Konrad Adenauer (1876 - 1967) |
Konrad Adenauer (5. January 1876 - 19. April 1967) was a German statesman.
Adenauer, a Centre Party politician, was Mayor of Cologne from 1917 to 1933, and as such,
flirted with Rhenish separatism in the early 1920s. From 1922 to 1933 he was chancellor
of the Prussian State Council (Preussischer Staatsrat). In 1944 he was imprisoned for
his opposition to the Nazis.
He was first
Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
from 1949-1963, a period
which spans most of the preliminary phase of the Cold War. In this period,
West Germany
was politically separated from
East Germany.
Adenauer was a co-founder of the Christian Democratic Union, a successor to the
Centre which hoped to embrace Protestants as well as Catholics in a single
confessional party.
Leading the Rebuilding of West Germany
Adenauer's signature
on Notgeld from Cologn |
Adenauer led the rebuilding of West Germany and helped turn the nation into an economic
powerhouse. He is also notable for directing Germany's reconciliation with France and
other allied powers. Under Adenauer West Germany was allowed to rearm and to join NATO.
Adenauer also opened diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and the rest of the
Eastern bloc. In 1955 he managed to secure the release of the last German prisoners
of war.
In 1954 he received the Karlspreis (engl.: Charlemagne Award) an Award by the German
city of Aachen to people who contributed to the European idea and European peace.
In 1959 he briefly considered to run for the office of the President, then instead
chose a candidate (Heinrich Lübke) whom he believed weak enough not to disturb his
affairs as Chancellor.
In 1962 a scandal erupted when police under cabinet orders arrested five "Der Spiegel"
journalists, charging them with high treason, specifically for publishing a memo
detailing alleged weaknesses in German armed forces. The cabinet members, belonging
to the Free Democratic Party, left their positions in November 1962, and Defense
Minister Franz Josef Strauss, himself the chairman of the Christian Social Union,
was dismissed, followed by the remaining Christian Democratic Union cabinet members.
Adenauer was forced to resign and was succeeded as Chancellor by Ludwig Erhard,
although he remained chairman of the CDU until 1966.
Adenauer and the German society
Adenauer received marriage proposals up into his eighties. He used to tell his
secretary, "Put them in the non-aggression pact file."
Adenauer's autocratic style created a lot of political unease, which eventually fired
up the student revolts of the Sixties and takeover of power through the Social-Democrat
party in 1969. His unrestricted control of the CDU ended when the CDU Congress appointed
a general manager with the power to organise the party. During his reign, many German
scientists emigrated to the USA for more liberal research environment.
Protocols of his "tea talks" with selected journalists reveal Adenauer's brilliant
political thinking. Amongst others, he foresaw in very clear detail how economic
developments
would eventually bring about the downfall of the Communist rule in Eastern Europe.
Konrad Adenauer's terms as chancellor of West Germany
- 20. September 1949 - 20. October 1953
- 20. October 1953 - 29. October 1957
- 29. October 1957 - 14. November 1961
- 14. November 1961 - 16. October 1963
|
