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Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (German: [ˈkɔnʁaːt ˈʔaːdənaʊɐ] ⓘ; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman who served as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963.
Januar 1876 in Köln; † 19. April 1967 in Rhöndorf; eigentlich Conrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer) war ein deutscher christdemokratischer Politiker und Staatsmann. Von 1949 bis 1963 war er der erste Bundeskanzler der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und von 1951 bis 1955 zugleich erster Bundesminister des Auswärtigen .
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Konrad Adenauer (born January 5, 1876, Cologne, Germany—died April 19, 1967, Rhöndorf, West Germany) was the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany; 1949–63), presiding over its reconstruction after World War II. A Christian Democrat and firmly anticommunist, he supported the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and ...
The son of a Cologne civil servant, Adenauer grew up in a Roman Catholic family of simple means in which frugality, fulfillment of duty, and religious dedication were stressed. He studied law and political science at universities in Freiburg, Munich, and Bonn. In 1906 he was elected to the Cologne city council and in 1917, during World War I, was chosen Oberbürgermeister, or lord mayor, of the city. Retaining that office until 1933, Adenauer created new port facilities, a greenbelt, sports grounds, and exhibition sites and in 1919 sponsored the refounding of the University of Cologne.
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In 1918 Adenauer had hoped at first that the Rhineland might become one of the member states of Germany’s new Weimar Republic, but, when the British finally evacuated Cologne in 1926, the city and its surrounding district remained part of the Prussian Rhine province. Adenauer, who had been a member of the Prussian Herrenhaus (upper chamber of parliament) before its abolition in 1918, was a member of the Staatsrat (the central organ representing the diets of the Prussian provinces) from 1920 and became its speaker in 1928. Politically, he belonged to the Centre Party, which reflected Catholic principles.
Even before the end of the war, a new political party was being formed—the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU)—in which Roman Catholics and Protestants buried their long-standing differences to present a common front against Nazism and to promote Christian principles in government. Adenauer played an important role in the formation of this new party, and in 1946 he became its chairman in the British zone of occupation. Subsequently the CDU expanded into the four zones of the Allied occupation. As the Soviet Union began to increasingly obstruct the Allied Control Council, the Western Allies decided to give their three occupation zones a federal-state organization. Adenauer became president of the Parliamentary Council, which produced a provisional constitution for the intended German Federal Republic. In 1949 Adenauer became chairman of the CDU for the whole of West Germany, and, in the first general elections under the new regime, his party and its regular ally, the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), together won 139 of the 402 seats in the Bundestag, the lower house of the federal parliament. He managed to form a coalition government, but it was by a majority of only one vote that the Bundestag confirmed his appointment as chancellor on September 15, 1949.
As chancellor, Adenauer was opposed to socialist ideas and rejected the notion of an egalitarian mass society. His leading political theme was individualism under the rule of law. He was imbued with the conviction that the state must guarantee its citizens optimal room for independent intellectual and economic development, as well as absolute protection under the law. The political platform of the CDU, however, went beyond Adenauer’s ideas, advocating some programs that were socialist in nature. Adenauer reacted pragmatically, expressing a willingness to compromise on domestic programs with which he philosophically disagreed so that he could promote the unity of the country and give West Germany an important place in the European community.
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The focus of his interest throughout his career lay in foreign affairs. He viewed the expansion of communist rule into the heart of Europe as a direct threat to the West and its values. He had no faith in the possibility of peaceful coexistence with the communist world and felt the need for tough opposition to any aggressive military threats from the Soviet Union and its allies. He considered irreconcilable the differences between individualistic rule of law and totalitarian dictatorship and between humanistic Christian teachings and communist social regimentation. He therefore became a strong advocate of the Cold War politics of containment. As a result, he energetically supported German contributions to NATO and its nuclear arsenal, though he would have preferred the development of a European defense community. He worked tirelessly for the reconciliation of Germany with its neighbours, especially France.
There were numerous important events in West German history during Adenauer’s term. In 1950 West Germany gained associate membership in the Council of Europe. In 1951 the country established a foreign office (with Adenauer himself as minister of foreign affairs until 1955), achieved full membership in the Council of Europe, and became a founding member of the European Coal and Steel Community. In 1952 Germany participated in the formation of the European Defense Community (EDC). In 1954–55, after the collapse of the EDC, West Germany was recognized as a sovereign state and was admitted into NATO. And in 1957–58 Germany became a founding member of the European Economic Community (EEC; later succeeded by the European Union).
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) was the first chancellor of West Germany (the Federal Republic of Germany), an office he held for 14 years – an era in which the country recovered from the Nazi dictatorship, built up Europe’s strongest economy, dealt with the Berlin Wall and the Cold War, and gained a leading role in Europe.
Konrad Adenauer. Konrad Adenauer, (born Jan. 5, 1876, Cologne, German Empire—died April 19, 1967, Rhöndorf, W.Ger.), German statesman, first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). Elected to the Cologne city council (1906), he served as the city’s lord mayor (1917–33).
s. t. u. v. w. x. y. z. Konrad Adenauer, 1962 © Adenauer was West Germany's first chancellor and a key figure in rebuilding the country after World War Two. Konrad Adenauer was born in...
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Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman who served as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a new founded Christian-democratic party, which became the dominant force in the country under his leadership.
