Adenauer - Ronald Irving

Known as the Father of the new Germany, Konrad Adenauer was one of the big three leaders who, alongside Churchill and De Gaulle, helped rebuild Europe from the ruins of World War II. A devout Catholic and virulent anti-communist, his anti-nazi credentials made him the obvious if aged choice for the Chancellorship of the new German Federal Republic in 1949. Ronald Irving reviews Adenauer's record in office - an astonishing career that lasted six decades - from Mayor of Cologne in pre-Nazi Germany to his post-war emergence as leader of the Christian Democratic Union and his election to the Chancellorship in 1949. While he recognises that the record was not entirely positive - he points to Adenauer's autocratic tendencies and the fact that he clung to power for far too long - Irving argues that his key characteristic and contribution to West Germany and Western Europe was that of "integrator". He united Catholics and Conservatives for the first time under the liberal democratic banner, and integrated West German society into liberal democratic values underpinned by the social market economy.;Adenauer also played a vital role in ensuring that the traditional enemies, France and Germany, came together in co-operation and partnership in the new European Economic Community.