page_title: Konrad Adenauer
section_title: Death and legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Konrad Adenauer / Death and legacy
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. April 1967 Staatsbegräbnis für Alt-Bundeskanzler Dr. Konrad Adenauer (1949 - 1963) Pontifikalrequiem im Kölner Dom
context_page_description: Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman who served as the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. He was co-founder and first leader of the Christian Democratic Union, a Christian Democratic party that under his leadership became one of the most influential parties in the country.
  In the early years of the Federal Republic he switched focus from denazification to recovery and led his country from the ruins of World War II to becoming a productive and prosperous nation that forged close relations with France, the United Kingdom and the United States. During his years in power, West Germany achieved democracy, stability, international respect and economic prosperity.
  Adenauer belied his age by his intense work habits and his uncanny political instinct. He displayed a strong dedication to a broad vision of market-based liberal democracy 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.
context_section_description: 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!" ([dɔ² ˈjɪdət nɪks tsə ˈkʁiːʃə], Cologne dialect for "There's nothin' to weep about!").
  Konrad Adenauer's state funeral in Cologne Cathedral was attended by a large number of international guests. One hundred countries were represented, they included 
   Secretary General Manlio Brosio
   President Walter Hallstein from the European Commission
   President Lyndon B. Johnson from the United States of America
   President Charles de Gaulle from France
   Prime Minister Aldo Moro from Italy
   Prime Minister Pierre Werner from Luxembourg
   President Heinrich Lübke, Chancellor Kurt-Georg Kiesinger from West Germany
   Prime Minister Jens Otto Krag from Denmark
   Prime Minister Tage Erlander from Sweden
   Chancellor Josef Klaus from Austria
   Prime Minister Harold Wilson, predecessor Harold Macmillan from the United Kingdom
   High Commissioner Vijaya Pandit from India
  and many more.
  After the Requiem Mass and service, his remains were taken upstream to Rhöndorf on the Rhine aboard Kondor, with two more Seeadler-class fast attack craft of the German Navy, Seeadler and Sperber as escorts, "past the thousands who stood in silence on both banks of the river". He is interred at the Waldfriedhof ("Forest Cemetery") at Rhöndorf.
  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".
  In 2003, Adenauer was voted the 'greatest German of all time' in a contest called Unsere Besten run on German public-service television broadcaster ZDF in which more than three million votes were cast. Adolf Hitler and East Germany's Erich Honecker were excluded from the nominations (as both are considered tyrants in modern Germany, and in the case of Hitler, would cause international controversy if nominated).
  Adenauer was the main motive for one of the most recent and famous gold commemorative coins: the Belgian 3 pioneers of the European unification commemorative coin, minted in 2002. The obverse side shows a portrait with the names Robert Schuman, Paul-Henri Spaak and Konrad Adenauer; the three most important figures of the founding fathers of the European Union.
caption: Funeral service for Adenauer in Cologne Cathedral
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