Konrad Adenauer: Biography from Answers.com

The German statesman Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) was chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) from 1949 to 1963.

Aconservative, Francophile Rhinelander, Konrad Adenauer successfully presided over the creation of a Western-oriented German state after World War II. By providing an efficient political mechanism for German life, he aided the astonishing recovery of West Germany and its acceptance into the Western bloc during the cold war. As a statesman, he was often compared to the 19th-century German leader Otto von Bismarck. But while Bismarck led a largely Protestant, militarist, and aristocrat-dominated government, Adenauer shaped a heavily Catholic, civilian, business-dominated "half-Germany" firmly tied to the West.

Early Life

Konrad Adenauer was born in 1876 in Cologne, and his career was always closely connected with this city in the Rhineland region of Germany. Although his father was a Prussian soldier and minor civil servant, Adenauer shared the common ambivalence of the Rhinelanders to the Prussian-dominated German Empire.

Even as a young man, Adenauer was reserved, somewhat ascetic, and hardworking rather than brilliant in his studies. Severe thrift and the support of friends enabled him to study law at the universities of Freiburg im Breisgau, Munich, and Bonn. Adenauer then worked for an influential Cologne lawyer, who was the head of the local German Center party organization. (The German Center party had been formed by Catholics to protect their interests against the Protestant-dominated government.) Through hard work, ambition, and party contacts, Adenauer became an assistant to the lord mayor of Cologne in 1906. He soon became the equivalent of deputy mayor and finally lord mayor in 1917. During these years Adenauer had married and had three children.

Tenure as Lord Mayor

Adenauer faced many crises in his 16-year tenure as mayor. He successfully dampened the fires of revolution that swept Cologne at the end of World War I. After flirting with movements for a Rhenish state separate from Prussia (and possibly even Germany), Adenauer became noted as a strong representative of Rhineland interests against the central government in Berlin. As a leading member of the Center party, he was chairman of the upper house of the Prussian state legislature from 1920 to 1933.

Adenauer's life was not without dark sides. His first wife died during World War I, and he suffered severe facial injuries in an automobile accident which left him a victim of insomnia. In 1933 Adenauer, an opponent of Nazism, was driven from office by the new regime of Hitler. He was persecuted sporadically, and in 1934 and 1944 he was arrested by the Gestapo. On the latter occasion his second wife was mistreated and later died. Adenauer narrowly escaped being sent to the concentration camp at Buchenwald. But for the most part he spent the years from 1933 to the end of World War II quietly in his villa on the Rhine, cultivating his garden and avoiding politics.

West German State

When American troops seized Cologne, Adenauer was offered his old post of lord mayor. Although he was almost 70, his reputation as a good administrator untainted by Nazism gave him a political edge. Conflicts with the British occupation authorities late in 1945, however, led to Adenauer's dismissal. He then threw himself into reviving German Center party activities. He concurred with other former leaders of the party that it must broaden its base to include all faiths that supported democratic institutions. To achieve this end, he was a cofounder of a new political party - the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). With the backing of the Catholic Church and influential Cologne businessmen, Adenauer rapidly advanced from head of the local CDU (1945) to chairman of the party for the British Zone (1946) and finally for all of West Germany (1949). In 1948 he was elected president of the Parliamentary Council, a body that drew up the political foundations for a new German republic composed of the British, American, and French occupation zones.

Tenure as Chancellor

When the first federal parliamentary elections in 1949 resulted in a victory for the CDU, Adenauer outmaneuvered his many adversaries to become the first chancellor. The decisive single vote which gave him a majority was his own. He was reelected in 1953, 1957, and 1961.

As chancellor, Adenauer was often criticized for behaving more autocratically than the Basic Law (constitution) of 1949 intended. He generally left economic matters in the hands of private enterprise and of Ludwig Erhard, his capable economics minister. Although Adenauer had never before held a diplomatic post, he developed great stature as a statesman. He served as his own foreign minister from 1951 to 1955. A Franco-German rapprochement and a strong tie to the United States formed the basis of Adenauer's European and world policies. Although opponents scornfully dubbed him the "chancellor of the Allies," Adenauer's negotiations with Germany's former enemies resulted in a plan of West European unity and prosperity which rivaled Charlemagne's empire in scope. From the early 1950s on, Adenauer offered to contribute to the European Defense Community and in 1954 to raise a new German army within NATO. Under his guidance West Germany became an active member of the Council of Europe, the West European Union, and the European Economic Community (European Union).

By the early 1960s Adenauer was an octogenarian and had come to be called Der Alte (the Old Man). He was increasingly out of touch with the new generation, liberal opinion, and the thaw in East-West relations. He resigned the chancellorship under heavy political pressure from his own party in 1963. When he died in 1967, his funeral occasioned an almost unprecedented foreign tribute to a German chancellor.

Konrad Adenauer

Chancellor of Germany
In office 15 September 1949 – 16 October 1963
Preceded by	Position established Allied military occupation, 1945-1949 Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk (1945)
Succeeded by	Ludwig Erhard
Foreign Minister of Germany
In office 15 March 1951 – 6 June 1955
Preceded by	Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk (1945)
Succeeded by	Heinrich von Brentano
Mayor of Cologne
In office 1917 – 1933
Preceded by	Ludwig Theodor Ferdinand Max Wallraf
Succeeded by	Günter Riesen
In office 1945 – 1945
Preceded by	Robert Brandes
Succeeded by	Willi Suth

Born	5 January 1876(1876-01-05) Cologne
Died	19 April 1967 (aged 91) Bad Honnef
Political party	Centre Party (1906-1945) CDU (1945-1967)
Spouse(s)	Emma Weyer Auguste (Gussie) Zinsser
Alma mater	University of Freiburg University of Munich University of Bonn
Occupation	Lawyer, Politician
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Biography

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 Cologne, 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. Afterwards he worked as a lawyer at the court in Cologne.

Early political career

As a devout Roman Catholic, he joined the Centre Party in 1906 and was elected to Cologne’s city council in the same year. In 1909, he became Vice-Mayor of Cologne. From 1917 to 1933, he served as Mayor of Cologne. He had the unpleasant task of heading Cologne in the era of British occupation following the First World War and lasting until 1926. He managed to establish faithful relations with the British military authorities and 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.

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the Centre Party lost the elections in Cologne and Adenauer fled to the abbey of Maria Laach, threatened by the new government after he refused to shake hands with a local Nazi leader. His stay at this abbey, which lasted for a year, was cited by its abbot after the war, when 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 building of a road circling the city as a bypass, and of a “green belt” of parks. However, both Hitler and Speer felt that Adenauer’s political views and principles made it impossible for him to play any role within the Nazi movement or be helpful to the Nazi party.

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 by the Nazis, while living on his pension. In 1937, he was successful in claiming at least some compensation for his once confiscated house and 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, the communist Kapo of the camp near Bonn, with saving his life by getting him transferred to a hospital. He was then re-arrested, but in the absence of any evidence against him was released from Brauweiler Abbey in November.

Shortly after the war ended the Americans installed him again as Mayor of Cologne, but the British Director of Military Government in Germany, Gerald Templer, dismissed him for what he said was his alleged incompetence.

Post World War II and the founding of the CDU

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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 Protestants 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.^[1]

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.

Adenauer was reportedly critical of the Catholic hierarchy for not criticizing the Nazis loudly enough, and he is cited for this in the book Constantine's Sword by John Cornwell.^[2]

Chancellor of West Germany

After the German federal election, 1949 at age 73,^[3] Adenauer was elected the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundeskanzler) 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 elections to the Bundestag of West Germany were held on 15 August 1949, with the Christian Democrats emerging as the strongest party. Theodor Heuss was elected first President of the Republic, and Adenauer was elected Chancellor on 16 September 1949. He also had the new "provisional" capital of the Federal Republic of Germany established at Bonn, which was only 15 kilometers away from his hometown, rather than at Frankfurt am Main. 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 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?^[4]

The opposition leader Kurt Schumacher responded by labeling Adenauer "Chancellor of the Allies".^[5] (See also the Industrial plans for Germany).

When the rebellion within the Soviet sector of Germany was put down in June 1953, Adenauer was handily reelected^{[clarification needed]} to a second term as Chancellor with a larger majority for his CDU/CSU party coalition and could dispense with the FDP as a partner in government. The suppression of the Hungarian revolution in 1956 allowed him^{[clarification needed]} to gain re-election to a third term as Chancellor in 1957, in which the CDU/CSU won an absolute majority—to date, the only time a German party has won an absolute majority in a free election. But the building of the Berlin Wall and the sealing of the borders with the East Germany made his government look weak. He also tarnished his image when he announced he would run for the presidency in 1959, only to pull out when his vision of a much more powerful presidency conflicted with the Basic Law and the precedent established by the departing Theodor Heuss.^[6] When the CDU/CSU again needed to include the FDP in a coalition government after losing their majority in the 1961 elections, Adenauer had to make two concessions: to relinquish the chancellorship before the end of the new term, and to replace his foreign minister.^[7]

Plaque commemorating the restoration of relations between Germany and France, showing Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle

Adenauer’s achievements include the establishment of a stable democracy in defeated Germany, a lasting reconciliation with France, a general political reorientation towards the West, recovering limited but far-reaching sovereignty for West Germany by firmly integrating it with the emerging Euro-Atlantic community (NATO and the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation). Adenauer is associated with establishing a pension system, which ensured unparalleled prosperity for retired persons, and — along with his Minister for Economic Affairs and successor, Ludwig Erhard - with the West German model of a “social market economy” (a mixed economy with capitalism moderated by elements of social welfare and Catholic social teaching), which allowed for the boom period known as the Wirtschaftswunder (“economic miracle”) and produced broad prosperity. 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 the Western world to trust Germany again. It can be argued that because of Adenauer’s former policy, a later reunification of both German states was possible. A unified Germany has remained part of the European Union and NATO.

However, contemporary critics accused Adenauer of cementing the division of Germany, sacrificing reunification and the recovery of territories lost in the westward shift of Poland 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."^[8] 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,"^[9] 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."^[10] 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,"^[11] 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.

Adenauer with the mother of a German POW brought home in 1955 from the Soviet Union, due to Adenauer's visit to Moscow.

Others criticize his era as culturally and politically conservative, which sought to base the entire social and political make-up of West Germany around the personal views of a single person, one who bore a certain amount of mistrust towards his own people. His re-election campaign centered around the slogan "No Experiments."^[3]

As chancellor, Adenauer tended to arrogate most major decisions to himself, treating his ministers as mere extensions of his authority. While this tendency has become somewhat less pronounced under subsequent chancellors, Adenauer established the tradition of West Germany (and later reunified Germany) as a "chancellor democracy."

The West German student movement of the late 1960s was essentially a protest against the conservatism Adenauer had personified. Another point of criticism was that Adenauer’s commitment to reconciliation with France was in stark contrast to a certain indifference towards Communist Poland. Like all other major West German political parties of the time, the CDU refused to recognize the annexation of former German territories given by the Soviets to Poland, and openly talked about regaining these territories after strengthening West Germany’s position in Europe.

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,^[12] but even with some of today’s left-wing intellectuals, who praise his unconditional commitment to western-style democracy and European integration.^[13]

Additional actions as Chancellor

Adenauer, the VW T1 and the Chicken Tax

Adenauer was Chancellor of West Germany during a tense historic episode during the early 1960's, known as the Chicken War.

France and West Germany had placed tariffs on imports of U.S. chicken.^[14] Diplomacy failed^[15] and in January 1964, two months after taking office, President Johnson imposed a 25 percent tax (almost 10 times the average U.S. tariff)^[16] on potato starch, dextrin, brandy, and light trucks.^[16] Officially, the tax targeted items imported from Europe as approximating the value of lost American chicken sales to Europe.^[17]

In retrospect, audio tapes from the Johnson White House, revealed a quid pro quo unrelated to chicken. In January 1964, President Johnson attempted to convince United Auto Workers's president Walter Reuther not to initiate a strike just prior the 1964 election and to support the president's civil rights platform. Reuther in turn wanted Johnson to respond to Volkswagen's increased shipments to the United States.^[17]

The Chicken Tax directly curtailed importation of German-built T1's in configurations that qualified them as light trucks — that is, commercial vans and pickups.^[17] "In 1964 U.S. imports of "automobile trucks" from West Germany declined to a value of $5.7 million—about one-third the value imported in the previous year. Soon after, Volkswagen cargo vans and pickup trucks, the intended targets, "practically disappeared from the U.S. market."^[16]

Adenauer later reported that he and U.S. President John F. Kennedy had a great deal of correspondence over a period of two years, about Berlin, Laos, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, "and I guess that about half of it has been about chickens."^[18]^[19]

As of 2009, the Chicken tax remains in effect.

Made a historic speech to the Bundestag in September 1951 in which he recognized the obligation of the German government to compensate Israel, as the main representative of the Jewish people, for The Holocaust. This started a process which led to the Bundestag approving a pact between Israel and Germany in 1953 outlining the reparations Germany would pay to Israel.
Helped secure the release of the last German prisoners of war in 1955, (see Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union).
Opened diplomatic relations with the USSR, but refused to recognize East Germany and broke off diplomatic relations with countries (e.g., Yugoslavia) that established relations with the East German régime.^[20]
Reached an agreement with the USA in 1957 that gave West Germany possession of weapons capable of transporting nuclear warheads. Furthermore, Adenauer pursued nuclear cooperation with other countries with a goal of Germany being able to produce its own nuclear armament, which has however never been allowed by the formers Allies to any German successor state until present (2009).
Oversaw the reintegration of the Saarland into West Germany in 1957.
Briefly considered running for the office of Federal President in 1959. However, he instead chose a candidate (Heinrich Lübke) whom he believed weak enough not to interfere with his actions as Federal Chancellor of West Germany.

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.^[21]

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 German state-funded political foundation.

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 Munich 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.^[22] 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 undermine the attempts of the German government to seek friendly relations with Israel.^[23]

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 newspaper, 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).^[24]

Political scandal

Main article: Spiegel scandal

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 the West 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. Although Adenauer managed to remain in office for almost another year, this scandal increased the pressure he was under to fulfill his promise to resign before the end of the term, and he was eventually succeeded as Chancellor by Ludwig Erhard in October 1963. He did remain chairman of the CDU until his resignation from that position in December 1966.

Adenauer's tomb

Death

Adenauer died on April 19, 1967 in his family home in Rhöndorf. According to his daughter, his last words were "Da jitt et nix zo kriesche!" (Kölsch dialect for "There's nothin' to weep about!")

His state funeral in Cologne Cathedral was attended by a large number of world leaders, among them US president Lyndon B. Johnson on his only visit to a European country while in office. After the service, his body was brought back to Rhöndorf on the Rhine aboard Kondor, a Jaguar class fast attack craft of the German Navy. He is interred on the Waldfriedhof.

Honors

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completion. You can help by expanding it with sourced additions.

Order of the Sun (Peru), 1953.^[25]
Order of St Michael and St George (UK), 1956.^[25]
Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers, Grand Cordon (Japan), 1963.^[25]
Order of the Rising Sun, Grand Cordon (Japan), 1960.^[25]
Légion d'honneur (France), 1962.^[25]
Order of Isabella the Catholic (Spain), 1967.^[25]

Legacy

3 pioneers of the European unification commemorative coin

Adenauer has left such a legacy behind, that he was the main motive for one of the most recent and famous gold commemorative coin: 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.

Adenauer ministries

First ministry

Konrad Adenauer (CDU) - Chancellor
Franz Blücher (FDP) - Vice Chancellor and Minister of Marshall Plan Affairs
Gustav Heinemann (CDU) - Minister of the Interior
Fritz Schäffer (CSU) - Minister of Finance
Thomas Dehler (FDP) - Minister of Justice
Ludwig Erhard (CDU) - Minister of Economics
Anton Storch (CDU) - Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
Wilhelm Niklas (CSU) - Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry
Hans-Christoph Seebohm (DP) - 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 Kaiser (CDU) - Minister of All-German Affairs
Heinrich Hellwege (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 Neumayer (FDP) succeeds Wildermuth (d.9 March) as Minister of Construction.

Second ministry

Konrad Adenauer (CDU) - Chancellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Franz Blücher (FDP) - Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economic Cooperation
Gerhard Schröder (CDU) - Minister of the Interior
Fritz Schäffer (CSU) - Minister of Finance
Fritz Neumayr (FDP) - Minister of Justice
Ludwig Erhard (CDU) - Minister of Economics
Anton Storch (CDU) - Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
Heinrich Lübke (CDU) - Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry
Hans-Christoph Seebohm (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 Tillmanns (CDU) - Minister of Special Tasks
Waldemar Kraft (GB/BHE) - Minister of Special Tasks
Hermann Schäfer (FDP) - Minister of Special Tasks
Siegfried Balke - Minister of Posts and Communications
Theodor Oberländer (GB/BHE) - Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees, and War Victims
Jakob Kaiser (CDU) - Minister of All-German Affairs
Heinrich Hellwege (DP) - Minister of Bundesrat Affairs

Changes

7 June 1955 - Theodor Blank (CDU) becomes Minister of Defense when that post is revived.
8 June 1955 - Heinrich von Brentano (CDU) succeeds Adenauer as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Hans-Joachim von Merkatz (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 Merkatz succeeds Neumayr as Minister of Justice. Kraft and Schäfer leave the Cabinet. Siegfried Balke (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 Erhard (CDU) - Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economics
Heinrich von Brentano (CDU) - Minister of Foreign Affairs
Franz Josef Strauss (CSU) - Minister of Defense
Gerhard Schröder (CDU) - Minister of the Interior
Franz Etzel (CDU) - Minister of Finance
Fritz Schäffer (CSU) - Minister of Justice
Theodor Blank (CDU) - Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
Heinrich Lübke (CDU) - Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry
Hans-Christoph Seebohm (DP) - Minister of Transport
Paul Lücke (CDU) - Minister of Construction
Franz-Josef Wuermeling (CDU) - Minister of Family and Youth Affairs
Richard Stücklen (CSU) - Minister of Posts and Communications
Theodor Oberländer (CDU) - Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees, and War Victims
Ernst Lemmer (CDU) - Minister of All-German Affairs
Hans-Joachim von Merkatz (DP) - Minister of Bundesrat and State Affairs
Siegfried Balke (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 Merkatz (CDU) becomes Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees, and War Victims.

Fourth ministry

Konrad Adenauer (CDU) - Chancellor
Ludwig Erhard (CDU) - Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economics
Gerhard Schröder (CDU) - Minister of Foreign Affairs
Franz Josef Strauss (CSU) - Minister of Defense
Hermann Höcherl (CSU) - Minister of the Interior
Heinz Starke (FDP) - Minister of Finance
Wolfgang Stammberger (FDP) - Minister of Justice
Theodor Blank (CDU) - Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
Werner Schwarz (CDU) - Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry
Hans-Christoph Seebohm (CDU) - Minister of Transport
Paul Lücke (CDU) - Minister of Construction
Franz-Josef Wuermeling (CDU) - Minister of Family and Youth Affairs
Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt (CDU) - Minister of Health
Walter Scheel (FDP) - Minister of Economic Cooperation
Heinrich Krone (CDU) - Minister of Special Tasks
Richard Stücklen (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 Merkatz (CDU) - Minister of Bundesrat and State Affairs
Siegfried Balke (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 Dollinger (CSU) succeeds Lenz as Minister of Federal Treasure.
14 December 1962 - Rolf Dahlgrün (FDP) succeeds Starke as Minister of Finance. Bruno Heck (CDU) succeeds Wuermeling as Minister of Family and Youth Affairs. Hans Lenz (FDP) enters the ministry as Minister of Scientific Research. Rainer Barzel (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 Hassel (CDU) succeeds Strauss as Minister of Defense.

Notes

^ Williams, Charles. Adenauer, The Father of the New Germany. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2000, p. 307
^ Cornwell, John. Constantine's Sword, p. 515
^ ^a ^b Frum, David (2000). How We Got Here: The '70s. New York, New York: Basic Books. p. 8. ISBN 0465041957.
^ A Good European Time Magazine Dec. 05, 1949
^ Hans-Peter Schwarz, "Konrad Adenauer", p.450 (Google books)
^ Williams, p. 464
^ Williams, p. 494; Foreign Minister Heinrich von Brentano was considered too subservient to the Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder became foreign minister [Williams, p. 495]
^ Williams, p. 375
^ Williams, p. 373
^ Williams, p. 376
^ Williams, p. 378
^ http://unserebesten.zdf.de/
^ Williams, p. 403
^ "To Outfox the Chicken Tax, Ford Strips Its Own Vans". The Wall Street Journal, Matthew Dolan, September 22, 2009. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125357990638429655.html.
^ "The Big Three's Shameful Secret". Freetrade.org, Daniel J. Ikenson, July 6, 2003. http://www.freetrade.org/node/532.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Ending the "Chicken War": The Case for Abolishing the 25 Percent Truck Tariff". The Cato Institute, by Daniel Ikenson. http://www.freetrade.org/pubs/briefs/tbp-017es.html.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Light Trucks Increase Profits But Foul Air More than Cars". The New York Times, Keith Bradsher, November 30, 1997. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/30/business/license-pollute-special-report-light-trucks-increase-profits-but-foul-air-more.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all.
^ "Common Market: The Chicken War". Time Magazine, June 14 1963. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874857,00.html.
^ "Western Europe: Nobody But Their Chickens". Time Magazine, Nov. 30, 1962. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,829587-1,00.html.
^ Williams, p. 450; this principle became known as the Hallstein Doctrine
^ John Gunther: Inside Europe Today, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1961; Library of Congress catalog card number: 61-9706
^ Interview with H. Sietz, investigator (German)
^ Background history of assassination attempt (German)
^ Menachem Begin 'plotted to kill German chancellor' | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Konrad Adenauer Stiftung: Biographie, Orden und Ehrenzeichen.

References

Tammann, Gustav A. and Engelbert Hommel. (1999). Die Orden und Ehrenzeichen Konrad Adenauers,

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Konrad Adenauer

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Konrad Adenauer

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Persondata
NAME	Adenauer, Konrad
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Konrad Hermann Josef Adenauer
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Chancellor of Germany
DATE OF BIRTH	5 January 1876(1876-01-05)
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cologne, Germany
DATE OF DEATH	19 April 1967
PLACE OF DEATH	Bad Honnef

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Konrad Adenauer

Contents

Biography

Early life

Early political career

Post World War II and the founding of the CDU

Chancellor of West Germany

Additional actions as Chancellor

Assassination attempt

Political scandal

Death

Honors

Legacy

Adenauer ministries

First ministry

Second ministry

Third ministry

Fourth ministry

Notes

References

External links