Angela Merkel and Helmut Kohl - East Meets WestHelmut Kohl was chancellor of West Germany when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, and one of the driving forces that led to the unification of East and West Germany less than a year later. He was also an early mentor of Angela Merkel, a little-known politician from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a state in the former East Germany. In 2005, she became German chancellor.