Former German chancellor Helmut Kohl and his companion Maike Richter seen in Berlin. File photo.(AP)BERLIN (AP and Reuters/ Globe and Mail, Canada), May 13, 2008:
Former German chancellor Helmut Kohl has married his partner Maike Richter, an economist who is nearly 35 years his junior.
Mr. Kohl's office says the couple were married Thursday in a small ceremony with friends at a Heidelberg clinic where Mr. Kohl is recuperating from a head injury.
The couple said in a statement released Tuesday that they are “very happy.”
Ms. Richter, 44, is on leave from her post in the German Economy Ministry to tend to the former chancellor.
It is the second marriage for the 78-year-old ex-chancellor. His first wife, Hannelore, committed suicide in 2001 at the age of 68 after years suffering from a rare and incurable allergy to light. During her last 15 months she stayed shuttered in her home and went out only after dark. She and Mr. Kohl were married for 41 years.
Mr. Kohl, a conservative Christian Democrat, was Germany's longest-serving post-war leader, in office from 1982 to 1998. He was a driving force behind German reunification in 1990 and European integration.
He underwent knee surgery last year and suffered a bad fall earlier this year, which led him to be hospitalized.
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