German political heavyweight Wolfgang Schäuble dies aged 81

Former finance minister who survived assassination attempt was key architect of 1990 reunification

Wolfgang Schäuble, who helped negotiate German reunification in 1990 and as finance minister was a central figure in the austerity-heavy effort to drag Europe out of its debt crisis more than two decades later, has died. He was 81.

Schäuble died at home on Tuesday evening, his family told the German news agency dpa on Wednesday.