Former German President Horst Köhler, who served as the head of the state from 2004 to 2010, dies at the age of 81.
According to DW, German officials announced on Saturday, February 1st, 2025, that the former president “passed away early this morning in Berlin after a short, serious illness surrounded by his family.”
Köhler has left behind his wife, daughter Ulrike, and son Jochen.
Moreover, in a condolence letter to Kohler’s wife, Eva Louise, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote, “Many people in our country will mourn with you. For in Horst Kohler, we have lost a highly esteemed and extremely popular person who achieved great things for our country and in the world.”
“It was above all his approachability, his infectious laughter, and his optimism, his belief in the strength of our country and in the energy and creativity of its people that won him so many hearts. But it was also his often clear and by no means always comfortable admonitions and speeches that won him recognition,” he added.
Köhler has long been into politics and government, in the early 1980s he served in the Finance Ministry under Chancellor Helmut Kohl for more than a decade and helped in the legal framework for the European currency, the euro.
