In 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, “die Bundesrepublik Deutschland”), comprising three western Allied occupation zones was formed. By bringing together Roman Catholics and Protestants, he aimed to bury the differences between the two denominations of Christianity and present a common front against Nazism. However, he was dismissed from this position in 1945.įollowing his dismissal as the mayor he became active in building a new political party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). After the war ended, he was reinstated in his former position as the mayor of Cologne. In 1944 there was a failed assassination attempt on Hitler following which Adenauer was arrested and sent to a concentration camp.Įventually he was released from prison in late 1944. During the 1930s and 1940s he tried to maintain a low profile in order to escape persecution at the hands of the Nazis. Life in Nazi Germany was hell for him and he struggled to survive initially. Adenauer lost his position as the mayor and his bank accounts were frozen. The Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 and Cologne's city council and the Prussian parliament was dissolved. As the mayor he built new port facilities, a green belt, sports grounds and exhibition sites. He served as the Mayor till 1933 and also became President of the Prussian state Council. He became Vice-Mayor of Cologne in 1909 and the Mayor in 1917. A devout Christian, he joined the German Centre Party, a Catholic political party, in 1906.
Konrad Adenauer started working as a lawyer at the court in Cologne following his graduation. He studied law and politics at the universities of Freiburg, Munich and Bonn and graduated in 1900. He was of frail health as a youngster and was rejected for military service at the age of 20. Konrad Adenauer was born on 5 January 1876 to Johann Konrad Adenauer, a lawyer and a Cologne civil servant, and his wife Helene, in Cologne, Rhenish Prussia. After the war he was elected as the first Chancellor of Germany and in this position he played a pivotal role in the country’s reconstruction. Still he was arrested and sent to a concentration camp but miraculously survived the war. An outspoken and bold personality, he opposed Hitler and the Nazi Party and was forced to keep a low profile for years in fear of persecution.
A qualified lawyer, he was interested in politics from a young age and was active in the Cologne city council, soon becoming the Mayor for Cologne. He also became famous for forging close relations with erstwhile enemy nations and for re-establishing the position of Germany on the international scenario. Under his leadership and guidance, Germany became a democracy and achieved stability and economic prosperity. But he never let his age become a hurdle when it came to serving his beloved nation which he helped rebuild from a war-ravaged region to an industrialized and prosperous country.
Often referred to as the "Der Alte" ("the old man"), he was in his seventies when he wast elected as the chancellor. He was a member of the Bundestag until his death at 91 years old.Konrad Adenauer was the first Chancellor of Germany after the World War II and in this position he played a major role in rebuilding the nation from the ruins of the war. He made sure West Germany joined the side of the western capitalist countries in the Cold War. In 1949 he was elected as the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. He was important in making Bonn the West German capital instead of Frankfurt am Main. In the Parlamentarischer Rat of West Germany, he was one of the top politicians and the President. At first he worked with the Nazis, but after the conspiracy to kill Hitler failed in 1944 he hid for his own safety.Īfter the war he became mayor of Cologne again, but lost the job after a few months. When the Nazi Party took power he lost his job. From 1917 to 1933 and again in 1945 he was mayor of Cologne.Īdenauer was a member of the Catholic Zentrum Party. Konrad Adenauer started his political career in 1906 in the city assembly of Cologne. From 1949 to 1963 he was the first Bundeskanzler (chancellor) of the Federal Republic of Germany and from 1951 to 1955 was foreign secretary the same time.Īdenauer was the third of five children of a court secretary in Cologne. Konrad Hermann Josef Adenauer (born 5 January 1876 in Cologne died 19 April 1967 in Rhöndorf (part of Bad Honnef)).
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