Overview

• Der Spiegel’s analysis of Bundesarchiv records reveals that Helmut Kohl withheld dozens of candid statements from the 1998 Sonderedition Deutsche Einheit.
• Kohl privately dismissed Ukraine’s independence in 1990, calling it a 'heartland' of the Soviet Union, despite its sovereignty two years later.
• Documents show Kohl agreed in a 1990 meeting with François Mitterrand that NATO should not expand eastward, a position omitted from the edition.
• Kohl’s disparaging remarks about Václav Havel, Gregor Gysi, and the Polish Catholic Church were also excluded from the published records.
• The revelations prompt renewed scrutiny of Kohl’s legacy and the historical transparency surrounding German reunification.