Konrad Adenauer

Konrad Adenauer (January 5, 1876 – April 19, 1967) was a conservative German statesman. Although his political career spanned 60 years, beginning as early as 1906, he is most noted for his role as West Germany's first chancellor from 1949-1963 and chairman of the Christian Democratic Union from 1950 to 1966.

Biography

Life until 1945

Konrad Adenauer was born as the third of five children of Johann Adenauer and his wife Helene, a born Scharfenberg, in Cologne. In 1894 he completed his Abitur and started to study law and politics at the universities of Freiburg, Munich and Bonn. He was member in several catholic students associations. He finished his studies in 1901. Afterwards he worked as a lawyer at the court in Cologne.

Related Topics:
Cologne - 1894 - Abitur - Freiburg - Munich - Bonn - 1901

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As a devout Roman Catholic joined the Centre Party in 1906 and was elected into Cologne's city parliament in the same year. In 1909 he became Vice Mayor of Cologne. From 1917 to 1933 he served as Mayor of Cologne, and as such, flirted with a Rhenish state as part of Germany, but outside Prussia. During the Weimar Republic he was president of the Prussian State Council (Preußischer Staatsrat) from 1922 to 1933, which was the representation of the Prussian cities and provinces.

Related Topics:
Centre Party - 1906 - 1909 - 1917 - 1933 - Weimar Republic - Prussia - 1922

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When the Nazis rose to power in 1933, the Centre Party lost the elections in Cologne and Adenauer fled to the abbey of Maria Laach. He was imprisoned briefly after the Night of the Long Knives. The next two years he changed places often. In 1937 he was successful in claiming compensation for his confiscated house and lived a life in privacy for some years.

Related Topics:
Nazis - 1933 - Maria Laach - Night of the Long Knives - 1937

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After the failed assassination attempt on Hitler in 1944 he was imprisoned. Not believing in its success, he had not been part of the plot, even if some of the conspirators had asked him to participate. He was freed some weeks later.

Related Topics:
Failed assassination attempt on Hitler - 1944

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After the war, the Americans installed him again as Mayor of Cologne, but the British administration dismissed him for "incompetence" later.

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Post-war career as Chancellor of West Germany

Adenauer was first Chancellor of Germany after the Second World War, from 1949-1963, a period which spans most of the preliminary phase of the Cold War. During this period, West Germany was politically separated from East Germany. Adenauer was a co-founder of the Christian Democratic Union, a successor to the Centre which hoped to embrace Protestants as well as Catholics in a single confessional party. The first elections to the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) were held on August 15, 1949, with the Christian Democrats emerging as the strongest party. Theodor Heuss was elected first President of the Republic, and Adenauer was elected the first German Federal Chancellor on September 16, 1949.

Related Topics:
Chancellor of Germany - 1949 - 1963 - Cold War - West Germany - East Germany - Christian Democratic Union - Bundestag - August 15 - Theodor Heuss - September 16

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Adenauer's achievements include the establishment of a stable democracy in defeated (West) Germany, a lasting reconciliation with France, a general political reorientation towards the West, recovering limited, but far-reaching sovereignty for West Germany by firmly integrating it with the emerging Euro-Atlantic community (NATO and the European Economic Community). Adenauer is also associated with establishing an efficient pension system, which ensured an unparalleled prosperity for retired persons, and - along with his Minister for Economic Affairs and successor Ludwig Erhard - with the West German model of a "social market economy" (a mixed economy with capitalism moderated by elements of social welfare and Catholic social teaching), which allowed for the boom period known as the Wirtschaftswunder ("economic miracle") and produced broad prosperity.

Related Topics:
France - NATO - European Economic Community - Pension - Ludwig Erhard - Social market economy - Mixed economy - Capitalism - Social welfare - Catholic social teaching - Wirtschaftswunder

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On the other hand, contemporary critics accused him of cementing the division of Germany, sacrificing reunification and the recovery of territories lost to Poland and the Soviet Union for the sake of speedy integration with the West. In the Cold War, Adenauer's advocacy of West German rearmament and mandatory conscription contradicted the wide pacifist consensus of post-war German society. Also, regardless of the Wirtschaftswunder, his era was seen as a time of a culturally stuffy and politically oppressively conservative atmosphere, in which anti-communism thrived, while the memory of the Nazi past was conveniently suppressed and many former Nazi officers returned to the civil service. The German student movement of the late 1960s was essentially a protest against the conservatism Adenauer had personified. Another point of criticism was that Adenauer's commitment to reconciliation with France was in stark contrast to a certain indifference towards Poland. Adenauer refused to recognize the Polish western border and openly talked about changing the border with Poland after strengthening Germany's position in Europe.

Related Topics:
Poland - Soviet Union - Cold War - Nazi - 1960s

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However, in the final analysis, positive assessments of his chancellorship prevail - not only with the German public, which voted him the "greatest German of all time" in a 2003 television poll, but also with today's left-wing intellectuals, who praise his unconditional commitment to western-style democracy and European integration, and his reluctance about national reunification.

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Additional actions as Chancellor

• Secured the release of the last German prisoners of war in 1955.
• Opened diplomatic relations with the USSR and other Eastern bloc nations, but refused to recognize the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
• Reached an agreement with the USA in 1957 that gave West Germany possession of weapons capable of transporting nuclear warheads. Furthermore, Adenauer pursued nuclear cooperation with other countries with a goal of the FRG being able to produce its own nuclear armament.
• Oversaw the rejoining of Saarland with West Germany in 1957.
• Briefly considered running for the office of President in 1959. However, he instead chose a candidate (Heinrich Lübke) whom he believed weak enough not to disturb his affairs as Chancellor.

For all of his efforts as West Germany's leader, Adenauer was named TIME magazine's Man of the Year in 1953. In 1954 he received the Karlspreis (engl.: Charlemagne Award), an Award by the German city of Aachen to people who contributed to the European idea and European peace.

Related Topics:
TIME - Magazine - Man of the Year - 1953 - 1954 - Karlspreis - Aachen

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When in 1967, after his death at the age of 91, people were asked for what they admired most about Adenauer, the majority responded that Adenauer brought home the last German prisoners of war from the USSR.

Related Topics:
1967 - USSR

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