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Originally, a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is termed patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά (patria), "lineage, progeny", esp. by the father's side^[1] (which derives from the word πατήρ – patēr meaning "father"^[2]) and ἄρχων (archon) meaning "leader", "chief", "ruler", "king", etc.^[3][4][5]

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are referred to as the three patriarchs of the people of Israel, and the period during which they lived is termed the Patriarchal Age. It originally acquired its religious meaning in the Septuagint version of the Bible.^[6]

The word has acquired specific ecclesiastical meanings. In particular, the highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above Major Archbishop and Primate), and the Assyrian Church of the East are termed Patriarchs. The office and ecclesiastical circumscription (comprising one or more provinces, though outside his own (arch)diocese he is often without enforceable jurisdiction) of such a Patriarch is termed a Patriarchate. Historically, a Patriarch may often be the logical choice to act as Ethnarch, representing the community that is identified with his religious confession within a state or empire of a different creed (as Christians within the Ottoman Empire).

Eastern Christianity[link]

Church of the East[link]

Patriarchs of the Church of the East, sometimes also referred to as Nestorian, the Church of Persia, the Sassanid Church, or, in modern times, the Assyrian Church of the East, trace their lineage of patriarchs back to the 1st century.

• The Catholicos-Patriarch of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, chief of the Assyrian Church of the East.
• The Patriarch of the Ancient Church of the East, a secession from the Assyrian Church of the East.

Eastern Orthodoxy[link]

• The ancient Patriarchates:
  • The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, chief of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople and the Spiritual Leader of Eastern Orthodoxy.
  • The Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa and the chief of the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
  • The Patriarch of Antioch and the head of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and All the East in the Near East.
  • The Patriarch of Jerusalem and the chief of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem and Holy Zion in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and All Arabia.
• The five junior Patriarchates created after the consolidation of the Pentarchy, in chronological order of their recognition as Patriarchates by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople:
  • The Patriarch of All Bulgaria and the chief of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Bulgaria, recognized as a Patriarchate in 927^[7]
  • The Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia and the chief of the Georgian Orthodox Church in Georgia, recognized as a Catholicate (Patriarchate) in 1008^[8]
  • The Serbian Patriarch and the chief of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Serbia (and the former Yugoslavia), recognized as a Patriarchate during 1375^[9]
  • The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the chief of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia, recognized as a Patriarchate during 1589^[10]
  • The Patriarch of All Romania and the chief of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Romania, recognized as a Patriarchate during 1925^[11]

Eastern Patriarchs outside the Orthodox Communion[link]

• The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia chief of the Russian Old-Orthodox Church.
• The Patriarch of Kiev chief of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate
• The Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church Canonical.
• The Patriarch of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Europe (www.mission-orthodoxe.org).

Oriental Orthodox Churches[link]

• The Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa and the chief of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria in Egypt and All Africa and the Spiritual Leader of Oriental Orthodoxy.
• The Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and chief of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch and Supreme Leader of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church in the Near East.
  • The Catholicos of India and the chief of the Malankara Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church in India.
• The Catholicos of Etchmiadzin, Armenia and of All Armenians and Supreme Patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church and chief of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
  • The Patriarch of Constantinople for the Armenians in Turkey.
  • The Patriarch of Jerusalem and of Holy Zion for the Armenians in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and the Persian Gulf.
• The Catholicos of Cilicia and chief of the Armenian Apostolic Church of the House of Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon and the Middle East.
• The Catholicos of the East and the chief of the Indian Orthodox Church in India.
• The Archbishop of Axum and Patriarch Catholicos of All Ethiopia and the chief of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Ethiopia.
• The Archbishop of Asmara and Patriarch of All Eritrea and the chief of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Eritrea.

Catholic Church[link]

Catholic Patriarchal (non cardinal) coat of arms

Patriarchate of the West (not extant)[link]

Map of Justinian's Pentarchy, with almost all of modern Greece under Rome.

In the Pentarchy formulated by Justinian I (527–565), the emperor assigned as a patriarchate to the Bishop of Rome the whole of Christianized Europe (including almost all of modern Greece), except for a small area near Constantinople and along the coast of the Black Sea. He included in this patriarchate also the western part of North Africa. Justinian's system was given formal ecclesiastical recognition by the Quinisext Council of 692, which the see of Rome has, however, not recognized.

Popes have in the past occasionally used the title Patriarch of the West, without defining it. Beginning 1863, this title appeared in the annual reference publication, Annuario Pontificio, which during 1885 became a semi-official publication of the Holy See. This publication suppressed the title in its 2006 edition. The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity explained the decision in a press release issued later that year. It stated that the title "Patriarch of the West" had become "obsolete and practically unusable" and that it was "pointless to insist on maintaining it". Since the Second Vatican Council, the Latin Church, with which the title could be consider associated, is now organized as a number of episcopal conferences and their international groupings.^[12]

Other historical Latin Rite patriarchates[link]

• The Latin Patriarch of Antioch – title abolished during 1964.
• The Latin Patriarch of Alexandria – title abolished during 1964.
• The Patriarch of Aquileia – dissolved during 1752.
• The Latin Patriarch of Constantinople - title abolished during 1964.
• The Patriarch of Grado – During 1451 merged with the Bishopric of Castello and Venice to form the Archdiocese of Venice.
• The Patriarch of the West Indies a titular patriarchal see, vacant since 1963.

Extant Latin Rite patriarchates[link]

• The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
• The Patriarch of the East Indies a titular patriarchal see, united to Goa and Daman.
• The Patriarch of Lisbon.
• The Patriarch of Venice.

Eastern Catholic patriarchates[link]

Six of the particular Eastern Catholic Churches are headed by a patriarch with a claim to one (or more) of the ancient patriarchal sees.

• The Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria and chief of the Coptic Catholic Church.
• The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, of Alexandria, and of Jerusalem and the chief of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.
• The Syrian Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and all the East and chief of the Syrian Catholic Church.
• The Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, chief of the Maronite Catholic Church.
• The Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon and chief of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
• The Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia and chief of the Armenian Catholic Church.

Major archbishoprics[link]

Four more of the Eastern Catholic Churches are headed by a prelate known as a "Major Archbishop," a title created during 1963 and essentially equivalent to that of Patriarch.^[13]

• The Major Archbishop of Kiev-Halych and chief of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
• The Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly and chief of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.
• The Major Archbishop of Trivandrum and head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
• The Major Archbishop of Făgăraş and Alba Iulia and chief of the Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic.

Independent Patriarchs[link]

These Patriarchs are not part of traditional ecclesiastical communions of either the Eastern or the Catholic variety. Their sects were generally initiated since about 1900 and reject many of the teachings of traditional apostolic Christian faith, for example by allowing women to attempt ordination or by allowing priests to marry after ordination.

• The Patriarch of the Catholic Apostolic National Church of Brazil.
• The Patriarch of the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church.
• The Patriarch of the Apostolic Catholic Church.
• The Patriarch of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch.^[14]
• The Patriarch of the American Orthodox Catholic Church.
• The Patriarch of the Assembly of Jerusalem.

Mormonism[link]

According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a patriarch is one who has been ordained to the office of Patriarch in the Melchizedek Priesthood. The term is considered synonymous with the term evangelist. One of the patriarch's primary responsibilities is to give patriarchal blessings, as Jacob did to his twelve sons according to the Old Testament. Patriarchs are typically assigned in each stake (district; the name derives from Isaiah 54:2 "[e]nlarge the place of thy tent, ... and strengthen thy stakes") and possess the title for life.

See also[link]

• List of current Popes and Patriarchs
• Lists of Patriarchs
• Patriarchate
• Patriarchy
• Matriarchy
• List of Bishops and Archbishops
• Major archbishop
• List of Metropolitans and Patriarchs of Moscow

References[link]

External links[link]

• Current and former patriarchates of the Catholic Church (Giga-Catholic Information).
• Current titular patriarchal sees of the Catholic Church (Giga-Catholic Information).
• Current patriarchates of the Catholic Church (Giga-Catholic Information).
•  "Patriarch". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 
•  "Patriarchs". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. 

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Kirill
Patriarch of Moscow and all the Rus'
Kirill I, Patriarch of Moscow and all the Rus', at his enthronement on February 1, 2009
Church	Russian Orthodox Church
See	Moscow
Enthroned	February 1, 2009
Reign ended	Incumbent
Predecessor	Alexy II
Orders
Ordination	April 7, 1969
Consecration	March 14, 1976 by Nikodim of Leningrad
Personal details
Birth name	Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyayev
Born	(1946-11-20) November 20, 1946 (age 65) Leningrad, Soviet Union
Profession	Civil Servant, Russian Federation

The Holy Patriarch of Moscow and all the Rus' (Russian: Святе́йший Патриарх Московский и всея Руси) is the supreme religious spiritual figure in the Russian Orthodox Church. The Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' is also the ruling bishop of the diocese of the Moscow City. In addition, in his direct supervision are monasteries and cathedrals.

History[link]

The Patriarchate was founded in Moscow in 1589 and so does the Patriarch role, when the Russian bishops elected their own patriarch, Metropolitan Jonas, without recourse to Constantinople, and the Russian church was thenceforth autocephalous.

Metropolitan Jonas was given the title of Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus'. He also received the fifth rank in honour after the patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. It was recognized by Council of Constantinople in 1590 and 1593, as Moscow had sent letters and so does the patriarch role. Significant role in the decision was of the Tzar Boris Godunov.

Abolished in 1721 by the reforms of Peter the Great, it was restored the decision of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 28 (November 10), 1917.

First Period of Patriarchs (1589–1721)[link]

Patriarch	Secular name	Period of Patriarchs		Icon
Patriarch St. Job	Ivan	January 23, 1589	June 1605
Patriarch Ignatius *		June 30, 1605	May 1606
Patriarch Hermogenes	Ермолай	June 3, 1606	February 17, 1612
Patriarch Filaret	Fyodor Nikitich Romanov	June 24, 1619	October 1, 1633
Patriarch Joasaphus I		February 6, 1634	November 28, 1640	120px
Patriarch Joseph	D'yakov	May 27, 1642	April 15, 1652
Patriarch Nikon	Nikita Minich (Мinov)	July 25, 1652	December 12, 1666
Patriarch Joasaphus II	Новоторжец (прозвище)	February 10, 1667	February 17, 1672	120px
Patriarch Pitirim		July 7, 1672	April 19, 1673
Patriarch Joachim	Ivan Petrovich Savelov	July 26, 1674	March 17, 1690
Patriarch Adrian **	Andrei	August 24, 1690	October 16, 1700

Metropolitans and archbishops of Moscow (1721–1917)[link]

Metropolitan Filaret, pictured in his cell, 1850.

• Stephen Yavorsky (1721–1722)
• Feofan Prokopovich (1722–1736)
• Joseph Volchansky (1742–1745)[1]
• Plato I (1745–1754)[2]
• Hilarion of Krutitsy, Coadjutor (1754–1757)
• Timothy (1757–1767)
• Ambrosius (1768–1771)
• Samouel of Krutitsy, Coadjutor (1771–1775)
• Plato II (1775–1812)
• Avgustin (1812–1819)
• Seraphim (1819–1821)
• St. Filaret (1821–1867)
• St. Innocent (1868–1879)
• Macarius I (1879–1882)
• Joannicius (1882–1891)
• Leontius (1891–1893)
• Sergius I (1893–1898)
• St. Vladimir (1898–1912)
• St. Macarius II (1912–1917)

Patriarchs of Moscow and all Russia (restored, 1917–present)[link]

St. Tikhon of Moscow.

• 11) Patriarch St. Tikhon (1917–1925)
  • vacant (1925–1943)
    • Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsy, locum tenens (1925–1936), de facto only until 1926
    • Metropolitan Sergius of Nizhny Novgorod, Acting locum tenens (1926–1936)
    • Metropolitan Sergius of Moscow and Kolomna (previously of Nizhny Novgorod), locum tenens (1936–1943)
• 12) Patriarch Sergius I (previously Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna) (1943–1944)
  • Alexius Archbishop of Novgorod and Metropolitan of Leningrad, locum tenens (1944–1945)
• 13) Patriarch Alexius I (1945–1970)
  • Metropolitan Pimen of Krutitsy and Kolomna, locum tenens (1970–1971)
• 14) Patriarch Pimen I (1971–1990)
  • Metropolitan Filaret of Kiev and All Ukraine, locum tenens (1990)
• 15) Patriarch Alexius II (1990–2008)
  • Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, locum tenens (2008–2009)
• 16) Patriarch Kirill I (2009 – present)

See also[link]

• Russian Orthodox Church
• List of current Christian leaders
• List of Orthodox Churches

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Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Adenauer in 1952
Chancellor of Germany
In office 15 September 1949 – 16 October 1963
Preceded by	Position established Allied military occupation, 1945–1949 Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk (1945)
Succeeded by	Ludwig Erhard
Foreign Minister of Germany
In office 15 March 1951 – 6 June 1955
Preceded by	Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk (1945)
Succeeded by	Heinrich von Brentano
Mayor of Cologne
In office 1917–1933
Preceded by	Ludwig Theodor Ferdinand Max Wallraf
Succeeded by	Günter Riesen
In office 1945–1945
Preceded by	Robert Brandes
Succeeded by	Willi Suth
Personal details
Born	Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (1876-01-05)5 January 1876 Cologne
Died	19 April 1967(1967-04-19) (aged 91) Bad Honnef
Political party	Centre Party (1906–1945) CDU (1945–1967)
Spouse(s)	Emma Weyer Auguste (Gussie) Zinsser
Alma mater	University of Freiburg University of Munich University of Bonn
Occupation	Lawyer, Politician
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (German pronunciation: [ˈkɔnʁaːt ˈhɛɐman ˈjoːzɛf ˈaːdənaʊɐ]; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman. As Chancellor of Germany (West Germany) from 1949 to 1963, he led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that forged close relations with old enemies France and the United States.^[1] In his years in power Germany achieved prosperity, democracy, stability and respect.^[2] He was the first chancellor (head of government) of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, called West Germany), 1949–63. He was the first leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a coalition of Catholics and Protestants that under his leadership became and has since remained the most dominant in Germany.

Adenauer, dubbed "Der Alte" ("the old one"), belied his age as the oldest elected leader in world history by his intense work habits and his uncanny political instinct. He displayed a strong dedication to a broad vision of democracy, capitalism, and anti-Communism. A shrewd politician, Adenauer was deeply committed to a Western-oriented foreign policy and restoring the position of West Germany on the world stage. He worked to restore the West German economy from the destruction in World War II to a central position in Europe, rebuilt its army and came to terms with France, helped make possible Western European unification, opposed rival East Germany, and made his nation a member of NATO and a firm ally of the United States.

A devout Catholic, he was a leading Centre Party politician in the Weimar Republic, he served as Mayor of Cologne (1917–1933) and president of the Prussian State Council (1922–1933).

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Konrad Adenauer was born as the third of five children of Johann Konrad Adenauer (1833–1906) and his wife Helene (1849–1919) (née Scharfenberg) in Cologne, Rhenish Prussia. His siblings were August (1872–1952), Johannes (1873–1937), Lilli (1879–1950) and Elisabeth, who died shortly after birth in c. 1880. In 1894, he completed his Abitur and started to study law and politics at the universities of Freiburg, Munich and Bonn. He was a member of several Roman Catholic students' associations under the K.St.V. Arminia Bonn in Bonn. He finished his studies in 1901 and afterwards worked as a lawyer at the court in Cologne.

Leader in Cologne[link]

In Wilhelmshaven in 1928, when a new cruiser was given the name of Adenauer's (centre, with left hand visible) town Köln

As a devout Catholic, he joined the Centre Party in 1906 and was elected to Cologne's city council in the same year. In 1909, he became Vice-Mayor of Cologne, an industrial metropolis with a population of 635,000 in 1914. Avoiding the extreme political movements that attracted so many of his generation, Adenauer was committed to bourgeois common-sense, diligence, order, Christian morals and values, and was dedicated to rooting out disorder, inefficiency, irrationality and political immorality.^[3] From 1917 to 1933, he served as Mayor of Cologne.

Heinrich Hoerle: Zeitgenossen (contemporaries). An expressionist painting with mayor Adenauer (in grey) together with artists and a boxer.

Adenauer headed Cologne during the First World War, working closely with the army to maximize the city's role as a rear base of supply and transportation for the Western Front. He paid special attention to the civilian food supply, as the city financed large warehouses of food that enabled the residents to avoid the worst of the severe shortages that beset most German cities during 1918–1919. He set up giant kitchens in working-class districts to supply 200,000 rations per day.^[4] In the face of the collapse of the old regime and the threat of revolution and widespread disorder in late 1918, Adenauer maintained control in Cologne using his good working relationship with the Social Democrats.

He was mayor during the postwar British occupation. He established a good working relationship with the British military authorities, using them to neutralize the workers' and soldiers' council that had become an alternative base of power for the city's left wing.^[5] He flirted with Rhenish separatism (a Rhenish state as part of Germany, but outside Prussia). During the Weimar Republic, he was president of the Prussian State Council (Preußischer Staatsrat) from 1922 to 1933, which was the representative of the Prussian cities and provinces.

Years under Nazi regime[link]

Adenauer in 1951, reading in his house in Rhöndorf he built in 1937. It is now a museum.

Election gains of Nazi party candidates in municipal, state and national elections in 1930 and 1932 were significant. Adenauer, as mayor of Cologne and president of the Prussian State Council, still believed that improvements in the national economy would make his strategy work: ignore the Nazis and concentrate on the Communist threat. He was "surprisingly slow in his reaction" to the Nazi electoral successes,^[6] and even when he was already the target of intense personal attacks, he thought that the Nazis should be part of the Prussian and national governments based on election returns. Political maneuverings around the aging President Hindenburg then brought the Nazis to power on January 30, 1933.

By early February Adenauer finally realized that all talk and all attempts at compromise with the Nazis were futile. Cologne's city council and the Prussian parliament had been dissolved; on April 4, 1933, he was officially dismissed as mayor and his bank accounts frozen. "He had no money, no home and no job."^[7] After arranging for the safety of his family, he appealed to the abbot of the Benedictine monastery at Maria Laach for a stay of several months. His stay at this abbey, which lengthened to a full year, was cited by the abbot after the war when Adenauer was accused by Heinrich Böll and others of collaboration with the Nazis. According to Albert Speer in his book Spandau: The Secret Diaries, Hitler expressed admiration for Adenauer, noting his civic projects, the building of a road circling the city as a bypass, and a "green belt" of parks. However, both Hitler and Speer concluded that Adenauer's political views and principles made it impossible for him to play any role in Nazi Germany.

He was imprisoned briefly after the Night of the Long Knives in mid-1934. During the next two years, he changed residences often for fear of reprisals against him, while living on the benevolence of friends. With the help of lawyers in August 1937 he was successful in claiming a pension; he received a cash settlement for his house, which had been taken over by the city of Cologne; his unpaid mortgage, penalties and taxes were waived. With reasonable financial security he managed to live in seclusion for some years. After the failed assassination attempt on Hitler in 1944, he was imprisoned for a second time as an opponent of the regime. He fell ill and credited Eugen Zander, a former municipal worker in Cologne and communist, with saving his life. Zander, then a section Kapo of a labor camp near Bonn discovered Adenauer's name on a deportation list to the East and managed to get him admitted to a hospital. Adenauer was subsequently rearrested (and so was his wife), but in the absence of any evidence against him was released from prison at Brauweiler in November 1944.

Shortly after the war ended the American occupation forces installed him again as Mayor of heavily bombed Cologne. After the transfer of the city into the British zone of occupation the Director of its Military Government, General Gerald Templer, dismissed Adenauer for what he said was his alleged incompetence.

Post World War II and the founding of the CDU[link]

After his dismissal as Mayor of Cologne, Adenauer devoted himself to building a new political party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which he hoped would embrace both Protestants and Roman Catholics in a single party. In January 1946, Adenauer initiated a political meeting of the future CDU in the British zone in his role as doyen (the oldest man in attendance, Alterspräsident) and was informally confirmed as its leader.

Adenauer worked diligently at building up contacts and support in the CDU over the next years, and he sought with varying success to impose his particular ideology on the party. His was an ideology at odds with many in the CDU, who wished to unite socialism and Christianity; Adenauer preferred to stress the dignity of the individual, and he considered both communism and Nazism materialist world views that violated human dignity.^[8]

Adenauer's leading role in the CDU of the British zone won him a position at the Parliamentary Council of 1948, called into existence by the Western Allies to draft a constitution for the three western zones of Germany. He was the chairman of this constitutional convention and vaulted from this position to being chosen as the first head of government once the new "Basic Law" had been promulgated in May 1949.

Chancellor of West Germany[link]

Election poster, 1949: "With Adenauer for peace, freedom and unity of Germany, therefore CDU"

Adenauer speaking in the Bundestag, 1955.

The first election to the Bundestag of West Germany was held on 15 August 1949, with the Christian Democrats emerging as the strongest party. Theodor Heuss was elected the first President of the Republic, and Adenauer was elected Chancellor (head of government) on 16 September 1949 with the support of his own CDU, the Christian Social Union and the liberal Free Democratic Party. At age 73,^[9] it was initially thought that he would only be a caretaker chancellor. However, he would go on to hold this post for 14 years, a period spanning most of the preliminary phase of the Cold War. During this period, the post-war division of Germany was consolidated with the establishment of two separate German states, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

In the controversial selection for a "provisional capital" of the Federal Republic of Germany Adenauer championed Bonn over Frankfurt am Main. The British had agreed to detach Bonn from their zone of occupation and convert the area to an autonomous region wholly under German sovereignty; the Americans were not prepared to grant the same for Frankfurt.^[10]

At the Petersberg Agreement in November 1949 he achieved some of the first concessions granted by the Allies, such as a decrease in the number of factories to be dismantled, but in particular his agreement to join the International Authority for the Ruhr led to heavy criticism. In the following debate in parliament Adenauer stated:

The Allies have told me that dismantling would be stopped only if I satisfy the Allied desire for security, does the Socialist Party want dismantling to go on to the bitter end?^[11]

The opposition leader Kurt Schumacher responded by labeling Adenauer "Chancellor of the Allies".^[12] (See also the Industrial plans for Germany).

When a rebellion in East Germany was harshly suppressed by the Red Army in June 1953, Adenauer took full advantage of the situation and was handily re-elected to a second term as Chancellor.^[13] The CDU/CSU came up one seat short of an outright majority. Adenauer could have governed alone without the support of other parties, but retained the support of nearly all of the parties in the Bundestag that were to the right of the SPD.

Signing the NATO treaty in Paris, 1954 (Adenauer at the left)

The election of 1957 essentially dealt with national matters.^[14] Riding a wave of popularity from the return of the last POWs from Soviet labor camps, as well as an extensive pension reform, Adenauer led the CDU/CSU to the first—and as of 2011, only—outright majority in a free German election.^[15]

For a couple of weeks in 1959, Adenauer considered leaving the chancellorship and becoming Federal President. He initially believed the office could be fulfilled in a more politically active way than president Heuss did. He reconsidered, among other reasons, because he was afraid that Ludwig Erhard, whom Adenauer thought little of, would become the new chancellor.

The mood had changed by election time in September 1961. Over the course of 1961, Adenauer had his concerns about both the status of Berlin and US leadership confirmed, as the Soviets and East Germans built the Berlin Wall. Adenauer had come into the year distrusting the new US President, John F. Kennedy. He doubted Kennedy's commitment to a free Berlin and a unified Germany and considered him undisciplined and naïve.^[16]

For his part, Kennedy thought that Adenauer was a relic of the past, stating "The real trouble is that he is too old and I am too young for us to understand each other." Their strained relationship impeded effective Western action on Berlin during 1961.^[17] Adenauer had tarnished his image when he announced he would run for the office of federal president in 1959, only to pull out when he discovered^{[dubious – discuss]} that under the Basic Law, the president had far less power than he did in the Weimar Republic. Additionally, the departing and respected Theodor Heuss had established the precedent that the president be nonpartisan, which clashed with Adenauer's vision.^[18] The construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 and the sealing of borders by the East Germans made his government look weak. His "reaction was ... lame;" he eventually flew to Berlin, but he appeared to have "lost his once instinctive, ultra-swift power of judgement".^[19] After failing to keep their majority in the general election 36 days after the wall went up, the CDU/CSU again needed to include the FDP in a coalition government. To strike a deal, Adenauer was forced to make two concessions: to relinquish the chancellorship before the end of the new term, his fourth, and to replace his foreign minister.^[20]

Rearmament[link]

By 1949 the U.S. and Britain agreed that West Germany had to be rearmed to strengthen the defenses of Western Europe against a possible Soviet invasion. What was needed was a viable democratic German Army, free of the militarism and outlook of its wartime predecessor. The idea was that it would be essential for the defense of Germany and indeed all of Western Europe. Adenauer was able to overcome grave French objections and created the non-nuclear "Bundeswehr" based on democratic principles and practices that met the Allies' criteria.^[21]

Criticisms of Adenauer's chancellorship[link]

The famous election poster of 1957: "No experiments"

However, contemporary critics accused Adenauer of cementing the division of Germany, sacrificing reunification and the recovery of territories lost in the westward shift of Poland and the Soviet Union. "In his view, he said with the greatest emphasis, full integration into Western Europe was a precondition of the reunification of Germany."^[22] During the Cold War, the United States was "aiming for a West German armed force, after their [U.S.] costly experience in the Korean War".^[23] and Adenauer linked this rearmament concept to West German sovereignty and entry into NATO. In 1952, the Stalin Note, as it became known, "caught everybody in the West by surprise".^[24] It offered to unify the two German entities into a single, neutral state with its own, non-aligned national army to effect superpower disengagement from Central Europe. Adenauer and his cabinet were unanimous in their rejection of the Stalin overture; they shared the Western Allies' suspicion about the genuineness of that offer and supported the Allies in their cautious replies.

Adenauer's flat rejection was, however, out of step with public opinion; he then realized his mistake and he started to ask questions. Critics denounced him for having missed an opportunity for German reunification. The Soviets sent a second note, courteous in tone. Adenauer by then understood that "all opportunity for initiative had passed out of his hands,"^[25] and the matter was put to rest by the Allies. Given the realities of the Cold War, German reunification and recovery of lost territories in the east were not realistic goals as both of Stalin's notes specified the retention of the existing "Potsdam"-decreed boundaries of Germany. His re-election campaigns centered around the slogan "No Experiments".^[9]

As chancellor, Adenauer tended to make most major decisions himself, treating his ministers as mere extensions of his authority. While this tendency decreased under his successors, it established the image of West Germany (and later reunified Germany) as a "chancellor democracy".

The German student movement of the late 1960s was essentially a left-wing protest against the conservatism that Adenauer—by then out of office—had personified. Radical student protesters and Marxist groups were further inflamed by strong Anti-Americanism fueled by the Vietnam War and opposition to the conservative Nixon administration.^[26]

Ending of denazification and the introduction of "Wiedergutmachung"[link]

During the early years of his chancellorship and with a broad consensus within the West German establishment in favor of amnesty and integration, Adenauer pressed for the ending of denazification efforts. The denazification process was viewed by the United States as counterproductive and ineffective, and its demise was not opposed.^[27] Adenauer's intention was to switch government policy to reparations and compensation for the victims of NS rule (Wiedergutmachung), stating that the main culprits had been prosecuted.^[28][29]

As result, Germany started negotiations with Israel for restitution of lost property and the payment of damages to victims of the Nazi persecutions. In the Luxemburger Abkommen, Germany agreed to pay compensation to Israel. Jewish claims were bundled in the Jewish Claims Conference, which represented the Jewish victims of Nazi Germany. Germany then initially paid about 3 billion Mark to Israel and about 450 million to the Claims Conference, although payments continued after that, as new claims were made.^[30] Israel was divided in accepting the money.The agreement was condemned by some Israelis as simply an expedient whereby Germany would buy off Jewish survivors to regain credibility on the international stage, and Adenauer was criticised for being too lenient towards politically compromised individuals whose past treatment of Jews was at best questionable.^[31] But ultimately the fledgling state under David Ben-Gurion agreed to take it, opposed by more radical groups like Irgun, who were against such treaties. Those treaties were cited as a main reason for the assassination attempt by the radical Jewish groups against Adenauer.^[32]

For a legal backup, the German German Restitution Laws (Bundesentschädigungsgesetz) were passed in 1956, allowing individuals and other ethnic groups than Jews to lay claims for compensation from the German state, if they were victims of Nazi prosecution.^[33] Aside from that, other global treaties for compensation were made with other European states in the following decades, to compensate for the Nazi crimes.^[30]

By 1951 laws were passed by the Bundestag ending denazification. Officials were allowed to retake jobs in civil service, with the exception of people assigned to Group I (Major Offenders) and II (Offenders) during the denazification review process.^[29][34] The amnesty legislation had benefited 792,176 people, among them:

• 3,000 functionaries of the SA, the SS, and the Nazi Party who participated in deporting victims to prisons and camps
• 20,000 other Nazi perpetrators sentenced for "deeds against life" (presumably murder);
• 30,000 sentenced for causing bodily injury
• 5,200 charged with "crimes and misdemeanors in office."^[35]

Adenauer was prepared to tolerate ex-Nazis in his administration provided their membership in the party had been inactive,^[36] or necessary for them to keep their job.^[36][37] Despite these claims he nominated people active under Nazi Germany to top ministerial positions, including Hans Globke, Director of the Federal Chancellory of West Germany between 1953 and 1963 and one of the closest aides to Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. It was a policy that attracted criticism; however, Adenauer started his administration from absolute zero, and "it would have been folly to deprive the fledgling republic of the services of [these civil servants and professionals] for that reason alone."^[38] He made it clear for all, if they stepped out of line, they could expect a case for de-Nazification to be reopened. To construct a "competent Federal Government effectively from a standing start was one of the greatest of Adenauer's formidable achievements".^[38]

Achievements of Adenauer's chancellorship[link]

Konrad Adenauer with minister of economics Ludwig Erhard, 1956. Adenauer acted more leniently towards the trade unions and employers' associations than Erhard.

Konrad Adenauer with Israeli President Zalman Shazar, 1966.

Adenauer's achievements include the establishment of a stable democracy in West Germany and a lasting reconciliation with France, culminating in the Élysée Treaty. His political commitment to the Western powers achieved full sovereignty for West Germany, which was formally laid down in the General Treaty, although there remained Allied restrictions concerning the status of a potentially reunited Germany and the state of emergency in West Germany. Adenauer firmly integrated the country with the emerging Euro-Atlantic community (NATO and the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation). Adenauer is closely linked to the implementation of an enhanced pension system, which ensured unparalleled prosperity for retired people. Along with his Minister for Economic Affairs and successor Ludwig Erhard, the West German model of a "social market economy" (a mixed economy with capitalism moderated by elements of social welfare and Catholic social teaching) allowed for the boom period known as the Wirtschaftswunder ("economic miracle") that produced broad prosperity. The Adenauer era witnessed a dramatic rise in the standard of living of average Germans, with real wages doubling between 1950 and 1963. This rising affluence was accompanied by a 20% fall in working hours during that same period, together with a fall in the unemployment rate from 8% in 1950 to 0.4% in 1965.^[39] in addition, an advanced welfare state was established.^[40]

Adenauer ensured a truly free and democratic society, which had been almost unknown to the German people before — notwithstanding the attempt between 1919 and 1933 (the Weimar Republic) — and which is today not just normal but also deeply integrated into modern German society. He thereby laid the groundwork for Germany to reenter the community of nations and to evolve as a dependable member of the Western world. It can be argued that because of Adenauer's policies, a later reunification of both German states was possible; and unified Germany has remained a solid partner in the European Union and NATO.

In retrospect, mainly positive assessments of his chancellorship prevail, not only with the German public, which voted him the "greatest German of all time" in a 2003 television poll,^[41] but even with some of today's left-wing intellectuals, who praise his unconditional commitment to western-style democracy and European integration.^[42]

Additional actions as Chancellor[link]

Adenauer with the mother of a German POW brought home in 1955 from the Soviet Union, due to Adenauer's visit to Moscow

Plaque commemorating the restoration of relations between Germany and France, showing Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle.

• Made a historic speech to the Bundestag in September 1951 in which he recognized the obligation of the German government to compensate Israel, as the main representative of the Jewish people, for The Holocaust. This started a process that led to the Bundestag approving a pact between Israel and Germany in 1953 outlining the reparations Germany would pay to Israel.
• Opened diplomatic relations with the USSR, but refused to recognize East Germany and broke off diplomatic relations with countries (e.g., Yugoslavia) that established relations with the East German régime.^[43]
• Helped secure the release of the last German prisoners of war in 1955, (see Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union).
• Reached an agreement for his "nuclear ambitions" with a NATO Military Committee in December 1956 that stipulated West German forces to be "equipped for nuclear warfare".^[44] Concluding that the United States would eventually pull out of Western Europe, Adenauer pursued nuclear cooperation with other countries. The French government then proposed that France, West Germany and Italy jointly develop and produce nuclear weapons and delivery systems, and an agreement was signed in April 1958. With the ascendancy of Charles de Gaulle, the agreement for joint production and control was shelved indefinitely.^[45] President John F. Kennedy, an ardent foe of nuclear proliferation, considered sales of such weapons moot since "in the event of war the United States would, from the outset, be prepared to defend the Federal Republic."^[46] The physicists of the Max Planck Institute for Theoretical Physics at Göttingen and other renowned universities would have had the scientific capability for in-house development, but the will was absent,^[14] nor was there public support. With Adenauer's fourth term election in November 1961 and the end of his chancellorship in sight, his "nuclear ambitions" began to taper off.
• Oversaw the reintegration of the Saarland into West Germany in 1957.
• Briefly considered running for the office of Federal President in 1959. After his reversal he supported the nomination of Heinrich Lübke as the CDU presidential candidate whom he believed weak enough not to interfere with his actions as Federal Chancellor.

For all of his efforts as West Germany's leader, Adenauer was named Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1953. In 1954, he received the Karlspreis (English: Charlemagne Award), an Award by the German city of Aachen to people who contributed to the European idea, European cooperation and European peace.

In his last years in office, Adenauer used to take a nap after lunch and, when he was traveling abroad and had a public function to attend, he sometimes asked for a bed in a room close to where he was supposed to be speaking, so that he could rest briefly before he appeared.^[47]

Adenauer found relaxation and great enjoyment in the Italian game of bocce and spent a great deal of his post political career playing this game. His favorite holiday place to do this was in Cadenabbia, Italy, in a rented villa overlooking Lake Como, which has since been acquired as a conference centre by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the political foundation established by Adenauers political party Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

When, in 1967, after his death at the age of 91, Germans were asked what they admired most about Adenauer, the majority responded that he had brought home the last German prisoners of war from the USSR, which had become known as the "Return of the 10,000".

Assassination attempt[link]

On 27 March 1952, a package addressed to Chancellor Adenauer exploded in the Munich Police Headquarters, killing one Bavarian police officer. Two boys who had been paid to send this package by mail had brought it to the attention of the police. Investigations led to people closely related to the Herut Party and the former Irgun armed organization. The West German government kept all proof under seal in order to prevent antisemitic responses from the German public. Five Israeli suspects identified by French and German investigators were allowed to return to Israel.

One of the participants, Eliezer Sudit, later revealed that the alleged mastermind behind this assassination attempt was Menachem Begin, who would later become the Prime Minister of Israel.^[48] Begin had been the former commander of Irgun and at that time headed Herut and was a member of the Knesset. His goal was to put pressure on the German government and prevent the signing of the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany, which he vehemently opposed.^[49]

David Ben-Gurion, Prime Minister of Israel, appreciated Adenauer's response in playing down the affair and not pursuing it further, as it would have burdened the relationship between the two new states.

In June 2006 a slightly different version of this story appeared in one of Germany's leading newspapers, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, quoted by The Guardian. Begin had offered to sell his gold watch as the conspirators ran out of money. The bomb was hidden in an encyclopedia and it killed a bomb-disposal expert, injuring two others. Adenauer was targeted because of the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany, signed at that time, which was violently opposed by Begin. Sudit, the story's source, explained that the "intent was not to hit Adenauer but to rouse the international media. It was clear to all of us there was no chance the package would reach Adenauer". The five conspirators were arrested by the French police, in Paris. They "were [former] members of the ... Irgun" (the organisation had been disbanded in 1948, 4 years earlier).^[50]

Spiegel scandal and retirement[link]

In October 1962, a scandal erupted when police arrested five Der Spiegel journalists, charging them with high treason for publishing a memo detailing weaknesses in the West German armed forces. Adenauer had not initiated the arrests, but initially defended the person responsible, Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss, and called the Spiegel memo "Abgrund von Landesverrat" (abyss of treason). After public outrage and heavy protests from the coalition partner FDP he dismissed Strauss, but the reputation of Adenauer and his party had already suffered.^[51][52]

Adenauer managed to remain in office for almost another year, but the scandal increased the pressure already on him to fulfill his promise to resign before the end of the term. Adenauer was not on good terms with his economics minister Ludwig Erhard and tried to block him from the chancellorship. Adenauer failed, and in October 1963 he turned the office over to Erhard. He did remain chairman of the CDU until his resignation in December 1966.^[53]

Death[link]

Adenauer delivering a speech at the March 1966 CDU party rally, one year before his death

Funeral service for Adenauer in Cologne Cathedral

Adenauer's grave

Adenauer died on 19 April 1967 in his family home at Rhöndorf. According to his daughter, his last words were "Da jitt et nix zo kriesche!" (Cologne dialect for "There's nothin' to weep about!")

Konrad Adenauer's state funeral in Cologne Cathedral was attended by a large number of world leaders, among them United States President Lyndon B. Johnson. After the Requiem Mass and service, his remains were brought upstream to Rhöndorf on the Rhine aboard Kondor, with Seeadler and Sperber as escorts, three Jaguar class fast attack craft of the German Navy, "past the thousands who stood in silence on both banks of the river".^[54] He is interred at the Waldfriedhof [Forest Cemetery] at Rhöndorf.

Honours[link]

• Grand Cross special design of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Order of the Sun (Peru), 1953.^[55]
• Order of the Condor of the Andes (Bolivia), 1955.^[55]
• Order of St Michael and St George (UK), 1956.^[55]
• Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers, Grand Cordon (Japan), 1963.^[55]
• Order of the Rising Sun, Grand Cordon (Japan), 1960.^[55]
• Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur‎, France, 1962.^[56]
• Supreme Order of Christ, 1963.^[57]
• Order of Isabella the Catholic, Grand Cross (Spain), 1967.^[55]