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'''Konrad Adenauer''' (1876- 1967), was the first chancellor (top official) of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1949-63. He was the founder and leader of the [[Christian Democratic Union]], a coalition of Catholics and Protestants that since 1946 has generally dominated German politics. A devout Catholic, he belied his age as one of the oldest national leaders in world history by a vigorous commitment to democracy, capitalism, and anti-Communism. A stern patriarch and shrewd politician, Adenauer was deeply committed to the traditional values of Christianity and pursued a single-mindedly Western-oriented foreign policy. He restored the West Germany economiy to dominance in Europe, rebuilt its army, came to terms with France, helped establish European unity, fought relentlessly against the Communists in rival [[East Germany]], and made his nation a pillar of [[NATO]] and a form ally of the United States. To a large extent Adenauer's policies still dominate Germany.
'''Konrad Adenauer''' (1876- 1967), was the first chancellor (top official) of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1949-63. He was the founder and leader of the [[Christian Democratic Union]], a coalition of Catholics and Protestants that since 1946 has generally dominated German politics. A devout Catholic, he belied his age as one of the oldest national leaders in world history by a vigorous commitment to democracy, capitalism, and anti-Communism. A stern patriarch and shrewd politician, Adenauer was deeply committed to the traditional values of Christianity and pursued a single-mindedly Western-oriented foreign policy. He restored the West Germany economiy to dominance in Europe, rebuilt its army, came to terms with France, helped establish European unity, fought relentlessly against the Communists in rival [[East Germany]], and made his nation a pillar of [[NATO]] and a form ally of the United States. To a large extent Adenauer's policies still dominate Germany.
==Career==
Adenauer was born in 1876, in Cologne, the son of a poor law clerk. He became a lawyer and a civil servant in Cologne, specializing in local taxation. Adenauer was elected a deputy mayor, then senior deputy mayor (1911), and served as lord high mayor of Cologne 1917-33.
Adenauer played a leading role in German national politics as a member of the Catholic [[Center Party]]. From 1917 to 1933 he served in the provincial diet of the Rhineland and in the Prussian state council as a representative of the Center Party. He later became president of the council and was also a member of the executive committee of the Center Party. In 1926 Adenauer publicly advocated a political union of Evangelical and Catholic Christians. He hoped to oppose the philosophy of the socialist class struggle with a program for a Christian social order of society.
In 1933 Adenauer was dismissed from all his positions by the Hitler regime for "crimes against the German people." For about 12 years he lived in political exile at RhöndorfRhondorf near Bonn. Toward the end of 1944 he was put in a concentration camp by the Nazis as part of a political purge.
After Germany's defeat in World War II, Germany was occupied, and in 1945 the Americans reinstalled Adenauer as lord mayor of Cologne. A few months later he was dismissed by the British, when Cologne was made part of their occupation zone, "for reasons of political incompetence."
==Further reading==
* Heidenheimer, Arnold J. ''Adenauer and the CDU: the Rise of the Leader and the Integration of the Party'' (1960)
* Cudlipp, E. ''Adenauer'' (1985)
* Hiscocks, Richard. ''The Adenauer Era'' (1966)
* Prittie, Terence. ''Konrad Adenauer, 1876-1967'' (1971);
===Primary sources===
* Adenauer, Konrad. ''Memoirs'', (4 vols. English edition 1966-70)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adenauer, Konrad}}
[[category:German History]]
[[category:German History]]
[[category:Cold War]]
[[category:Cold War]]