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Dictionary definition: Adenauer, Konrad
- Article from:
- A Dictionary of Contemporary World History
- Author:
Copyright© A Dictionary of Contemporary World History 2004, originally published by Oxford University Press 2004. (Hide copyright information)
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Adenauer, Konrad
(b. 5 Jan. 1876, d. 19 Apr. 1967). Chancellor of West Germany 1949–63 Born in Cologne, he joined the
Centre Party
in 1906, and was Lord Mayor of Cologne 1917–33. Deposed by the
Nazis
, he was reinstated by the American administration in 1945, though the British soon discharged him for ‘incompetence’. Elected
CDU
leader in the British Zone in 1946, he was elected chairman of the parliamentary council which drafted the Constitution in 1948. He was narrowly elected Chancellor in 1949, but won the subsequent elections of 1953, 1957, and 1961 with a handsome majority.
At a time when the majority of Germans sought reunification with the GDR as their ...