Overview
- On the anniversary, political scientist Herfried Münkler tells ZDF that Westbindung remains the anchor of German policy, with security tied to the United States and economic weight rooted in a Franco‑European core.
- Konrad Adenauer was elected the first chancellor on September 15, 1949 and led for 14 years, steering the new republic from Bonn.
- He drove Western alignment, rearmament, European integration and the social market economy, with the Lastenausgleich a signature redistributive measure, despite fierce opposition.
- His centralized, hard-edged leadership drew accusations of a “chancellor’s dictatorship,” and his authority declined in the early 1960s until he was pushed from office.
- As Cologne’s mayor he modernized infrastructure, attracted industry and publicly refused to honor Hitler in February 1933, a defiance that cost him his post.