Ecki Seeber Dead: Kohl's Chauffeur Sat With Him and Yeltsin in the Sauna

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Ecki Seeber Dead: Kohl's Chauffeur Sat With Him and Yeltsin in the Sauna.

For decades, Eckhard "Ecki" Seeber sat behind the wheel — and according to SPIEGEL, drove Helmut Kohl to every appointment. Now the longtime chauffeur of the former federal chancellor has died shortly before his 88th birthday.

Seeber was more than just a driver. For years he was considered a close confidant of Kohl — a status that went far beyond the normal service relationship of a chauffeur.

A Chauffeur in the Inner Circle

That Seeber's significance extended beyond the normal service relationship is shown by a detail from the SPIEGEL report: According to it, he sat in the sauna together with Helmut Kohl and the then Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Such moments were usually reserved for the closest political and personal circle.

The available sources report nothing about Seeber's life before or after his time as a chauffeur, about his education, or his family background.

What Is Known About His Death

SPIEGEL spread the news of his death. ZEIT confirmed Seeber's death in a short online report. The available reports do not mention details about the cause of death or reactions from the political sphere and from Kohl's longtime companions.

Seeber would have turned 88 in the near future. With him, German contemporary history loses a man who experienced Helmut Kohl's tenure up close over decades.