clear that our air bases in Germany would be available to the Americans.

Helmut Kohl

me germany clear air

The most important rule of the new Europe is: There must never again be violence in Europe.

Helmut Kohl

new never violence important

I knew that I could never win a referendum in Germany. We would have lost a referendum on the introduction of the euro. That's quite clear. I would have lost, and by seven to three.

Helmut Kohl

never win three lost

In a democracy, if you don't get the votes, nothing else is possible, no matter how wonderful your dreams.

Helmut Kohl

dreams you your-dreams democracy

Isolated decisions, however well-founded they might seem to the individual, and national go-it-alone moves must belong to the past. They should not be the 21st-century method of choice, particularly because the consequences of the European community's actions must often be carried collectively.

Helmut Kohl

consequences choice community past