The life and career of West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (5 January 1876-19 April 1967)

1. By: Benedict Gombocz

2.  Born on January 5, 1876 in
Cologne where his father worked
in local government.
 Earned a law degree and became
involved in a prominent legal
firm.
 Worked for the Mayor of
Cologne from 1906; was raised to
the mayoral office in 1917 as a
representative of the German
Center Party.
 Had the mayoralty for about
sixteen years and gained a
reputation of the interests of
Cologne in opposition to the
centralizing influence of Berlin.

3.  When Adolf Hitler came
to power in January
1933, Adenauer was
forced out of office due
to his open opposition to
Nazism.
 Maintained a low profile;
was nevertheless
occasionally subjected to
the harsh attention of
the secret police – the
Gestapo.

4.  The fall and defeat of Hitler’s regime and the
end of World War II allowed Adenauer to
resume political office in Cologne.
 Germany was divided into four occupation
zones, each controlled by one of the four Allied
powers that had been militarily allied against
the Axis powers.
 Adenauer came into opposition with the
British authorities in control of Cologne; he
was discharged from office and turned his
interest to national, not local, politics and
aided in the adaptation of the traditionally
Roman Catholic Party known as the Christian
Democratic Union (CDU) that wanted to
attract the support of all religions and groups
to a re-establishment of democracy.
 By 1949, he was chairman of the CDU in
“West” Germany, the state created from the
American, British, and French occupation
zones; “East” Germany was created from the
Soviet-Russian occupation zone.

5.  Elections were held in 1949; at 73
years old, Adenauer became West
Germany’s first Chancellor.
 He worked to rebuild Germany as an
economic and diplomatic power.
 Economic power was entrusted to
Ludwig Erhardt, who adopted
policies which endorsed economic
development through allowing
business a lot of freedom of action.
 Adenauer’s policy strengthened
relations with the United States and
France and simplified the growth of
a post-war European co-operation
that acted to defend itself against
Soviet-Russian encroachments and
ensure a recovery of the European
economies.

6.  As time went on, Adenauer’s policies, especially in
relation to the Communist East, began to be less
credible and the CDU was no longer willing to support
him as Chancellor.
 He was obligated to resign in 1963 after serving as
Chancellor for 14 years.
 He died on April 19, 1967 at the age of 91.