Peter Kohl

Last updated
Peter Kohl
Born (1965-08-28) 28 August 1965 (age 56)
Ludwigshafen, Rhineland-Palatinate, West Germany
OccupationBusinessman, entrepreneur and author
Spouse(s) Elif Sözen-Kohl
ChildrenLeyla Sözen-Kohl
Parents

Peter Kohl (born 28 August 1965) is a German businessman and author, who resides in Switzerland. He is the younger son of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Hannelore Kohl, and brother of Walter Kohl.

He grew up at the family home in Ludwigshafen-Oggersheim. Kohl attended the Waldorf school in Ludwigshafen and the Liselotte – Gymnasium (secondary school) across the river in Mannheim. He was also schooled in the UK and at the Jesuit Lycée la Providence in Amiens, France. He is a reserve officer and served for two years in the Paratrooper Battalion 263 (Bundeswehr), now Paratrooper Regiment 26. He holds a BSc. in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a master’s degree in economics from the University of Vienna.

After working for 8 years as an investment banker at Credit Suisse [1] London, and in corporate finance and capital markets at Salomon Brothers, he co-founded an independent corporate finance advisory and fund management firm. While taking a one year sabbatical in 2003, he studied Biotechnology whilst reading for a Master of Bioscience Enterprise programme at the University of Cambridge. While at Cambridge, he co-founded, grew and later successfully exited a biotech company. He has lived in London for 17 years.

His interests include new start-up ventures, technology and fixed income opportunities and has run equity and fund-of-hedge funds. He is an aviation enthusiast and has been a PPL, multi-engine, IFR-rated pilot.

In May 2001, he married his long-time girlfriend, the Turkish-born banker Elif Sözen, whom he had met in Boston whilst both were undergraduates at MIT. She is the daughter of a wealthy industrialist from Istanbul, Dr. Kemal Sözen, the head of the metal company Kale Kalip Makina Sanayii. [2] [3] [4] [5] Kohl’s wife formerly worked with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan in London. [6] [7] At the time of their marriage, they had already lived together for over ten years, eight of them in London, most recently in Chelsea. [8] She speaks six languages including German. [8] Reflecting the multicultural nature of the event, the celebration in Istanbul lasted three days and three marriage ceremonies were involved: a Roman Catholic marriage, a Muslim marriage and a (Turkish) civil marriage. [9] Noting Chancellor Kohl's opposition to admitting Turkey to the European Union, an English newspaper asserted excitedly that "the marriage of Peter Kohl and Elif Sözen ... [had] the potential to transform German attitudes towards race". [4]

They have a daughter, Leyla, born in 2002. [10] It was reported in 2009 that Leyla had spent time in Turkey to learn Turkish. [5] After the death of Helmut Kohl, Leyla Sözen-Kohl visited her grandfather's house in Ludwigshafen together with her uncle Walter Kohl and cousin Johannes Volkmann, but were denied entry to the house by Helmut Kohl's second wife Maike Kohl-Richter. [11]

In 2002 he published a biography of his late mother, co-written with Dona Kujacinski, which received much media attention after her suicide in 2001. [12] [13] [14]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

Helmut Kohl Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998

Helmut Josef Michael Kohl was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longest of any German chancellor since Otto von Bismarck, and oversaw the end of the Cold War, the German reunification and the creation of the European Union (EU).

Helmut Schmidt Chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982

Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982.

Ludwigshafen City in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein, is a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it forms the Rhine Neckar Area.

Kurt Biedenkopf German jurist, academic and politician (1930–2021)

Kurt Hans Biedenkopf was a German jurist, academic teacher and politician of the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU). He was rector of the Ruhr University Bochum.

Heino German schlager singer

Heinz Georg Kramm, known professionally as Heino, is a German singer of Schlager and traditional Volksmusik. Having sold a total of over 50 million records, he is one of the most successful German musicians of all time.

Kai Diekmann German journalist

Kai Diekmann is a German journalist. From 1998 until 2000 he was editor of Welt am Sonntag. From January 2001 to December 2015 he was chief editor of Bild. He is also a member of the executive board of the Turkish daily Hürriyet.

Turks in Sweden or Swedish Turks are people of ethnic Turkish origin living in Sweden. The majority of Swedish Turks descend from the Republic of Turkey; however there has also been significant Turkish migration waves from other post-Ottoman countries including ethnic Turkish communities which have come to Sweden from the Balkans, the island of Cyprus, and more recently Iraq and Syria.

Paul Karl Heinrich Klinksik was a German stage and film actor who also worked in radio drama and soundtrack dubbing.

Wolfgang Neuss

Wolfgang Neuss was a German actor and Kabarett artist. Beginning in the mid-1960s, he also became famous for his political engagement, first for the SPD, then for the extra-parliamentary opposition, APO. He died in 1989 from a longtime cancer.

Cem Hakko is a Turkish fashion designer and businessman. He is the son of Vitali Hakko (1913–2007).

Friedrich Bohl German politician

Friedrich Bohl is a former German politician. From 1991 to 1998 he was the chief of the Federal Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Affairs. He was the member of Fourth Kohl cabinet and Fifth Kohl cabinet. He succeeded Rudolf Seiters on 26 November 1991.

Helmut Schlegel German Catholic priest (born 1943)

Helmut Alfons Schlegel is a German Franciscan, Catholic priest, meditation instructor, author, librettist and songwriter. He is known for writing new spiritual songs, set to music by various composers.

Ahmet Refik Erduran was a Turkish playwright, columnist and writer. He wrote thirty plays and eight books, and was a columnist for twenty years; he was named "The Most Successful Playwright" by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and "The Most Successful Columnist" by the Turkish Journalists' Association. He was married four times and had four children. Erduran served as a military interpreter during the Korean War.

European act of state in honour of Helmut Kohl

The European act of state in honour of Helmut Kohl was an act of state to honour former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl following his death, and took place at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on 1 July 2017 from 11 AM to 1 PM. It was announced by the European Commission on 18 June 2017, and was the first European act of state in the history of the European Union. It was co-organised by the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council.

Walter Kohl

Walter Kohl is a German financial analyst, businessman and author. He is the elder of the two sons of the former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Hannelore Kohl, and the brother of Peter Kohl.

Death and funeral of Helmut Kohl

Helmut Kohl, the former Chancellor of Germany, died on the morning of Friday, 16 June 2017 in the Oggersheim district of Ludwigshafen, his home town, aged 87. In office from 1982 to 1998, he is widely regarded as the "father of the German reunification" and as a principal architect of the Maastricht Treaty which established the European Union (EU) and the euro currency. In 1998 he became the second person to be named an Honorary Citizen of Europe. Following his death, he was lauded by world leaders as "the greatest European leader of the second half of the 20th century" and was honoured with an unprecedented European Act of State in his honour in Strasbourg, France, attended by the leaders of the EU's nations and other current and former world leaders. Subsequently, a Catholic requiem mass was celebrated in the Speyer Cathedral in Speyer, Germany, after which Kohl was interred in the nearby Old Cemetery.

Maike Kohl-Richter

Maike Kohl-Richter 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.

Elif Sözen-Kohl a Turkish-born banker who resides in London and in Switzerland. She is married to Peter Kohl and was the daughter-in-law of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

References

  1. ↑ "Executive Profile, Peter Kohl ... Co-Founder, Lumora Ltd". Company Overview of Lumora Ltd. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  2. ↑ "Kohl swallows his words on wedding mission to Turkey".
  3. ↑ Güngör, Dilek. "Peter Kohl und Elif Sözen dürfen heiraten: Der Ex-Kanzler gab endlich seinen Segen".
  4. 1 2 John Hooper (20 December 2000). "Kohl's son is to marry a Turk". The Guardian . Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  5. 1 2 mittelbayerische.de. "Helmut Kohls Enkelin lernt Türkisch".
  6. ↑ Claudia Steiner: "Christlich-islamische Fusion: Kohl-Sohn heiratet türkische Unternehmerstochter," Der Spiegel 26 May 2001
  7. ↑ Dilek Güngör: "Peter Kohl und Elif Sözen dürfen heiraten – Der Ex-Kanzler gab endlich seinen Segen," Berliner Zeitung , 20 December 2000
  8. 1 2 "Ave Maria in Istanbul: - WELT". DIE WELT.
  9. ↑ "Dreifache Hochzeit in Instanbul mit 500 geladenen Gästen Kohls Sohn: Feier wie im Märchenland". Morgenpost Verlag GmbH. 26 May 2001. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  10. ↑ "Enkeltochter heißt Leyla – 'Hürriyet': Helmut Kohl ist Großvater," Rheinische Post , 12 March 2002
  11. ↑ "Eklat nach Tod von Helmut Kohl: Sohn Walter Kohl wird von Grundstück verwiesen".
  12. ↑ von Thadden, Elisabeth (14 June 2012). "Hannelore Kohl: Die Perfektionistin" – via Die Zeit.
  13. ↑ dpa newswire. "Peter Kohl stellt Buch über seine Mutter Hannelore Kohl vor". Archived from the original on 2018-03-06. Retrieved 2017-06-20.
  14. ↑ Kirsten Simon; Gregor Boldt (13 June 2011). "Die Leiden der Hannelore Kohl". Westfälische Rundschau. Essen: Funke Medien NRW GmbH. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.