Konrad Adenauer
Overview
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. In his years in power Germany achieved prosperity, democracy, stability and respect.
Quotations
We will never forget. If it takes us five or ten or twenty years, we will never rest until we get our revenge.
As quoted by General Sir Charles Fergusson|Charles Fergusson in a memorandum (10 July 1945), recalling conversations with Adenauer in 1918-1919, at the end of World War I. As published in Adenauer : The Father of the New Germany (2000) by Charles Williams
I wish that an English statesman might once have spoken of us as Western Europeans.
Adenauer's remarks on an Associated Press interview (5 October 1945)
Make Europe your revenge.
To French PM Guy Mollet after British PM Sir Anthony Eden unilaterally cancelled the Suez operation, thus angering Mollet. (6 November 1956), as quoted in Europe's Troubled Peace, 1945-2000 (2006) by Tom Buchanan, p.102
In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that he did not also limit his stupidity.
As quoted in Through Russian Eyes : President Kennedy's 1036 Days (1973) by Anatoliĭ Andreevich Gromyko, p. 128
We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon. In an instant age, perhaps we must relearn the ancient truth that patience, too, has its victories.
Quoted in The Atlantic Community Quarterly v.14-15 1976-1978, p. 200
Encyclopedia
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (ˈkɔnʁaːt ˈhɛɐman ˈjoːzɛf ˈaːdənaʊɐ; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German
statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II
to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France
, the United States
and Israel
. In his years in power Germany achieved prosperity, democracy, stability and respect. He was the first chancellor (head of government) of the Federal Republic of Germany
(FRG, called West Germany), 1949–63. He was the founder and leader of the Christian Democratic Union
(CDU), a coalition of Catholic
s and Protestants. Under his leadership and beyond, his party was the most dominant in Germany.
"Der Alte" ("the old one") belied his age as the oldest elected leader in world history by his intense work habits and his uncanny political instinct. He displayed a strong dedication to a broad vision of democracy
, capitalism
, and anti-Communism
. A shrewd politician, Adenauer was deeply committed to a Western-oriented foreign policy and restoring the position of West Germany on the world stage. He worked to restore West German economy from the destruction in World War II
to central position in Europe
, rebuilt its army and came to terms with France, helped make possible Western European unification, opposed rival East Germany, and made his nation a member of NATO and a firm ally of the United States
.
He began the German reconciliation with the Jews and Israel
after the Holocaust, while ending denazification
of West Germany; and reintegrated former Nazi party members to political life. More than anyone else Adenauer set the direction and policies that shaped Germany since 1950. He is regarded as one of the most prominent German leaders, and is acknowledged as the "Father of the New Germany." While he is generally regarded as one of the most notable leaders of Germany, his later years remain somewhat controversial, because of his unwillingness to abdicate despite his high age, his support for restricting the freedom of the press (Spiegel scandal
) and his apologetic attitude towards former Nazis, which contributed to a certain animosity among the German left. His strong anti-Communist policy kept relations with eastern Europe frozen until the opposition came to power and Chancellor Willy Brandt
introduced his Ostpolitik
in the late 1960s.
A devout Catholic, he was a leading Centre Party
politician in the Weimar Republic
, he served as Mayor of Cologne (1917–1933) and president of the Prussian State Council (1922–1933).
, Rhenish Prussia
. His siblings were August (1872–1952), Johannes (1873–1937), Lilli (1879–1950) and Elisabeth, who died shortly after birth in c. 1880. In 1894, he completed his Abitur
and started to study law and politics at the universities of Freiburg
, Munich and Bonn
. He was a member of several Roman Catholic students’ associations under the K.St.V. Arminia Bonn
in Bonn. He finished his studies in 1901 and afterwards worked as a lawyer at the court in Cologne.
in 1906 and was elected to Cologne’s city council in the same year. In 1909, he became Vice-Mayor of Cologne, an industrial metropolis with a population of 635,000 in 1914. Avoiding the extreme political movements that attracted so many of his generation, Adenauer was committed to bourgeois common-sense, diligence, order, Christian morals and values, and was dedicated to rooting out disorder, inefficiency, irrationality and political immorality. From 1917 to 1933, he served as Mayor of Cologne.
Adenauer headed Cologne during the First World War, working closely with the army to maximize the city's role as a rear base of supply and transportation for the Western Front. He paid special attention to the civilian food supply, as the city financed large warehouses of food that enabled the residents to avoid the worst of the severe shortages that beset most German cities during 1918–1919. He set up giant kitchens in working-class districts to supply 200,000 rations per day. In the face of the collapse of the old regime and the threat of revolution and widespread disorder in late 1918, Adenauer maintained control in Cologne using his good working relationship with the Social Democrats.
He was mayor during the postwar British occupation. He established a good working relationship with the British military authorities, using them to neutralize the workers' and soldiers' council that had become an alternative base of power for the city's left wing. He flirted with Rhenish separatism
(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 representative of the Prussian cities and provinces.
to power on January 30, 1933.
By early February Adenauer finally realized that all talk, all attempts at compromise with the Nazis were futile. Cologne's city council and the Prussian parliament had been dissolved; on April 4, 1933 he was officially dismissed as mayor and his bank accounts frozen. "He had no money, no home and no job." After arranging for the safety of his family, he appealed to the abbot of the Benedictine monastery at Maria Laach
for a stay of several months. His stay at this abbey, which lengthened to a full year, was cited by the abbot after the war when Adenauer was accused by Heinrich Böll
and others of collaboration with the Nazis. According to Albert Speer
in his book Spandau: The Secret Diaries
, Hitler expressed admiration for Adenauer, noting his civic projects, the building of a road circling the city as a bypass, and a "green belt" of parks. However, both Hitler and Speer concluded that Adenauer's political views and principles made it impossible for him to play any role in Nazi Germany.
He was imprisoned briefly after the Night of the Long Knives
in mid-1934. During the next two years, he changed residences often for fear of reprisals against him, while living on the benevolence of friends. With the help of lawyers in August 1937 he was successful in claiming a pension; he received a cash settlement for his house which had been taken over by the city of Cologne, his unpaid mortgage, penalties and taxes were waived. With reasonable financial security he managed to live in seclusion for some years. After the failed assassination attempt on Hitler
in 1944, he was imprisoned for a second time as an opponent of the regime. He fell ill and credited Eugen Zander, a former municipal worker in Cologne and communist, with saving his life. Zander, then a section Kapo
of a labor camp near Bonn discovered Adenauer's name on a deportation list to the East and managed to get him admitted to a hospital. Adenauer was subsequently rearrested (also his wife), but in the absence of any evidence against him was released from prison at Brauweiler
in November 1944.
Shortly after the war ended the American occupation forces installed him again as Mayor of heavily bombed Cologne. After the transfer of the city into the British zone of occupation the Director of its Military Government, General Gerald Templer
, dismissed Adenauer for what he said was his alleged incompetence.
and Roman Catholics in a single party. In January 1946, Adenauer initiated a political meeting of the future CDU in the British zone in his role as doyen (the oldest man in attendance, Alterspräsident) and was informally confirmed as its leader.
Adenauer worked diligently at building up contacts and support in the CDU over the next years, and he sought with varying success to impose his particular ideology on the party. His was an ideology at odds with many in the CDU, who wished to unite socialism
and Christianity
; Adenauer preferred to stress the dignity of the individual, and he considered both communism
and Nazism
materialist world views that violated human dignity.
Adenauer's leading role in the CDU of the British zone won him a position at the Parliamentary Council of 1948, called into existence by the Western Allies
to draft a constitution for the three western zones of Germany
. He was the chairman of this constitutional convention and vaulted from this position to being chosen as the first head of government once the new "Basic Law
" had been promulgated in May 1949.
After the German federal election, 1949
at age 73, Adenauer was elected the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II
with the support of his own CDU, the Christian Social Union
and the liberal Free Democratic Party. Due to his age, it was initially thought he would only be a caretaker. However, he held this position from 1949 to 1963, a period which spans most of the preliminary phase of the Cold War
. During this period, the post-war division of Germany was consolidated with the establishment of two separate German states, the Federal Republic of Germany
(West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic
(East Germany).
The first election to the Bundestag
of West Germany was held on 15 August 1949, with the Christian Democrats emerging as the strongest party. Theodor Heuss
was elected the first President of the Republic
(head of state), and Adenauer was elected Chancellor (head of government) on 16 September 1949. In the controversial selection for a "provisional capital" of the Federal Republic of Germany
Adenauer championed Bonn
over Frankfurt am Main. The British had agreed to detach Bonn from their zone of occupation and convert the area to an autonomous region wholly under German sovereignty; the Americans were not prepared to grant the same for Frankfurt.
At the Petersberg Agreement
in November 1949 he achieved some of the first concessions granted by the Allies, such as a decrease in the number of factories to be dismantled, but in particular his agreement to join the International Authority for the Ruhr
led to heavy criticism. In the following debate in parliament Adenauer stated:
The opposition leader Kurt Schumacher
responded by labeling Adenauer "Chancellor of the Allies." (See also the Industrial plans for Germany
).
When a rebellion in East Germany
was harshly suppressed by the Red Army in June 1953, Adenauer took full advantage of the situation and was handily re-elected to a second term as Chancellor. The CDU/CSU came up one seat short of an outright majority. Adenauer could have governed alone without the support of other parties, but retained the support of nearly all of the parties in the Bundestag that were to the right of the SPD.
The election of 1957 essentially dealt with national matters. Riding a wave of popularity from the return of the last POWs from Soviet labor camps, as well as an extensive pension reform, Adenauer led the CDU/CSU to the first—and as of 2011, only—outright majority in a free German election.
In 1959, Adenauer for a couple of weeks considered leaving the chancellorship and becoming Federal President. He initially believed that the office could be fulfilled in a more politically active way than president Heuss did. Adenauer reconsidered, among other reasons, because he was afraid that Ludwid Erhard would become the new chancellor of whom Adenauer thought little.
The temper had changed by election time in September 1961. Over the course of 1961, Adenauer had his concerns about both the status of Berlin and US leadership confirmed, as the Soviets and East Germans built the Berlin Wall. Adenauer had come into the year distrusting the new US President, John F. Kennedy. He doubted Kennedy's commitment to a free Berlin and a unified Germany and considered him undisciplined and naïve.
For his part, Kennedy thought Adenauer was a relic of the past, stating "The real trouble is that he is too old and I am too young for us to understand each other." Their strained relationship impeded effective Western action on Berlin during 1961. Adenauer had tarnished his image when he announced he would run for the office of federal president in 1959, only to pull out when he discovered that under the Basic Law
, the president had far less power than he did in the Weimar Republic. Additionally, the departing and respected Theodor Heuss had established the precedent that the president be nonpartisan, which clashed with Adenauer's vision. The construction of the Berlin Wall
in August 1961 and the sealing of borders by the East Germans made his government look weak. His "reaction was ... lame;" he eventually flew to Berlin, but he appeared to have "lost his once instinctive, ultra-swift power of judgement." After failing to keep their majority in the general election 36 days after the wall went up, the CDU/CSU again needed to include the FDP in a coalition government. To strike a deal, Adenauer was forced to make two concessions: to relinquish the chancellorship before the end of the new term, his fourth, and to replace his foreign minister.
and the Soviet Union
. "In his view, he said with the greatest emphasis, full integration into Western Europe was a precondition of the reunification of Germany." During the Cold War
, the United States was "aiming for a West German armed force, after their [U.S.] costly experience in the Korean War," and Adenauer linked this rearmament concept to West German sovereignty and entry into NATO. In 1952, the Stalin Note
, as it became known, "caught everybody in the West by surprise." It offered to unify the two German entities into a single, neutral state with its own, non-aligned national army to effect superpower disengagement from Central Europe
. Adenauer and his cabinet were unanimous in their rejection of the Stalin overture, they shared the Western Allies’ suspicion about the genuineness of that offer and supported the Allies in their cautious replies.
Adenauer’s flat rejection was, however, out of step with public opinion; he then realized his mistake and he started to ask questions. Critics denounced him for having missed an opportunity for German reunification
. The Soviets sent a second note, courteous in tone. Adenauer by then understood that "all opportunity for initiative had passed out of his hands," and the matter was put to rest by the Allies. Given the realities of the Cold War
, German reunification and recovery of lost territories in the east were not realistic goals as both of Stalin's notes specified the retention of the existing "Potsdam"-decreed boundaries of Germany. His re-election campaigns centered around the slogan "No Experiments."
As chancellor, Adenauer tended to make most major decisions to himself, treating his ministers as mere extensions of his authority.
The German student movement
of the late 1960s was essentially a left-wing protest against the conservatism Adenauer—by then out of office—had personified. Radical student protesters and Marxist groups were further inflamed by strong Anti-Americanism
fueled by the Vietnam War
and opposition to the conservative Nixon administration.
During the early years of his chancellorship and with a broad consensus within the West German establishment in favor of amnesty and integration, Adenauer pressed for the ending of denazification efforts. The denazification process was viewed by the United States as counterproductive and ineffective, and its demise was not opposed. Adenauer’s intention was to switch government policy to reparations and compensation for the victims of NS rule (Wiedergutmachung
), stating that the main culprits had been prosecuted.
As result, Germany started negotiations with Israel for restitution of lost property and the payment of damages to victims of the Nazi persecutions. In the Luxemburger Abkommen
, Germany agreed to pay compensation to Israel. Jewish claims were bundled in the Jewish Claims Conference
, which represented the Jewish victims of Nazi Germany. Germany then paid initially about 3 billion Mark to Israel and about 450 million to the Claims Conference, although payments continued after that, as new claims were made. Israel was divided in accepting the money.The agreement was condmened by some Israelis as simply an expedient whereby Germany would buy off Jewish survivors to regain credibility on international stage, and Adenauer was criticised for being too lenient towards politically compromised individuals whose past treatment of Jews was at best questionable. But ultimately the fledgling state under David Ben Gurion agreed to take it, opposed by more radical groups like Irgun
, who were against such treaties. Those treaties were cited as a main reason for the assassination attempt by the radical Jewish groups against Adenauer.
For a legal backup, the German German Restitution Laws
(Bundesentschädigungsgesetz) were passed in 1956, allowing individuals and other ethnic groups than Jews to lay claims for compensation from the German state, if they were victims of Nazi prosecution. Aside from that, other global treaties for compensation were made with other European states in the following decades, to compensate for the Nazi crimes.
By 1951 laws were passed by the Bundestag
ending denazification. Officials were allowed to retake jobs in civil service, with the exception of people assigned to Group I (Major Offenders) and II (Offenders) during the denazification review process.
The amnesty legislation had benefited 792,176 people, among them:
Adenauer was prepared to tolerate ex-Nazis in his administration provided their membership in the party had been inactive, or necessary for them to keep their job. Despite these claims he nominated people active under Nazi Germany to top ministerial positions, including Hans Globke
, Director of the Federal Chancellory of West Germany between 1953 and 1963 and one of the closest aides to Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. It was a policy that attracted criticism, however, Adenauer started his administration from absolute zero, and “it would have been folly to deprive the fledgling republic of the services of [these civil servants and professionals] for that reason alone.” He made it clear for all, if they stepped out of line, they could expect a case for de-Nazification to be reopened. To construct a “competent Federal Government effectively from a standing start was one of the greatest of Adenauer’s formidable achievements.”
, culminating in the Élysée Treaty
. His political commitment to the Western powers achieved a limited, but far-reaching sovereignty for West Germany by firmly integrating the country with the emerging Euro-Atlantic community (NATO and the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation). Adenauer is closely linked to the implementation of an enhanced pension
system, which ensured unparalleled prosperity for retired persons. Along with his Minister for Economic Affairs and successor Ludwig Erhard
, the West German model of a "social market economy
" (a mixed economy
with capitalism
moderated by elements of social welfare and Catholic social teaching
) allowed for the boom period known as the Wirtschaftswunder
("economic miracle") that produced broad prosperity. The Adenauer era witnessed a dramatic rise in the standard of living of average Germans, with real wages doubling between 1950 and 1963. This rising affluence was accompanied by a 20% fall in working hours during that same period, together with a fall in the unemployment rate from 8% in 1950 to 0.4% in 1965. in addition, an advanced welfare state was established.
Adenauer ensured a truly free and democratic society which had been almost unknown to the German people before — notwithstanding the attempt between 1919 and 1933 (the Weimar Republic
) — and which is today not just normal but also deeply integrated into modern German society. He thereby laid the groundwork for Germany to reenter the community of nations and to evolve as a dependable member of the Western world. It can be argued that because of Adenauer’s policies, a later reunification of both German states was possible; and unified Germany has remained a solid partner in the European Union
and NATO.
In retrospect, mainly 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 even with some of today’s left-wing intellectuals, who praise his unconditional commitment to western-style democracy and European integration.
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
(English: Charlemagne Award), an Award by the German city of Aachen
to people who contributed to the European idea, European cooperation and European peace.
In his last years in office, Adenauer used to take a nap after lunch and, when he was traveling abroad and had a public function to attend, he sometimes asked for a bed in a room close to where he was supposed to be speaking, so that he could rest briefly before he appeared.
Adenauer found relaxation and great enjoyment in the Italian game of bocce
and spent a great deal of his post political career playing this game. His favorite holiday place to do this was in Cadenabbia
, Italy, in a rented villa overlooking Lake Como, which has since been acquired as a conference centre by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
, the political foundation established by Adenauers political party Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
.
When, in 1967, after his death at the age of 91, Germans were asked what they admired most about Adenauer, the majority responded that he had brought home the last German prisoners of war from the USSR, which had become known as the "Return of the 10,000".
Police Headquarters, killing one Bavarian police officer. Two boys who had been paid to send this package by mail had brought it to the attention of the police. Investigations led to people closely related to the Herut
Party and the former Irgun
armed organization. The West German government kept all proof under seal in order to prevent antisemitic responses from the German public. Five Israeli suspects identified by French and German investigators were allowed to return to Israel.
One of the participants, Eliezer Sudit, later revealed that the alleged mastermind behind this assassination attempt was Menachem Begin
who would later become the Prime Minister of Israel
. Begin had been the former commander of Irgun and at that time headed Herut and was a member of the Knesset
. His goal was to put pressure on the German government and prevent the signing of the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany
, which he vehemently opposed.
David Ben-Gurion
, Prime Minister of Israel, appreciated Adenauer’s response in playing down the affair and not pursuing it further, as it would have burdened the relationship between the two new states.
In June 2006 a slightly different version of this story appeared in one of Germany's leading newspapers, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
, quoted by The Guardian
. Begin had offered to sell his gold watch as the conspirators ran out of money. The bomb was hidden in an encyclopedia and it killed a bomb-disposal expert, injuring two others. Adenauer was targeted because of the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany
, signed at that time, which was violently opposed by Begin. Sudit, the story's source, explained that the "intent was not to hit Adenauer but to rouse the international media. It was clear to all of us there was no chance the package would reach Adenauer". The five conspirators were arrested by the French police, in Paris
. They "were [former] members of the ... Irgun" (the organisation had been disbanded in 1948, 4 years earlier).
when police arrested five Der Spiegel
journalists, charging them with high treason for publishing a memo detailing weaknesses in the West German armed forces. Adenauer had not initiated the arrests, but initially defended the person responsible, Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss, and called the Spiegel memo "Abgrund von Landesverrat" (abyss of treason). After public outrage and heavy protests from the coalition partner FDP he dismissed Strauss, but the reputation of Adenauer and his party had already suffered.
Adenauer managed to remain in office for almost another year, but the scandal increased the pressure he was under to fulfill his promise to resign before the end of the term. Adenauer was not on good terms with his economics minister Ludwig Erhard
and tried to block him from the chancellorship. Adenauer failed, and in October 1963 he turned the office over to Erhard. He did remain chairman of the CDU until his resignation in December 1966.
Adenauer died on 19 April 1967 in his family home at Rhöndorf
. According to his daughter, his last words were "Da jitt et nix zo kriesche!" (Cologne dialect
for "There's nothin' to weep about!")
Konrad Adenauer's state funeral
in Cologne Cathedral
was attended by a large number of world leaders, among them United States President Lyndon B. Johnson
. After the Requiem Mass and service, his remains were brought upstream to Rhöndorf on the Rhine aboard Kondor, with Seeadler and Sperber as escorts, three Jaguar class fast attack craft
of the German Navy
, "past the thousands who stood in silence on both banks of the river." He is interred at the Waldfriedhof [Forest Cemetery] at Rhöndorf.
Adenauer was the main motive for one of the most recent and famous gold commemorative coins: the Belgian 3 pioneers of the European unification commemorative coin, minted in 2002. The obverse side shows a portrait with the names Robert Schuman
, Paul-Henri Spaak
and Konrad Adenauer.
Changes
Changes
Changes
Changes
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. In his years in power Germany achieved prosperity, democracy, stability and respect. He was the first chancellor (head of government) of the Federal Republic of Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
(FRG, called West Germany), 1949–63. He was the founder and leader of the Christian Democratic Union
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
(CDU), a coalition of Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
s and Protestants. Under his leadership and beyond, his party was the most dominant in Germany.
"Der Alte" ("the old one") belied his age as the oldest elected leader in world history by his intense work habits and his uncanny political instinct. He displayed a strong dedication to a broad vision of democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
, capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
, and anti-Communism
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
. A shrewd politician, Adenauer was deeply committed to a Western-oriented foreign policy and restoring the position of West Germany on the world stage. He worked to restore West German economy from the destruction in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to central position in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, rebuilt its army and came to terms with France, helped make possible Western European unification, opposed rival East Germany, and made his nation a member of NATO and a firm ally of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
He began the German reconciliation with the Jews and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
after the Holocaust, while ending denazification
Denazification
Denazification was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of any remnants of the National Socialist ideology. It was carried out specifically by removing those involved from positions of influence and by disbanding or rendering...
of West Germany; and reintegrated former Nazi party members to political life. More than anyone else Adenauer set the direction and policies that shaped Germany since 1950. He is regarded as one of the most prominent German leaders, and is acknowledged as the "Father of the New Germany." While he is generally regarded as one of the most notable leaders of Germany, his later years remain somewhat controversial, because of his unwillingness to abdicate despite his high age, his support for restricting the freedom of the press (Spiegel scandal
Spiegel scandal
The Spiegel Affair of 1962 was one of the major political scandals in Germany in the era following World War II.The scandal involved a conflict between Franz Josef Strauss, then Federal Minister of Defense, and Rudolf Augstein, owner and editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel magazine, Germany's leading...
) and his apologetic attitude towards former Nazis, which contributed to a certain animosity among the German left. His strong anti-Communist policy kept relations with eastern Europe frozen until the opposition came to power and Chancellor Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....
introduced his Ostpolitik
Ostpolitik
Neue Ostpolitik , or Ostpolitik for short, refers to the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Eastern Europe, particularly the German Democratic Republic beginning in 1969...
in the late 1960s.
A devout Catholic, he was a leading Centre Party
Centre Party (Germany)
The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...
politician in the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
, he served as Mayor of Cologne (1917–1933) and president of the Prussian State Council (1922–1933).
Early life
Konrad Adenauer was born as the third of five children of Johann Konrad Adenauer (1833–1906) and his wife Helene (1849–1919) (née Scharfenberg) in CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Rhenish Prussia
Rhine Province
The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg...
. His siblings were August (1872–1952), Johannes (1873–1937), Lilli (1879–1950) and Elisabeth, who died shortly after birth in c. 1880. In 1894, he completed his Abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
and started to study law and politics at the universities of Freiburg
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg , sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburg dynasty as the...
, Munich and Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
. He was a member of several Roman Catholic students’ associations under the K.St.V. Arminia Bonn
Katholischer Studentenverein Arminia Bonn
The Katholischer Studentenverein Arminia is one of Germany's oldest Catholic male student societies.- History :Arminia is a student corporation founded on 6 November 1863 at the University of Bonn...
in Bonn. He finished his studies in 1901 and afterwards worked as a lawyer at the court in Cologne.
Leader in Cologne
As a devout Catholic, he joined the Centre PartyCentre Party (Germany)
The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...
in 1906 and was elected to Cologne’s city council in the same year. In 1909, he became Vice-Mayor of Cologne, an industrial metropolis with a population of 635,000 in 1914. Avoiding the extreme political movements that attracted so many of his generation, Adenauer was committed to bourgeois common-sense, diligence, order, Christian morals and values, and was dedicated to rooting out disorder, inefficiency, irrationality and political immorality. From 1917 to 1933, he served as Mayor of Cologne.
Adenauer headed Cologne during the First World War, working closely with the army to maximize the city's role as a rear base of supply and transportation for the Western Front. He paid special attention to the civilian food supply, as the city financed large warehouses of food that enabled the residents to avoid the worst of the severe shortages that beset most German cities during 1918–1919. He set up giant kitchens in working-class districts to supply 200,000 rations per day. In the face of the collapse of the old regime and the threat of revolution and widespread disorder in late 1918, Adenauer maintained control in Cologne using his good working relationship with the Social Democrats.
He was mayor during the postwar British occupation. He established a good working relationship with the British military authorities, using them to neutralize the workers' and soldiers' council that had become an alternative base of power for the city's left wing. He flirted with Rhenish separatism
Rhenish Republic
The Rhenish Republic was proclaimed at Aachen in October 1923 during the Occupation of the Ruhr by troops from France and Belgium between January 1923 and 1925...
(a Rhenish state as part of Germany, but outside Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
). During the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
, he was president of the Prussian State Council (Preußischer Staatsrat) from 1922 to 1933, which was the representative of the Prussian cities and provinces.
Years under Nazi regime
Election gains of Nazi party candidates in municipal, state and national elections in 1930 and 1932 were significant. Adenauer, as mayor of Cologne and president of the Prussian State Council, still believed that improvements in the national economy would make his strategy work: ignore the Nazis and concentrate on the Communist threat. He was "surprisingly slow in his reaction" to the Nazi electoral successes, and even when he was already the target of intense personal attacks, he thought the Nazis should be part of the Prussian and national governments based on election returns. Political maneuverings around the aging President Hindenburg then brought the NazisNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
to power on January 30, 1933.
By early February Adenauer finally realized that all talk, all attempts at compromise with the Nazis were futile. Cologne's city council and the Prussian parliament had been dissolved; on April 4, 1933 he was officially dismissed as mayor and his bank accounts frozen. "He had no money, no home and no job." After arranging for the safety of his family, he appealed to the abbot of the Benedictine monastery at Maria Laach
Maria Laach Abbey
Maria Laach Abbey is a Benedictine abbey situated on the southwestern shore of the Laacher See , near Andernach, in the Eifel region of the Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. It is a member of the Beuronese Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation...
for a stay of several months. His stay at this abbey, which lengthened to a full year, was cited by the abbot after the war when Adenauer was accused by Heinrich Böll
Heinrich Böll
Heinrich Theodor Böll was one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers. Böll was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 1967 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972.- Biography :...
and others of collaboration with the Nazis. According to Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
in his book Spandau: The Secret Diaries
Spandau: The Secret Diaries
Spandau: The Secret Diaries was a 1976 best selling book by Albert Speer. While it principally deals with Speer's time while incarcerated at Spandau Prison, it also contains much material on his role in the Third Reich and his relationship with Adolf Hitler....
, Hitler expressed admiration for Adenauer, noting his civic projects, the building of a road circling the city as a bypass, and a "green belt" of parks. However, both Hitler and Speer concluded that Adenauer's political views and principles made it impossible for him to play any role in Nazi Germany.
He was imprisoned briefly after the Night of the Long Knives
Night of the Long Knives
The Night of the Long Knives , sometimes called "Operation Hummingbird " or in Germany the "Röhm-Putsch," was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders...
in mid-1934. During the next two years, he changed residences often for fear of reprisals against him, while living on the benevolence of friends. With the help of lawyers in August 1937 he was successful in claiming a pension; he received a cash settlement for his house which had been taken over by the city of Cologne, his unpaid mortgage, penalties and taxes were waived. With reasonable financial security he managed to live in seclusion for some years. After the failed assassination attempt on Hitler
July 20 Plot
On 20 July 1944, an attempt was made to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of the Third Reich, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. The plot was the culmination of the efforts of several groups in the German Resistance to overthrow the Nazi-led German government...
in 1944, he was imprisoned for a second time as an opponent of the regime. He fell ill and credited Eugen Zander, a former municipal worker in Cologne and communist, with saving his life. Zander, then a section Kapo
Kapo (concentration camp)
A kapo was a prisoner who worked inside German Nazi concentration camps during World War II in any of certain lower administrative positions. The official Nazi word was Funktionshäftling, or "prisoner functionary", but the Nazis commonly referred to them as kapos.- Etymology :The origin of "kapo"...
of a labor camp near Bonn discovered Adenauer's name on a deportation list to the East and managed to get him admitted to a hospital. Adenauer was subsequently rearrested (also his wife), but in the absence of any evidence against him was released from prison at Brauweiler
Brauweiler Abbey
Brauweiler Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery located at Brauweiler, now in Pulheim near Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, in Germany....
in November 1944.
Shortly after the war ended the American occupation forces installed him again as Mayor of heavily bombed Cologne. After the transfer of the city into the British zone of occupation the Director of its Military Government, General Gerald Templer
Gerald Templer
Field Marshal Sir Gerald Walter Robert Templer KG, GCB, GCMG, KBE was a British military commander. He is best known for his defeat of the guerrilla rebels in Malaya between 1952 and 1954...
, dismissed Adenauer for what he said was his alleged incompetence.
Post World War II and the founding of the CDU
After his dismissal as Mayor of Cologne, Adenauer devoted himself to building a new political party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which he hoped would embrace both ProtestantsProtestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
and Roman Catholics in a single party. In January 1946, Adenauer initiated a political meeting of the future CDU in the British zone in his role as doyen (the oldest man in attendance, Alterspräsident) and was informally confirmed as its leader.
Adenauer worked diligently at building up contacts and support in the CDU over the next years, and he sought with varying success to impose his particular ideology on the party. His was an ideology at odds with many in the CDU, who wished to unite socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
; Adenauer preferred to stress the dignity of the individual, and he considered both communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
materialist world views that violated human dignity.
Adenauer's leading role in the CDU of the British zone won him a position at the Parliamentary Council of 1948, called into existence by the Western Allies
Allies
In everyday English usage, allies are people, groups, or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out between them...
to draft a constitution for the three western zones of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He was the chairman of this constitutional convention and vaulted from this position to being chosen as the first head of government once the new "Basic Law
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is the constitution of Germany. It was formally approved on 8 May 1949, and, with the signature of the Allies of World War II on 12 May, came into effect on 23 May, as the constitution of those states of West Germany that were initially included...
" had been promulgated in May 1949.
Chancellor of West Germany
German federal election, 1949
The 1st German federal election, 1949, was conducted on 14 August 1949, to elect members to the Bundestag of West Germany. This was the first free election conducted in Germany since Adolf Hitler had become Reich Chancellor in 1933....
at age 73, Adenauer was elected the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
with the support of his own CDU, the Christian Social Union
Christian Social Union of Bavaria
The Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...
and the liberal Free Democratic Party. Due to his age, it was initially thought he would only be a caretaker. However, he held this position from 1949 to 1963, a period which spans most of the preliminary phase of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. During this period, the post-war division of Germany was consolidated with the establishment of two separate German states, the Federal Republic of Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
(West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(East Germany).
The first election to the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
of West Germany was held on 15 August 1949, with the Christian Democrats emerging as the strongest party. Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss was a liberal German politician who served as the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II from 1949 to 1959...
was elected the first President of the Republic
President of Germany
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...
(head of state), and Adenauer was elected Chancellor (head of government) on 16 September 1949. In the controversial selection for a "provisional capital" of the Federal Republic of Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
Adenauer championed Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
over Frankfurt am Main. The British had agreed to detach Bonn from their zone of occupation and convert the area to an autonomous region wholly under German sovereignty; the Americans were not prepared to grant the same for Frankfurt.
At the Petersberg Agreement
Petersberg agreement
The Petersberg Agreement is an international treaty that extended the rights of the Federal Government of Germany vis-a-vis the occupying forces of Britain, France, and the United States, and is viewed as the first major step of Federal Republic of Germany towards sovereignty...
in November 1949 he achieved some of the first concessions granted by the Allies, such as a decrease in the number of factories to be dismantled, but in particular his agreement to join the International Authority for the Ruhr
International Authority for the Ruhr
The International Authority for the Ruhr was an international body established in 1949 by the Allied powers to control the coal and steel industry of the Ruhr Area in West Germany....
led to heavy criticism. In the following debate in parliament Adenauer stated:
- The Allies have told me that dismantling would be stopped only if I satisfy the Allied desire for security, does the Socialist Party want dismantling to go on to the bitter end?
The opposition leader Kurt Schumacher
Kurt Schumacher
Dr. Kurt Schumacher , was chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1946 and first Leader of the Opposition in the West German Bundestag parliament from 1949 until his death...
responded by labeling Adenauer "Chancellor of the Allies." (See also the Industrial plans for Germany
Industrial plans for Germany
The Industrial plans for Germany were designs the Allies considered imposing on Germany in the aftermath of World War II to reduce and manage Germany's industrial capacity.-Background:...
).
When a rebellion in East Germany
Uprising of 1953 in East Germany
The Uprising of 1953 in East Germany started with a strike by East Berlin construction workers on June 16. It turned into a widespread anti-Stalinist uprising against the German Democratic Republic government the next day....
was harshly suppressed by the Red Army in June 1953, Adenauer took full advantage of the situation and was handily re-elected to a second term as Chancellor. The CDU/CSU came up one seat short of an outright majority. Adenauer could have governed alone without the support of other parties, but retained the support of nearly all of the parties in the Bundestag that were to the right of the SPD.
The election of 1957 essentially dealt with national matters. Riding a wave of popularity from the return of the last POWs from Soviet labor camps, as well as an extensive pension reform, Adenauer led the CDU/CSU to the first—and as of 2011, only—outright majority in a free German election.
In 1959, Adenauer for a couple of weeks considered leaving the chancellorship and becoming Federal President. He initially believed that the office could be fulfilled in a more politically active way than president Heuss did. Adenauer reconsidered, among other reasons, because he was afraid that Ludwid Erhard would become the new chancellor of whom Adenauer thought little.
The temper had changed by election time in September 1961. Over the course of 1961, Adenauer had his concerns about both the status of Berlin and US leadership confirmed, as the Soviets and East Germans built the Berlin Wall. Adenauer had come into the year distrusting the new US President, John F. Kennedy. He doubted Kennedy's commitment to a free Berlin and a unified Germany and considered him undisciplined and naïve.
For his part, Kennedy thought Adenauer was a relic of the past, stating "The real trouble is that he is too old and I am too young for us to understand each other." Their strained relationship impeded effective Western action on Berlin during 1961. Adenauer had tarnished his image when he announced he would run for the office of federal president in 1959, only to pull out when he discovered that under the Basic Law
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is the constitution of Germany. It was formally approved on 8 May 1949, and, with the signature of the Allies of World War II on 12 May, came into effect on 23 May, as the constitution of those states of West Germany that were initially included...
, the president had far less power than he did in the Weimar Republic. Additionally, the departing and respected Theodor Heuss had established the precedent that the president be nonpartisan, which clashed with Adenauer's vision. The construction of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
in August 1961 and the sealing of borders by the East Germans made his government look weak. His "reaction was ... lame;" he eventually flew to Berlin, but he appeared to have "lost his once instinctive, ultra-swift power of judgement." After failing to keep their majority in the general election 36 days after the wall went up, the CDU/CSU again needed to include the FDP in a coalition government. To strike a deal, Adenauer was forced to make two concessions: to relinquish the chancellorship before the end of the new term, his fourth, and to replace his foreign minister.
Rearmament
By 1949 the U.S. and Britain agreed that West Germany had to be rearmed in order to strengthen the defenses of Western Europe against a possible Soviet invasion. What was needed was a viable democratic German Army, free of the militarism and outlook of its wartime predecessor. The idea was that it would be essential for the defense of Germany and indeed all of Western Europe. Adenauer was able to overcome grave French objections and created the non-nuclear "Bundeswehr" based on democratic principles and practices that met the Allies' criteria.Criticisms of Adenauer's chancellorship
However, contemporary critics accused Adenauer of cementing the division of Germany, sacrificing reunification and the recovery of territories lost in the westward shift of PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. "In his view, he said with the greatest emphasis, full integration into Western Europe was a precondition of the reunification of Germany." During the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, the United States was "aiming for a West German armed force, after their [U.S.] costly experience in the Korean War," and Adenauer linked this rearmament concept to West German sovereignty and entry into NATO. In 1952, the Stalin Note
Stalin Note
The Stalin Note, also known as the March Note, was a document delivered to the representatives of the Western allied powers from the Soviet Occupation in Germany on March 10, 1952...
, as it became known, "caught everybody in the West by surprise." It offered to unify the two German entities into a single, neutral state with its own, non-aligned national army to effect superpower disengagement from Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
. Adenauer and his cabinet were unanimous in their rejection of the Stalin overture, they shared the Western Allies’ suspicion about the genuineness of that offer and supported the Allies in their cautious replies.
Adenauer’s flat rejection was, however, out of step with public opinion; he then realized his mistake and he started to ask questions. Critics denounced him for having missed an opportunity for German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
. The Soviets sent a second note, courteous in tone. Adenauer by then understood that "all opportunity for initiative had passed out of his hands," and the matter was put to rest by the Allies. Given the realities of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, German reunification and recovery of lost territories in the east were not realistic goals as both of Stalin's notes specified the retention of the existing "Potsdam"-decreed boundaries of Germany. His re-election campaigns centered around the slogan "No Experiments."
As chancellor, Adenauer tended to make most major decisions to himself, treating his ministers as mere extensions of his authority.
The German student movement
German student movement
The German student movement was a protest movement that took place during the late 1960s in West Germany. It was largely a reaction against the perceived authoritarianism and hypocrisy of the German government and other Western governments, and the poor living conditions of students...
of the late 1960s was essentially a left-wing protest against the conservatism Adenauer—by then out of office—had personified. Radical student protesters and Marxist groups were further inflamed by strong Anti-Americanism
Anti-Americanism
The term Anti-Americanism, or Anti-American Sentiment, refers to broad opposition or hostility to the people, policies, culture or government of the United States...
fueled by the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and opposition to the conservative Nixon administration.
Ending of denazification and the introduction of "Wiedergutmachung"
During the early years of his chancellorship and with a broad consensus within the West German establishment in favor of amnesty and integration, Adenauer pressed for the ending of denazification efforts. The denazification process was viewed by the United States as counterproductive and ineffective, and its demise was not opposed. Adenauer’s intention was to switch government policy to reparations and compensation for the victims of NS rule (Wiedergutmachung
Wiedergutmachung
The German word Wiedergutmachung after World War II refers to the reparations that the German government agreed to pay to the direct survivors of the Holocaust, and to those who were made to work as forced labour or who otherwise became victims of the Nazis.The noun Wiedergutmachung is the general...
), stating that the main culprits had been prosecuted.
As result, Germany started negotiations with Israel for restitution of lost property and the payment of damages to victims of the Nazi persecutions. In the Luxemburger Abkommen
Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany
The Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany was signed on September 10, 1952, and entered in force on March 27, 1953...
, Germany agreed to pay compensation to Israel. Jewish claims were bundled in the Jewish Claims Conference
Claims Conference
The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, or Claims Conference, represents world Jewry in negotiating for compensation and restitution for victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs...
, which represented the Jewish victims of Nazi Germany. Germany then paid initially about 3 billion Mark to Israel and about 450 million to the Claims Conference, although payments continued after that, as new claims were made. Israel was divided in accepting the money.The agreement was condmened by some Israelis as simply an expedient whereby Germany would buy off Jewish survivors to regain credibility on international stage, and Adenauer was criticised for being too lenient towards politically compromised individuals whose past treatment of Jews was at best questionable. But ultimately the fledgling state under David Ben Gurion agreed to take it, opposed by more radical groups like Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
, who were against such treaties. Those treaties were cited as a main reason for the assassination attempt by the radical Jewish groups against Adenauer.
For a legal backup, the German German Restitution Laws
German Restitution Laws
The German Restitution Laws were a series of laws passed in the 1950s in West Germany regulating the restitution of lost property and the payment of damages to victims of the Nazi persecutions....
(Bundesentschädigungsgesetz) were passed in 1956, allowing individuals and other ethnic groups than Jews to lay claims for compensation from the German state, if they were victims of Nazi prosecution. Aside from that, other global treaties for compensation were made with other European states in the following decades, to compensate for the Nazi crimes.
By 1951 laws were passed by the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
ending denazification. Officials were allowed to retake jobs in civil service, with the exception of people assigned to Group I (Major Offenders) and II (Offenders) during the denazification review process.
The amnesty legislation had benefited 792,176 people, among them:
- 3,000 functionaries of the SA, the SS, and the Nazi Party who participated in dragging victims to jails and camps
- 20,000 other Nazi perpetrators sentenced for "deeds against life" (presumably murder);
- 30,000 sentenced for causing bodily injury
- 5,200 charged with "crimes and misdemeanors in office."
Adenauer was prepared to tolerate ex-Nazis in his administration provided their membership in the party had been inactive, or necessary for them to keep their job. Despite these claims he nominated people active under Nazi Germany to top ministerial positions, including Hans Globke
Hans Globke
- See also :* Theodor Oberländer* Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff- Bibliography :* Tetens, T.H. The New Germany and the Old Nazis. Random House/Marzani & Munsel, New York, 1961. LCN 61-7240....
, Director of the Federal Chancellory of West Germany between 1953 and 1963 and one of the closest aides to Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. It was a policy that attracted criticism, however, Adenauer started his administration from absolute zero, and “it would have been folly to deprive the fledgling republic of the services of [these civil servants and professionals] for that reason alone.” He made it clear for all, if they stepped out of line, they could expect a case for de-Nazification to be reopened. To construct a “competent Federal Government effectively from a standing start was one of the greatest of Adenauer’s formidable achievements.”
Achievements of Adenauer's chancellorship
Adenauer’s achievements include the establishment of a stable democracy in West Germany and a lasting reconciliation with FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, culminating in the Élysée Treaty
Élysée Treaty
Élysée Treaty also known as the Treaty of Friendship, was concluded by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer in 1963. It set the seal on reconciliation between the two countries...
. His political commitment to the Western powers achieved a limited, but far-reaching sovereignty for West Germany by firmly integrating the country with the emerging Euro-Atlantic community (NATO and the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation). Adenauer is closely linked to the implementation of an enhanced pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
system, which ensured unparalleled prosperity for retired persons. Along with his Minister for Economic Affairs and successor Ludwig Erhard
Ludwig Erhard
Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is notable for his leading role in German postwar economic reform and economic recovery , particularly in his role as Minister of Economics under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer...
, the West German model of a "social market economy
Social market economy
The social market economy is the main economic model used in West Germany after World War II. It is based on the economic philosophy of Ordoliberalism from the Freiburg School...
" (a mixed economy
Mixed economy
Mixed economy is an economic system in which both the state and private sector direct the economy, reflecting characteristics of both market economies and planned economies. Most mixed economies can be described as market economies with strong regulatory oversight, in addition to having a variety...
with capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
moderated by elements of social welfare and Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching is a body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of poverty and wealth, economics, social organization and the role of the state...
) allowed for the boom period known as the Wirtschaftswunder
Wirtschaftswunder
The term describes the rapid reconstruction and development of the economies of West Germany and Austria after World War II . The expression was used by The Times in 1950...
("economic miracle") that produced broad prosperity. The Adenauer era witnessed a dramatic rise in the standard of living of average Germans, with real wages doubling between 1950 and 1963. This rising affluence was accompanied by a 20% fall in working hours during that same period, together with a fall in the unemployment rate from 8% in 1950 to 0.4% in 1965. in addition, an advanced welfare state was established.
Adenauer ensured a truly free and democratic society which had been almost unknown to the German people before — notwithstanding the attempt between 1919 and 1933 (the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
) — and which is today not just normal but also deeply integrated into modern German society. He thereby laid the groundwork for Germany to reenter the community of nations and to evolve as a dependable member of the Western world. It can be argued that because of Adenauer’s policies, a later reunification of both German states was possible; and unified Germany has remained a solid partner in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and NATO.
In retrospect, mainly 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 even with some of today’s left-wing intellectuals, who praise his unconditional commitment to western-style democracy and European integration.
Additional actions as Chancellor
- Made a historic speech to the BundestagBundestagThe Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
in September 1951 in which he recognized the obligation of the German government to compensate IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, as the main representative of the Jewish peopleJewsThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, for The HolocaustThe HolocaustThe Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
. This started a process which led to the Bundestag approving a pact between Israel and Germany in 1953 outlining the reparationsReparations Agreement between Israel and West GermanyThe Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany was signed on September 10, 1952, and entered in force on March 27, 1953...
Germany would pay to Israel. - Opened diplomatic relations with the USSRSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, but refused to recognize East Germany and broke off diplomatic relations with countries (e.g., Yugoslavia) that established relations with the East German régime. - Helped secure the release of the last German prisoners of war in 1955, (see Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet UnionForced labor of Germans in the Soviet UnionForced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union was considered by the Soviet Union to be part of German war reparations for the damage inflicted by Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union during World War II. German civilians in Eastern Europe were deported to the USSR after World War II as forced laborers...
). - Reached an agreement for his "nuclear ambitions" with a NATO Military Committee in December 1956 that stipulated West German forces to be "equipped for nuclear warfare." Concluding that the United States would eventually pull out of Western Europe, Adenauer pursued nuclear cooperation with other countries. The French government then proposed that France, West Germany and Italy jointly develop and produce nuclear weapons and delivery systems, and an agreement was signed in April 1958. With the ascendancy of Charles de Gaulle, the agreement for joint production and control was shelved indefinitely. President John F. Kennedy, an ardent foe of nuclear proliferation, considered sales of such weapons moot since "in the event of war the United States would, from the outset, be prepared to defend the Federal Republic." The physicists of the Max Planck InstituteMax Planck SocietyThe Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes publicly funded by the federal and the 16 state governments of Germany....
for Theoretical Physics at GöttingenGöttingenGöttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
and other renowned universities would have had the scientific capability for in-house development, but the will was absent, nor was there public support. With Adenauer’s fourth term election in November 1961 and the end of his chancellorship in sight, his "nuclear ambitions" began to taper off. - Oversaw the reintegration of the SaarlandSaarlandSaarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
into West Germany in 1957. - Briefly considered running for the office of Federal PresidentPresident of GermanyThe President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...
in 1959. After his reversal he supported the nomination of Heinrich LübkeHeinrich LübkeKarl Heinrich Lübke was President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1959 to 1969.-Biography:...
as the CDU presidential candidate whom he believed weak enough not to interfere with his actions as Federal Chancellor.
For all of his efforts as West Germany's leader, Adenauer was named Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine’s Man of the Year
Person of the Year
Person of the Year is an annual issue of the United States newsmagazine Time that features and profiles a person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse, ...has done the most to influence the events of the year."- History :The tradition of selecting a Man of the Year...
in 1953. In 1954, he received the Karlspreis
Karlspreis
- See also :*Charlemagne*European integration*Leipzig Human Rights Award, originally called the "Alternative Charlemagne Award", formed in opposition to Clinton's recognition with the award- External links :* http://www.karlspreis.de/ *...
(English: Charlemagne Award), an Award by the German city of Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
to people who contributed to the European idea, European cooperation and European peace.
In his last years in office, Adenauer used to take a nap after lunch and, when he was traveling abroad and had a public function to attend, he sometimes asked for a bed in a room close to where he was supposed to be speaking, so that he could rest briefly before he appeared.
Adenauer found relaxation and great enjoyment in the Italian game of bocce
Bocce
Bocce is a ball sport belonging to the boules sport family, closely related to bowls and pétanque with a common ancestry from ancient games played in the Roman Empire...
and spent a great deal of his post political career playing this game. His favorite holiday place to do this was in Cadenabbia
Cadenabbia
Cadenabbia is a small community in Lombardy, Italy, in the province of Como, on the west shore of Lake Como. The community is part of the comune of Griante, situated about 15 miles by steamer from the town of Como, between the communities of Menaggio and Tremezzo.Cadenabbia is a favorite spring...
, Italy, in a rented villa overlooking Lake Como, which has since been acquired as a conference centre by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
Konrad Adenauer Foundation
The Konrad Adenauer Foundation is a German political party foundation associated with the centre-right Christian Democratic Union . The foundation's headquarters are located in Saint Augustine and Berlin. Globally, the KAS has 78 offices and runs programs in over 100 countries...
, the political foundation established by Adenauers political party Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
.
When, in 1967, after his death at the age of 91, Germans were asked what they admired most about Adenauer, the majority responded that he had brought home the last German prisoners of war from the USSR, which had become known as the "Return of the 10,000".
Assassination attempt
On 27 March 1952, a package addressed to Chancellor Adenauer exploded in the MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
Police Headquarters, killing one Bavarian police officer. Two boys who had been paid to send this package by mail had brought it to the attention of the police. Investigations led to people closely related to the Herut
Herut
Herut was the major right-wing political party in Israel from the 1940s until its formal merger into Likud in 1988, and an adherent of Revisionist Zionism.-History:...
Party and the former Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
armed organization. The West German government kept all proof under seal in order to prevent antisemitic responses from the German public. Five Israeli suspects identified by French and German investigators were allowed to return to Israel.
One of the participants, Eliezer Sudit, later revealed that the alleged mastermind behind this assassination attempt was Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin
' was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944,...
who would later become the Prime Minister of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Begin had been the former commander of Irgun and at that time headed Herut and was a member of the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
. His goal was to put pressure on the German government and prevent the signing of the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany
Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany
The Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany was signed on September 10, 1952, and entered in force on March 27, 1953...
, which he vehemently opposed.
David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
, Prime Minister of Israel, appreciated Adenauer’s response in playing down the affair and not pursuing it further, as it would have burdened the relationship between the two new states.
In June 2006 a slightly different version of this story appeared in one of Germany's leading newspapers, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , short F.A.Z., also known as the FAZ, is a national German newspaper, founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt am Main. The Sunday edition is the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung .F.A.Z...
, quoted by The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. Begin had offered to sell his gold watch as the conspirators ran out of money. The bomb was hidden in an encyclopedia and it killed a bomb-disposal expert, injuring two others. Adenauer was targeted because of the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany
Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany
The Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany was signed on September 10, 1952, and entered in force on March 27, 1953...
, signed at that time, which was violently opposed by Begin. Sudit, the story's source, explained that the "intent was not to hit Adenauer but to rouse the international media. It was clear to all of us there was no chance the package would reach Adenauer". The five conspirators were arrested by the French police, in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. They "were [former] members of the ... Irgun" (the organisation had been disbanded in 1948, 4 years earlier).
Spiegel scandal and retirement
In October 1962, a scandal eruptedSpiegel scandal
The Spiegel Affair of 1962 was one of the major political scandals in Germany in the era following World War II.The scandal involved a conflict between Franz Josef Strauss, then Federal Minister of Defense, and Rudolf Augstein, owner and editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel magazine, Germany's leading...
when police arrested five Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
journalists, charging them with high treason for publishing a memo detailing weaknesses in the West German armed forces. Adenauer had not initiated the arrests, but initially defended the person responsible, Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss, and called the Spiegel memo "Abgrund von Landesverrat" (abyss of treason). After public outrage and heavy protests from the coalition partner FDP he dismissed Strauss, but the reputation of Adenauer and his party had already suffered.
Adenauer managed to remain in office for almost another year, but the scandal increased the pressure he was under to fulfill his promise to resign before the end of the term. Adenauer was not on good terms with his economics minister Ludwig Erhard
Ludwig Erhard
Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is notable for his leading role in German postwar economic reform and economic recovery , particularly in his role as Minister of Economics under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer...
and tried to block him from the chancellorship. Adenauer failed, and in October 1963 he turned the office over to Erhard. He did remain chairman of the CDU until his resignation in December 1966.
Death
Bad Honnef
Bad Honnef is a spa town in Germany near Bonn in the Rhein-Sieg district, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the border of the neighbouring state Rhineland-Palatinate...
. According to his daughter, his last words were "Da jitt et nix zo kriesche!" (Cologne dialect
Kölsch language
Kölsch is a very closely related small set of dialects, or variants, of the Ripuarian Central German group of languages. Kölsch is spoken in and partially around Cologne in the area covered by the Archdiocese and former Electorate of Cologne reaching from Neuss in the north to just south of Bonn,...
for "There's nothin' to weep about!")
Konrad Adenauer's state funeral
State funeral
A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honor heads of state or other important people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of military tradition...
in Cologne Cathedral
Cologne Cathedral
Cologne Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Cologne, Germany. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and is a World Heritage Site...
was attended by a large number of world leaders, among them United States President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
. After the Requiem Mass and service, his remains were brought upstream to Rhöndorf on the Rhine aboard Kondor, with Seeadler and Sperber as escorts, three Jaguar class fast attack craft
Jaguar class fast attack craft
The Type 140 Jaguar class fast attack craft is an evolution of the German torpedo boats of World War II. The design was developed by Lürssen and designated Schnellboot 55. The 20 boats that were built for the German Navy were in Service from 1959 to 1976...
of the German Navy
German Navy
The German Navy is the navy of Germany and is part of the unified Bundeswehr .The German Navy traces its roots back to the Imperial Fleet of the revolutionary era of 1848 – 52 and more directly to the Prussian Navy, which later evolved into the Northern German Federal Navy...
, "past the thousands who stood in silence on both banks of the river." He is interred at the Waldfriedhof [Forest Cemetery] at Rhöndorf.
Honours
- Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- Order of the Sun (Peru), 1953.
- Order of the Condor of the AndesOrder of the Condor of the AndesThe Order of the Condor of the Andes is a medal of the Bolivian government.Instituted on April 12, 1925, the Order is awarded for exceptional merit, either civil or military, shown by Bolivians or foreign nationals...
(Bolivia), 1955. - Order of St Michael and St GeorgeOrder of St Michael and St GeorgeThe Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(UK), 1956. - Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers, Grand CordonOrder of the Rising SunThe is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese Government, created on April 10, 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight from the rising sun...
(Japan), 1963. - Order of the Rising Sun, Grand CordonOrder of the Rising SunThe is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese Government, created on April 10, 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight from the rising sun...
(Japan), 1960. - Légion d'honneurLégion d'honneurThe Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
(France), 1962. - Order of Isabella the Catholic (Spain), 1967.
Legacy
Robert Schuman
Robert Schuman was a noted Luxembourgish-born French statesman. Schuman was a Christian Democrat and an independent political thinker and activist...
, Paul-Henri Spaak
Paul-Henri Spaak
Paul Henri Charles Spaak was a Belgian Socialist politician and statesman.-Early life:Paul-Henri Spaak was born on 25 January 1899 in Schaerbeek, Belgium, to a distinguished Belgian family. His grandfather, Paul Janson was an important member of the Liberal Party...
and Konrad Adenauer.
First ministry
- Konrad Adenauer (CDUChristian Democratic Union (Germany)The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
) – Chancellor - Franz BlücherFranz BlücherFranz Blücher was a German politician and member of the German Parliament .Blücher was born in Essen, Rhine Province, German Empire....
(FDP) – Vice Chancellor and Minister of Marshall Plan Affairs - Gustav HeinemannGustav HeinemannGustav Walter Heinemann, GCB was a German politician. He was Mayor of the city of Essen from 1946 to 1949, West German Minister of the Interior from 1949 to 1950, Minister of Justice from 1966 to 1969 and President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1969 to 1974.-Early years and professional...
(CDU) – Minister of the Interior - Fritz SchäfferFritz SchäfferFritz Schäffer was a German politician for the Bavarian People's Party and the Christian Social Union . In 1945 he became the first Bavarian Minister-President after World War II...
(CSUChristian Social Union of BavariaThe Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...
) – Minister of Finance - Thomas DehlerThomas DehlerThomas Dehler was a German politician. He was the Federal Republic of Germany's first Minister of Justice and chairman of Free Democratic Party .-Early life:...
(FDP) – Minister of Justice - Ludwig ErhardLudwig ErhardLudwig Wilhelm Erhard was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is notable for his leading role in German postwar economic reform and economic recovery , particularly in his role as Minister of Economics under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer...
(CDU) – Minister of Economics - Anton Storch (CDU) – Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
- Wilhelm Niklas (CSU) – Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry
- Hans-Christoph SeebohmHans-Christoph SeebohmHans-Christoph Seebohm was a German politician of the nationalist....
(DPGerman PartyThe German Party is a name used by a number of German political parties in the country's history. The current incarnation is represented only at the local level in Germany. However, from 1949 to 1961, a German Party was part of the ruling coalition in the Bundestag...
) - Minister of Transport - Eberhard Wildermuth (FDP) – Minister of Construction
- Hans Schuberth (CSU) – Minister of Posts and Communications
- Hans Lukaschek (CDU) – Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees, and War Victims
- Jakob KaiserJakob KaiserJakob Kaiser was a German politician and resistance leader during World War II.Jakob Kaiser was born in the Franconian town of Hammelburg. Following in his father’s footsteps, Kaiser began a career as a bookbinder...
(CDU) – Minister of All-German Affairs - Heinrich HellwegeHeinrich HellwegeHeinrich Peter Hellwege was a German politician . Hellwege was Federal Minister for Affairs of the Federal Council and Prime Minister of Lower Saxony ....
(DP) – Minister of Bundesrat Affairs
Changes
- 13 October 1950 – Robert Lehr (CDU) succeeds Heinemann as Minister of the Interior.
- 15 March 1951 – Konrad Adenauer becomes Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as Chancellor when the Allies allow this post to be revived.
- 19 July 1952 – Fritz NeumayerFritz NeumayerFritz Neumayer was a German politician. He was Federal Minister of Building from 1952 to 1953, and Federal Minister of Justice from 1953 to 1956.-Early life:...
(FDP) succeeds Wildermuth (d.9 March) as Minister of Construction.
Second ministry
- Konrad Adenauer (CDU) – Chancellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Franz BlücherFranz BlücherFranz Blücher was a German politician and member of the German Parliament .Blücher was born in Essen, Rhine Province, German Empire....
(FDP) – Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economic Cooperation - Gerhard SchröderGerhard Schröder (CDU)Gerhard Schröder was a West German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union Party.A lawyer by profession, Schröder joined the Nazi Party and the SA in 1933....
(CDU) – Minister of the Interior - Fritz SchäfferFritz SchäfferFritz Schäffer was a German politician for the Bavarian People's Party and the Christian Social Union . In 1945 he became the first Bavarian Minister-President after World War II...
(CSU) – Minister of Finance - Fritz Neumayr (FDP) – Minister of Justice
- Ludwig ErhardLudwig ErhardLudwig Wilhelm Erhard was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is notable for his leading role in German postwar economic reform and economic recovery , particularly in his role as Minister of Economics under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer...
(CDU) – Minister of Economics - Anton Storch (CDU) – Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
- Heinrich LübkeHeinrich LübkeKarl Heinrich Lübke was President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1959 to 1969.-Biography:...
(CDU) – Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry - Hans-Christoph SeebohmHans-Christoph SeebohmHans-Christoph Seebohm was a German politician of the nationalist....
(DP) – Minister of Transport - Viktor-Emanuel Preusker (FDP) – Minister of Construction
- Franz-Josef Wuermeling (CDU) – Minister of Family Affairs
- Franz Josef Strauss (CSU) – Minister of Special Tasks
- Robert TillmannsRobert TillmannsRobert Tillmanns was a German politician.- Life and Work :After the Abitur in 1914, Tillmanns took part as a soldier in the First World War...
(CDU) – Minister of Special Tasks - Waldemar KraftWaldemar KraftWaldemar Kraft was a German politician who served as Federal Minister for Special Affairs in the Cabinet of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer from 1953 to 1956...
(GB/BHE) – Minister of Special Tasks - Hermann Schäfer (FDP) – Minister of Special Tasks
- Siegfried BalkeSiegfried BalkeSiegfried Balke was a German politician .He served as German Federal Minister for Post and Communications from 1953 to 1956 and as German Federal Minister for Nuclear Energy from 1956 to 1962.-Education and Professional Life:Master's degree in chemistry 1924, doctorate in chemistry 1925...
– Minister of Posts and Communications - Theodor OberländerTheodor OberländerTheodor Oberländer was an Ostforschung scientist, Nazi officer and German politician. Before Second World War he devised plans aimed against Jewish and Polish population in territories that were to be conquered by Nazi Germany...
(GB/BHE) – Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees, and War Victims - Jakob KaiserJakob KaiserJakob Kaiser was a German politician and resistance leader during World War II.Jakob Kaiser was born in the Franconian town of Hammelburg. Following in his father’s footsteps, Kaiser began a career as a bookbinder...
(CDU) – Minister of All-German Affairs - Heinrich HellwegeHeinrich HellwegeHeinrich Peter Hellwege was a German politician . Hellwege was Federal Minister for Affairs of the Federal Council and Prime Minister of Lower Saxony ....
(DP) – Minister of Bundesrat Affairs
Changes
- 7 June 1955 – Theodor BlankTheodor BlankTheodor Anton Blank was a German politician of the CDU. He was one of the founders of the CDU in 1945....
(CDU) becomes Minister of Defense when that post is revived. - 8 June 1955 – Heinrich von BrentanoHeinrich von BrentanoHeinrich von Brentano di Tremezzo was a German conservative politician and lawyer. He served as Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1955 to 1961.-Personal life:...
(CDU) succeeds Adenauer as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Hans-Joachim von MerkatzHans-Joachim von MerkatzHans-Joachim von Merkatz was a German politician. He was Federal Minister of Justice from 1956 to 1957. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1949 to 1961...
(DP) succeeds Hellwege as Minister of Bundesrat Affairs. - 19 October 1955 – Franz Josef Strauss (CSU) becomes Minister of Atomic Affairs
- 12 November 1955 – Tillmanns leaves the cabinet.
- 16 October 1956 – Franz Josef Strauss (CSU) succeeds Blank as Minister of Defense. Hans-Joachim von MerkatzHans-Joachim von MerkatzHans-Joachim von Merkatz was a German politician. He was Federal Minister of Justice from 1956 to 1957. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1949 to 1961...
succeeds Neumayr as Minister of Justice. Kraft and Schäfer leave the Cabinet. Siegfried BalkeSiegfried BalkeSiegfried Balke was a German politician .He served as German Federal Minister for Post and Communications from 1953 to 1956 and as German Federal Minister for Nuclear Energy from 1956 to 1962.-Education and Professional Life:Master's degree in chemistry 1924, doctorate in chemistry 1925...
(CSU) succeeds Strauss as Minister of Atomic Affairs. - 15 November 1956 – Ernst Lemmer (CDU) succeeds Balke as Minister of Posts and Communications.
Third ministry
- Konrad Adenauer (CDU) – Chancellor
- Ludwig ErhardLudwig ErhardLudwig Wilhelm Erhard was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is notable for his leading role in German postwar economic reform and economic recovery , particularly in his role as Minister of Economics under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer...
(CDU) – Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economics - Heinrich von BrentanoHeinrich von BrentanoHeinrich von Brentano di Tremezzo was a German conservative politician and lawyer. He served as Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1955 to 1961.-Personal life:...
(CDU) – Minister of Foreign Affairs - Franz Josef Strauss (CSU) – Minister of Defense
- Gerhard SchröderGerhard Schröder (CDU)Gerhard Schröder was a West German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union Party.A lawyer by profession, Schröder joined the Nazi Party and the SA in 1933....
(CDU) – Minister of the Interior - Franz EtzelFranz EtzelFranz Etzel was a German politician for the CDU. From 1949 to 4 January 1953 and from 1957 to 1967 Etzel was member of the German Bundestag. From 1957 to 1961 he was Minister of Finance.-See also:*List of German finance ministers...
(CDU) – Minister of Finance - Fritz SchäfferFritz SchäfferFritz Schäffer was a German politician for the Bavarian People's Party and the Christian Social Union . In 1945 he became the first Bavarian Minister-President after World War II...
(CSU) – Minister of Justice - Theodor BlankTheodor BlankTheodor Anton Blank was a German politician of the CDU. He was one of the founders of the CDU in 1945....
(CDU) – Minister of Labour and Social Affairs - Heinrich LübkeHeinrich LübkeKarl Heinrich Lübke was President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1959 to 1969.-Biography:...
(CDU) – Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry - Hans-Christoph SeebohmHans-Christoph SeebohmHans-Christoph Seebohm was a German politician of the nationalist....
(DP) – Minister of Transport - Paul LückePaul LückePaul Lücke was a German politician and civil servant. He served as Germany's Federal Minister of the Interior from 1965–1968....
(CDU) – Minister of Construction - Franz-Josef Wuermeling (CDU) – Minister of Family and Youth Affairs
- Richard StücklenRichard StücklenRichard Stücklen was German politician of the CSU. He had previously been a member of the NSDAP . From 1957 to 1966, he served as Federal Minister for Post and Communication. A member of the Bundestag for more than 40 years, he was its President from 1979 to 1983.-Life:Stücklen was born in Heideck...
(CSU) – Minister of Posts and Communications - Theodor OberländerTheodor OberländerTheodor Oberländer was an Ostforschung scientist, Nazi officer and German politician. Before Second World War he devised plans aimed against Jewish and Polish population in territories that were to be conquered by Nazi Germany...
(CDU) – Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees, and War Victims - Ernst Lemmer (CDU) – Minister of All-German Affairs
- Hans-Joachim von MerkatzHans-Joachim von MerkatzHans-Joachim von Merkatz was a German politician. He was Federal Minister of Justice from 1956 to 1957. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1949 to 1961...
(DP) – Minister of Bundesrat and State Affairs - Siegfried BalkeSiegfried BalkeSiegfried Balke was a German politician .He served as German Federal Minister for Post and Communications from 1953 to 1956 and as German Federal Minister for Nuclear Energy from 1956 to 1962.-Education and Professional Life:Master's degree in chemistry 1924, doctorate in chemistry 1925...
(CSU) – Minister of Nuclear Energy and Water - Hermann Lindrath (CDU) – Minister of Federal Economic Possessions
Changes
- 13 September 1959 - Werner Schwarz (CDU) succeeds Lübke as Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry.
- 5 April 1960 - Oberländer resigns as Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees, and War Victims.
- 4 May 1960 - Hans Wilhelmi (CDU) succeeds Lindrath (d. 27 February) as Minister of Federal Economic Possessions.
- 27 October 1960 - Hans-Joachim von MerkatzHans-Joachim von MerkatzHans-Joachim von Merkatz was a German politician. He was Federal Minister of Justice from 1956 to 1957. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1949 to 1961...
(CDU) becomes Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees, and War Victims.
Fourth ministry
- Konrad Adenauer (CDU) - Chancellor
- Ludwig ErhardLudwig ErhardLudwig Wilhelm Erhard was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is notable for his leading role in German postwar economic reform and economic recovery , particularly in his role as Minister of Economics under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer...
(CDU) - Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economics - Gerhard SchröderGerhard Schröder (CDU)Gerhard Schröder was a West German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union Party.A lawyer by profession, Schröder joined the Nazi Party and the SA in 1933....
(CDU) - Minister of Foreign Affairs - Franz Josef Strauss (CSU) - Minister of Defense
- Hermann HöcherlHermann HöcherlHermann Höcherl was a Nazi politician, volunteer Wehrmacht soldier and after the war German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria ....
(CSU) - Minister of the Interior - Heinz StarkeHeinz StarkeHeinz Starke was a German politician. He was born in Silesia. He was Minister of Finance of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1961–62.-References:*...
(FDP) - Minister of Finance - Wolfgang StammbergerWolfgang StammbergerWolfgang Stammberger was a German jurist and politician. He served as German Minister of Justice from 1961 to 1962....
(FDP) - Minister of Justice - Theodor BlankTheodor BlankTheodor Anton Blank was a German politician of the CDU. He was one of the founders of the CDU in 1945....
(CDU) - Minister of Labour and Social Affairs - Werner Schwarz (CDU) - Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry
- Hans-Christoph SeebohmHans-Christoph SeebohmHans-Christoph Seebohm was a German politician of the nationalist....
(CDU) - Minister of Transport - Paul LückePaul LückePaul Lücke was a German politician and civil servant. He served as Germany's Federal Minister of the Interior from 1965–1968....
(CDU) - Minister of Construction - Franz-Josef Wuermeling (CDU) - Minister of Family and Youth Affairs
- Elisabeth SchwarzhauptElisabeth SchwarzhauptElisabeth Schwartzhaupt was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. She was Federal Minister of Health from 1961 to 1966, the first woman to hold a Ministerial position in Germany....
(CDU) - Minister of Health - Walter ScheelWalter ScheelWalter Scheel is a German politician . He served as Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development from 1961 to 1966, Foreign Minister of Germany and Vice Chancellor from 1969 to 1974, acting Chancellor of Germany from 7 May to 16 May 1974 , and finally as President of the Federal...
(FDP) - Minister of Economic Cooperation - Heinrich KroneHeinrich KroneHeinrich Krone was a German Christian-Democratic politician.Shortly after beginning his Theology study in 1914, Krone was drafted into service in World War I. After the war Krone continued his study, joining the Catholic Center Party in 1923...
(CDU) - Minister of Special Tasks - Richard StücklenRichard StücklenRichard Stücklen was German politician of the CSU. He had previously been a member of the NSDAP . From 1957 to 1966, he served as Federal Minister for Post and Communication. A member of the Bundestag for more than 40 years, he was its President from 1979 to 1983.-Life:Stücklen was born in Heideck...
(CSU) - Minister of Posts and Communications - Wolfgang Mischnick (FDP) - Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees, and War Victims
- Ernst Lemmer (CDU) - Minister of All-German Affairs
- Hans-Joachim von MerkatzHans-Joachim von MerkatzHans-Joachim von Merkatz was a German politician. He was Federal Minister of Justice from 1956 to 1957. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1949 to 1961...
(CDU) - Minister of Bundesrat and State Affairs - Siegfried BalkeSiegfried BalkeSiegfried Balke was a German politician .He served as German Federal Minister for Post and Communications from 1953 to 1956 and as German Federal Minister for Nuclear Energy from 1956 to 1962.-Education and Professional Life:Master's degree in chemistry 1924, doctorate in chemistry 1925...
(CSU) - Minister of Nuclear Energy and Water - Hans Lenz (FDP) - Minister of Federal Treasure
Changes
- 19 November 1962 Ewald Bucher (FDP) succeeds Stammberger as Minister of Justice. Werner DollingerWerner DollingerDr. Werner Dollinger was a German politician and economist. Born in Neustadt an der Aisch, he helped found the Christian Socialist Union Party in 1946. Dollinger was a member of the Bundestag , minister for the Treasury , minister of postal services and telecommunication and minister of transport...
(CSU) succeeds Lenz as Minister of Federal Treasure. - 14 December 1962 - Rolf DahlgrünRolf DahlgrünRolf Dahlgrün was a German politician for the FDP. From 1962 to 1966 he was Minister of Finance.-Life:Dahlgrün studied law. He worked since 1936 for the Phönix Gummiwerke AG in Hamburg-Harburg...
(FDP) succeeds Starke as Minister of Finance. Bruno HeckBruno HeckBruno Heck was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union .Heck was born into a poor Swabian catholic family. He studied philosophy and theology at the University of Tübingen. From 1957 to 1976 Heck was a member of the German Bundestag.Heck was Minister of Family Affairs and Youth from...
(CDU) succeeds Wuermeling as Minister of Family and Youth Affairs. Hans Lenz (FDP) enters the ministry as Minister of Scientific Research. Rainer BarzelRainer BarzelRainer Candidus Barzel was a German politician of the CDU.Born in Braunsberg, East Prussia , Barzel served as Chairman of the CDU from 1971 and 1973 and ran as the CDU's candidate for Chancellor of Germany in the 1972 federal elections, losing to Willy Brandt's SPD.The 1972 election is commonly...
(CDU) succeeds Lemmer as Minister of All-German Affairs. Alois Niederalt (CSU) succeeds Merkatz as Minister of Bundesrat and State Affairs. The Ministry of Nuclear Energy and Water is abolished, and Balke leaves the cabinet. - 9 January 1963 - Kai-Uwe von HasselKai-Uwe von HasselKai-Uwe von Hassel was a German politician from Schleswig-Holstein associated with the CDU party.Von Hassel was born in Gare, German East Africa ....
(CDU) succeeds Strauss as Minister of Defense.