On the way to a real partnership
Speech by Federal President Horst Köhler at a luncheon with African counterparts
"May I first bid you all a very warm welcome to Schloss Bellevue. I'm delighted you are here today. Among you I can see people who represent very different aspects of Africa, a continent whose variety and cultural wealth is still much too little known here in Germany. First and foremost, however, I see people who represent the new Africa, leaders who accept that in a democracy power is bestowed for a limited period only."Read more
"The Credibility of Freedom"
Berlin Address by Federal President Horst Köhler 24 March 2009
"Let me tell you a story of how I once failed. It was in Prague, in September of 2000. I had recently been appointed as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. My goal was to turn the IMF into a center of excellence that was to ensure the stability of the global financial system. I was worried about the development the financial markets were taking at the time, because I was no longer able to gain a perspective on the gigantic financing volumes and the overly complex financial products. That is why I began to develop in-house expertise within the IMF on capital market policy." Read more
"Our Task of Remembrance"
Speech by Federal President Horst Köhler on the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust
"There's a strange signpost in front of Mannheim railway station. It says "Gurs 1170 kilometres". Gurs is a village in the French Pyrenees. It was unknown to the people of Mannheim for a long, long time. On 22 and 23 October 1940 over 6.000 people were taken from their homes in the German regions of Baden, Saarland and the Palatinate. They were marched to railway stations, herded onto trains and transported across France. These people were craftsmen, workers and doctors; men and women of all ages, children and infants. There was only one thing they had in common: they were Jews, accompanied by their families." Read more
New Year Reception
Address by Federal President Horst Köhler at the New Year Reception for the Diplomatic Corps in Schloss Bellevue
"Nuncio, Ambassadors, Representatives of international organizations, Germany and the Germans are united with you in the common desire for a ceasefire in the Middle East - and for peace. That is what I would like to say first today. Ladies and gentlemen, may I first bid you all a very warm welcome to Schloss Bellevue." Read more
"Financial Markets in the Service of Humanity"
Speech by Federal President Horst Köhler, held at the opening of the European Banking Congress (EBC) 2008
"I know a roofer; he's in a wheelchair following a car accident. For two or three years, after he found out that he would never walk again, he really hit rock bottom.Then he got right back up - sitting down, as it were. Today he runs a company that makes 'handbikes' - wheelchairs that are operated by hand crank and chain drive. 'What does integration mean to you?' I asked him. He replied, 'For me, integration is when I pay taxes.'" Read more
