“foster a growing and extreme nationalism”
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Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman and politician who served as the first chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a newly founded Christian democratic party, which became the dominant force in the country under his leadership. Adenauer is considered one of the founding fathers of the Europe…
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politics · Chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963 · lawyer · judge · assessor · resistance fighter · autobiographer · Chancellor of Germany · art collector · politician · primator · jurist · also Konrad Adenauer, Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer, Adenauer
Born 5 January 1876 · Died 19 April 1967 · Q2492
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2026· 8 entries
leadersleague.com: Germany: Adenauer & Co. Continues Under New Ownership Following Insolvency Asset Deal
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Mshale: Konrad-Adenauer-Brücke Ludwigshafen Rhein Mannheim Walzmühle Baggerschiff Sally Field (EuK1D1WEXe)
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RP ONLINE: Grevenbroich: Enkel von Konrad Adenauer zu Besuch am Kanzlerdenkmal
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Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung: To the Third Nuclear Age – a Timeline - Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
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The European Conservative: From Adenauer to Spahn: The Unraveling of Germany’s Christian Democratic Tradition
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WDR: 150 Jahre Konrad Adenauer - viele Gedenkveranstaltungen im Jahr 2026
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Morgenpost: Konrad Adenauer: Seine politischen Konflikte sind heute wieder aktuell
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2025· 2 entries
Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Konrad Adenauer: Der Mann, der die Deutschen in die Demokratie führte
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Süddeutsche Zeitung: Der autoritäre Demokrat: Drei neue Biografien über Konrad Adenauer zu seinem 150. Geburtstag
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2024· 1 entry
The Atlantic: Konrad Adenauer
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2013· 1 entry
welt.de: Konrad Adenauer: Als ein Bundeskanzler noch Linie flog
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2003· 1 entry
Adenauer was voted the "greatest German of all time" in a contest called Unsere Besten (lit
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1988· 1 entry
Awarded Historian Prize of the city of Münster (1988).
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1967· 10 entries
Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (1967).
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Died 1967-04-19.
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“I reserve the right to be smarter today than I was yesterday.”
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“History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided.”
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“In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that he did not also limit his stupidity.”
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“Ist es nicht schrecklich, dass der menschlichen Klugheit so enge Grenzen gesetzt sind und der menschlichen Dummheit überhaupt keine?”
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“Wir leben zwar alle unter einem Himmel, aber wir haben nicht alle den gleichen Horizont!”
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“We will never forget. If it takes us five or ten or twenty years, we will never rest until we get our revenge.”
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“What do I care about my nonsense from yesterday?”
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“I insist on being smarter today than I was yesterday.”
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1965· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the German Bundestag (1965–1967).
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1964· 1 entry
Awarded Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Holy Sepulchre (1964).
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1963· 4 entries
Awarded Grand Cross of the Military Order of the Tower and Sword (1963).
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Awarded Order of the Supreme Sun (1963).
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Awarded Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers, 1st class (1963).
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Awarded honorary citizen of Berlin (1963).
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1962· 3 entries
Awarded Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (1962).
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Awarded National Order of Madagascar (1962).
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Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of the Liberator General San Martin (1962).
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1961· 3 entries
Awarded Grand Cross of the National Order of the Lion (1961).
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Career landmark: member of the German Bundestag (1961–1965).
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Adenauer had his concerns about both the status of Berlin and US leadership were confirmed, as the Soviets and East Germans built the Berlin Wall
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1960· 2 entries
Awarded Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Netherlands Lion (1960).
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Awarded Order of the Rising Sun, 1st class (1960).
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1959· 2 entries
Awarded Orden wider den tierischen Ernst (1959).
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Only to pull out when he discovered that he did not have political backing to strengthen the office of president and change the balance of power
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1958· 2 entries
Awarded Bavarian Order of Merit (1958).
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Adenauer set up the Central Office of the State Justice Administrations for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes
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1957· 6 entries
Awarded Charlemagne Prize (1957).
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Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of the Oak Crown (1957).
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Which was intended to be the foundation stone of the European "Third Force"
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Career landmark: member of the German Bundestag (1957–1961).
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The Federal Republic signed the Treaty of Rome and became a founding member of the European Economic Community
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The Saarland was reintegrated into Germany as a federal state of the Federal Republic
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1956· 3 entries
Awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (1956).
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Awarded Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (1956).
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During the Suez Crisis, Adenauer fully supported the Anglo-French-Israeli attack on Egypt, arguing to his Cabinet that Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser was a pro-Soviet force that needed to be cut down to size
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1955· 8 entries
Won Order of the Golden Spur (1955).
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Awarded Order of the Crown (1955).
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Awarded Order of José Matías Delgado (1955).
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Awarded National Order of Merit (1955).
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Awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon (1955).
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Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of the Aztec Eagle (1955).
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Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of the Condor of the Andes (1955).
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The Federal Republic established diplomatic relations with the USSR, but refused to recognize East Germany and broke off diplomatic relations with countries (e
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1954· 5 entries
Awarded Order of the Holy Trinity (1954).
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Awarded Juan Pablo Duarte Order of Merit (1954).
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Awarded Grand Cross special issue of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, special issue (1954).
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Awarded Order of Merit (1954).
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And in 1957, the indexation of pension schemes was introduced, together with an old age assistance scheme for agricultural workers
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1953· 7 entries
Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of Boyacá (1953).
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Awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1953).
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Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of May (1953).
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Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross (1953).
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Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru (1953).
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Career landmark: member of the German Bundestag (1953–1957).
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Which allowed some victims of Nazi persecution to claim restitution
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1952· 2 entries
While the Housebuilding Act of 1956 reinforced incentives for owner-occupation
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The Stalin Note, as it became known, "caught everybody in the West by surprise"
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1951· 1 entry
Career landmark: Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs (1951–1956).
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1950· 2 entries
A major controversy broke out when it emerged that Adenauer's State Secretary Hans Globke had played a major role in drafting anti-semitic Nuremberg Race Laws in Nazi Germany
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Career landmark: leader of the Christian Democratic Union (1950–1966).
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1949· 3 entries
Career landmark: member of the German Bundestag (1949–1953).
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Career landmark: Chairman of the CDU/CSU Bundestag fraction (1949–1949).
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Career landmark: Federal Chancellor of Germany (1949–1963).
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1948· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the Parlamentarischer Rat (1948–1949).
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1946· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia (1946–1950).
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1945· 1 entry
Career landmark: lord mayor of Cologne (1945–1945).
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1932· 1 entry
Had declared publicly that the Nazis should join the Reich government in a leading role
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1927· 1 entry
Awarded Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich (1927).
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1926· 1 entry
The Zentrum suggested Adenauer becoming Chancellor, an offer that he was interested in but ultimately rejected when the German People's Party insisted that one of the conditions for entering into a coalition under Adenau
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1921· 1 entry
Was suggested as a possible candidate for Chancellor, but his insistence on a majority government prevented this from happening
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1918· 4 entries
Awarded Iron Cross on white ribbon (1918).
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Awarded Order of the Red Eagle 4th Class (1918).
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Invented a soy-based sausage called the Cologne sausage to help feed the city
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Career landmark: member of the Prussian House of Lords (1918–1918).
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1917· 2 entries
Was unanimously elected as Mayor of Cologne for a 12-year period, and re-elected in 1929
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Career landmark: lord mayor of Cologne (1917–1933).
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1914· 1 entry
“An unsteady nation has no friends. The German people seriously worry me. The only thing I can say for them is that they have lived through too much. They have not found peace of mind and stability since the war of 1914-18.”
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1909· 1 entry
Became Vice-Mayor of Cologne when his wife's cousin became the Mayor, an industrial metropolis with a population of 635,000 in 1914
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1906· 1 entry
And was elected to Cologne's city government, in the same year
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1904· 1 entry
Invented a reaction steam engine which was supposed to filter out dust produced by cars
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1900· 1 entry
And afterwards worked as a lawyer at the court in Cologne for four years
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1896· 1 entry
Was mustered for the Prussian army, but did not pass the physical exam due to chronic respiratory problems he had experienced since childhood
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1894· 1 entry
Adenauer studied law and politics at the University of Freiburg, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and the University of Bonn, demonstrating competent but not exceptional academic ability
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1876· 1 entry
Born 1876-01-05.
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