A compensation of one million euros once awarded to Helmut Kohl does not go to the former chancellor’s widow. Such a claim is fundamentally not inheritable, decided the Federal Court of Justice (BGH). The Karlsruhe judges confirmed a judgment of the Cologne Higher Regional Court (OLG) from 2018. It is therefore legally binding. Only one constitutional complaint is now possible. (Az. VI ZR 248/18 etc.)
The author and publisher of the bestseller “Legacy: The Kohl Protocols”, which Kohl’s ghostwriter Heribert Schwan wrote after a falling out without his consent, should figures. It contains content from long, trusting conversations that took place at a time when Schwan was still working on Kohl’s memoir. Because of violated personal rights, the Cologne Regional Court awarded Kohl one million euros in 2017, just a few weeks before his death. Maike Kohl-Richter continued the legal dispute as sole heir.
The BGH partially overturned a second decision, which concerns 116 currently forbidden text passages. The judges declared some of the quotations admissible. The OLG has to re-examine other passages. Both judgments were formally issued as so-called partial judgments. Because the also sued co-author Tilman Jens has died in the meantime, the legal dispute with his heirs is currently interrupted.