Maike Kohl-Richter

Maike Kohl-Richter (née Richter; born April 1964) is best known as the second wife of the former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl from 2008 until his death in 2017. She is controversial in Germany for her right-wing anti-immigrant views and support for Viktor Orbán, and for her public feud with Kohl's children and grandchildren. She has been accused of hijacking the Kohl legacy and "has been criticized by Kohl's own children for allegedly hero-worshipping the former chancellor and being obsessed" with him. She was criticized by German media, public figures and the Kohl family after Kohl's death.

Early life and education

Richter was born in April 1964 in a village near Freudenberg in Siegerland, to Evelyn and Wolfgang Richter. She grew up the third of four children in Oberheuslingen. Her father was an engineer working for RWE in Siegen. Her mother was a local reporter at the local newspaper, the Siegener Zeitung. She described her daughter in a biographical novel as "a child face like out of a children's book, joyous, unrestrained and totally without problems".

Richter attended a Protestant high school (Gymnasium) and joined the CDU's youth wing, the Junge Union, while still at school. She was noticed by Dirk Metz, district chairman, who said, "She was a perky one, with short cut hair - a stunner." She became a committee member of the district executive Siegen-Wittgenstein.

She attended Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and earned a doctorate in economics in 1996. Friends remember that she wanted to become at least state secretary (mindestens Staatssekretärin). Her elder sister and a brother became physicians.