At the end of the Kohl era, the donation scandal plunged the CDU into the worst crisis in its history. In his posthumously published memoirs, Wolfgang Schäuble describes an interesting detail.
In connection with the CDU donation affair surrounding Helmut Kohl, which was exposed in 1999, there was also a “slush fund” in the Union faction, according to CDU politician Wolfgang Schäuble, who died in December. It was only afterwards that it became clear to him “that a parliamentary group fund that I had to manage as parliamentary manager was also part of the comprehensive system of slush funds,” wrote Schäuble, who died on Christmas, in his posthumously published memoirs. The donation scandal was about the CDU’s illegal donation practices in the 1980s and 1990s. Schäuble’s statements can hardly be verified – important actors such as Kohl are no longer alive.
Schäuble was parliamentary managing director of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group from 1981 to 1984. Kohl was chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group from December 1976 to October 1982 and Federal Chancellor from 1982 to 1998.
“Kohl appeared to have created the account during his time as parliamentary group leader, as a reserve outside of the party finances in the Adenauer House, and wanted to avoid that too many people found out about its existence,” Schäuble wrote. He added: “The attractiveness of this ‘money storage’ arose from the simple fact that the Federal Audit Office had not yet checked the parliamentary group’s financing at the time.” Kohl took advantage of this gap and half-jokingly spoke of his “war chest.”
“Civic Association” was a money “laundromat”
According to his recollection, the corresponding account at the Dresdner Bank maintained by the parliamentary group contained an amount of six to seven million marks, recalled Schäuble. He suspects that the money “came from the sources of the Civic Association.” Schäuble added: “The official justification that the amount had accumulated over the years from contributions from the group members could not convince even the most gullible.” The “Citizens’ Association 1954 eV, Cologne/Koblenz”, which was dissolved in 1990, was a kind of “laundromat” for millions in the 1960s and 1970s, especially for the Union parties and the FDP.
When Kohl needed money, he sent over the general representative of the treasurer’s office at the CDU headquarters, Schäuble wrote. He presented him with the necessary payment documents, “which I then just had to sign”.
It was only much later that he “realized what special role the account in question might have played in the donation affair,” wrote Schäuble, adding: “After the money had melted away over the years, what was left for the expenses that Kohl had in the 1990s Years ago, without being able to state their origin, there was approximately the same amount left – around three million DM – which he declared as anonymous donations.” In this respect, Kohl acted “according to the defendant’s logic” of “only publicly admitting what had just been proven. I knew this because this position still existed after I was elected parliamentary group leader in 1991.”
Kohl admitted that he had accepted around two million deutschmarks for the party in the 1990s without reporting it as a donation. He never revealed the names of the donors. Kohl justified his silence by saying that he had given the donors his word of honor. It is still unclear where the money came from. The donation scandal plunged the party into the worst crisis in its history.
“I never asked”
Schäuble admitted mistakes in dealing with the events. “At the time, I pushed these things away from me. What the money was used for remained hidden to me. I didn’t know anything else and didn’t want to know,” he wrote in his memoirs. “I never asked because it was clear that this was the party chairman’s assets.” He added: “This (albeit passive) complicity, which could have led to being more critical, asking questions or refusing nominal responsibility for these events, naturally made me a part of Kohl’s system.” He was “not proud of it, and I should have been more careful and stricter back then.”
In the turmoil of the CDU donations affair and after statements about a 100,000 mark cash donation, Schäuble resigned as CDU leader and chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in February 2000. Angela Merkel became party leader, and in 2005, as Chancellor, she made Schäuble Interior Minister, and four years later, Finance Minister. Schäuble held this office for two electoral terms.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
