Konrad Adenauer (HM6)

Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (* January 5th, 1876 in ) is a former German Politician. As early as in the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic, the lawyer and member of the Catholic Center Party made a political career: He was grand mayor of Cologne, for a short time a member of the Prussian Herrenhaus (House of Lords), and President of the Prussian Staatsrat (state council). In , he lost all of his offices and was arrested for some time.
On September 18th in 1917, the parliament of Cologne voted him in unison for 12 years grand mayor of Cologne, the so far youngest grand mayor of not just Cologne, but any German metropolis.
In the First World War, he invented a Bread stretched e.g. with pearl barley, to lessen starvation. That's why he got the disrespectful nickname "Graupenauer" (pearl barley-auer). After the war, he got the new nickname "Schuldenauer" (debt-auer), when Cologne made lots of new debts under him.
In the Weimar Republic, he was suggested several times (1921, 1926, 1928) as a candidate for the office of the Reichskanzler. At the End, he preferred the safe office as grand mayor. For some time, he tried to separate the Rhineland from Prussia (not from Germany!).
Since 1931, he conflicted with the Nazis. The collected money in public for "a bullet for Adenauer". In late 1932, he had spoken for a coalition of Center Party and Nazis in Prussia. On March 13th in 1933, he lost his office as grand mayor, later his other offices as well. On June 30th in 1934, he was arrested after the Röhm-Putsch for two days. For some time, he was hiding in the Benedictine Abbey of Maria Laach as "Brother Konrad". The Abbot Ildefons Herwegen, a former Schoolfriend, helped him with this. In April 1935, he moved to Rhöndorf.
On June 29th, 1933 he wrote in a letter: „Dem Zentrum weine ich keine Träne nach; es hat versagt." (I don't cry one single tear for the Center Party; they have failed.)
On January 28th, 1904 Adenauer married Emma Weyer (1880–1916). They had the Kids Konrad (* 1906), Max (* 1910), and Maria (Ria, * 1912). On September 26th in 1919, he married Auguste Zinsser (nicknamed Gussie, * 1895). They had five more Kids: Ferdinand (* 1920, died soon after birth), Paul (* 1923), Charlotte (Lotte, * 1925), Elisabeth (Libet, * 1928), and Georg (* 1931).
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