Hannelore Kohl

Johanna Klara Eleonore "Hannelore" Kohl (née Renner; 7 March 1933 – 5 July 2001) was the wife of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl (died 2017). She met him for the first time in Ludwigshafen, Germany, when she was 15 years old.

She was born in Berlin as Eleonore Johanna Renner, and later, she changed her first name to "Hannelore". When her husband was chancellor she set up the Hannelore Kohl Stiftung (that is the Hannelore Kohl Charity) and the Kuratorium ZNS, a foundation to help find a cure for illnesses of the central nervous system.

In 1945, when she was 12, she was raped by Red Army soldiers.

On 5 July 2001, Mrs Kohl was found dead in her home in Ludwigshafen. She had apparently committed suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. She was said to have suffered from photo allergy (sunlight burns the skin).

However, journalist Andrew Gimson, writing in The Spectator"Married to a monster" , Findarticles.com,28 July 2001 questioned official version of events, and so did the German newsmagazine, Stern and the BBC."German media split by suicide", BBC, 12 July 2001

Kohl is known for her collection of German-style cooking recipes, Kulinarische Reise durch Deutsche LänderHannelore and Helmut Kohl: Kulinarische Reise durch deutsche Lande Zabert Sandmann, München 1996,  (Culinary Journey through German Regions), published in 1996.

References

Other websites
 Hannelore Kohl's Gravesite

Category:1933 births
Category:2001 deaths
Category:Drug-related suicides
Category:Writers from Rhineland-Palatinate
Category:Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Category:People from Ludwigshafen
Category:Suicides in Germany
Category:Writers who committed suicide