Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's Wife Committs SuicideHannelore Kohl, the wife of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, committed suicide at the family's home in the western city of Ludwigshafen, her husband's office said Thursday. She was 68.Kohl's wife had been suffering for seven years from a painful allergy that virtually kept her a prisoner indoors. "Due to the hopelessness of her health situation, she decided to end her life of her own free will," the statement from Kohl's office said. "She conveyed this decision in farewell letters to her husband, her sons and friends." Earlier, the Rhineland-Palatinate state interior ministry said her body was found Thursday. Hannelore Kohl had suffered for seven years from a painful sunlight allergy that forced her to spend the last 15 months of her life at the family's home "without any daylight," the statement said. She was also taking strong painkillers, it said. Doctors in Germany and abroad failed to alleviate the extremely rare ailment, the statement said. |
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