Adenauer, Konrad (kôn`rät ä`dənou'ər), 1876–1967, West German chancellor. A lawyer and a member of the Catholic Center party, he was lord mayor of Cologne and a member of the provincial diet of Rhine prov. from 1917 until 1933, when he was dismissed by the National Socialist (Nazi) regime. He was twice imprisoned (1933, 1944) by the Nazis. Cofounder of the Christian Democratic Union (1945) and its president from 1946 to 1966, he was elected chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) in 1949 and was reelected in 1953, 1957, and 1961. He also served (1951–55) as his own foreign minister, negotiating the West German peace treaty (1952) with the Western Allies and obtaining recognition of West Germany's full sovereignty through the Paris Pacts and through an agreement with the USSR in 1955.

Adenauer's strong will and political acumen helped to give Der Alte [the old man], as he was known, great authority in West German public life. The political architect of the astounding West German recovery, he saw the solution of German problems in terms of European integration, and he helped secure West Germany's membership in the various organizations of what has become the European Union European Community (EC), an economic and political confederation of European nations, and other organizations (with the same member nations) that are responsible for a common foreign and security policy and for cooperation on justice and home affairs.
..... Click the link for more information. . In 1961 his party lost its absolute majority in the Bundestag, and he formed a coalition cabinet with the Free Democrats. In 1962 a cabinet crisis arose over the government's raid of the offices of the magazine Der Spiegel, which had attacked the Adenauer regime for military unpreparedness. After agreeing to the Free Democrats' demands that he exclude his defense minister, Franz Josef Strauss Strauss, Franz Josef (fräns yō`zĕf shtrous), 1915–88, West German political figure, leader of the Christian Social Union.
..... Click the link for more information. , who was implicated in the affair, from a new cabinet, Adenauer succeeded in re-forming the coalition. At the same time Adenauer announced (Dec., 1962) his retirement as part of the agreement with the Free Democrats. He resigned in Oct., 1963. His writings include World Indivisible (tr. 1955).

Bibliography

See his memoirs of the years 1945–53 (tr. by B. R. von Oppen, 1966); biographies by T. C. F. Prittie (1972) and C. Williams (2001); E. Alexander, Adenauer and the New Germany (tr. 1957); P. Weymar, Adenauer (tr. 1957); A. J. Heidenheimer, Adenauer and the CDU (1960); N. Frei, Adenauer's Germany and the Nazi Past (2003).

Adenauer, Konrad

Konrad Adenauer.

(born Jan. 15, 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). He was elected to the Prussian Staatsrat (state council) in 1920 and served as its speaker (1928–33). He lost his posts when the Nazis came to power, and in 1944 he was sent to a concentration camp. As World War II drew to a close, he played an important role in the formation of the Christian Democratic Union. As chancellor from 1949, Adenauer stressed individualism under the rule of law. His fear of Soviet expansion made him a strong supporter of NATO. He worked hard to reconcile Germany with its former enemies, especially France. He retired his post in 1963.