Bush pays heartfelt tribute to RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION co-founder Kohl

June 18, 2017
Bush pays heartfelt tribute to RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION co-founder Kohl

U.S. President George H.W. Bush, who founded the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION together with Helmut Kohl

Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, who founded the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION together with Helmut Kohl 25 years ago, paid a heartfelt tribute to the former German Chancellor and his close friend who died at the age of 87 on Friday. The two leaders, who worked together to end the Cold War and pave the way for German unification in 1990, were also jointly behind the creation of the German-American exchange program for broadcast journalists in 1992 that has carried on the spirit of the famous Cold War-era Radio In American Sector (RIAS) broadcasting network that had served listeners in Berlin and beamed news and music across the border into East Germany until 1992.

“Barbara and I mourn the loss of a true friend of freedom, and the man I consider to be one of the greatest leaders in post-war Europe,” Bush and his wife Barbara wrote in a tribute to Kohl, who was the chancellor of West Germany from 1982 to 1990 and then the leader of reunited Germany until 1998. Bush praised Kohl, who is often called the architect of German unification, for strengthening institutions of democracy in Germany and beyond. “Throughout our endeavors, Helmut was a rock — both steady and strong. We mourn his loss today even as we know his remarkable life will inspire future generations of leaders to achieve greatly.”

More than 1,500 American and German broadcast journalists have had the chance to spend time learning about each other’s respective country on the transatlantic exchange programs operated by the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION over the last 25 years thanks to the endowment set up by the German and U.S. governments in 1992. At the annual RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION media awards ceremony just five days before Kohl’s death, executive director Erik Kirschbaum and RIAS Fellows such as Ingo Zamperoni and Petra Gute paid tribute the “foresight and wisdom” of political leaders such as Kohl and Bush for creating the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION.

Kohl and Bush had both sent letters of congratulations to the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION five years ago on the occasion of its 20th anniversary.

“I’d like to express my thanks to all those who have helped to make the BERLIN RIAS COMMISSION the successful project that it has become,” Kohl wrote in May 2012 and noted that more than 1,000 journalists from both countries had participated to that point in exchanges. “You’ve got a special responsibility as multipliers in your daily work in helping to actively promote a better understanding of each other’s country. That was the hope that George Bush and I had when we founded the RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION 20 years ago. Our hopes are as important today as 20 years ago.”

Bush wrote of RIAS BERLIN COMMISSION in 2012: “We share your pride in the fact that more than one thousand American and German journalists from hundreds of radio and television stations have already participated in this program, and we wish you continued success in the years ahead. Keep up the good work.”