The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung is named after the Federal Republic of Germany's first Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. He was born on January 5, 1876, in Cologne. Together with three siblings, two elder brothers and one younger sister, Konrad Adenauer grew up in modest circumstances.

1917 Adenauer was appointed Lord Mayor of Cologne. This election made him the youngest mayor in Prussia. In the time of the Weimar Republic Adenauer was one of the most influential politicians in Germany.

He made his name by progressively developing Cologne into a 'metropolis of the West'. During his term of office, Cologne University was founded in 1919, port facilities on the Rhine river were extended, and industrial enterprises, the Ford Company among them, were induced to settle within the municipality. In 'big politics', Adenauer became one of the key figures dominating the "Rhineland question." To prevent the outright annexation of the occupied area on the left bank, he advocated for a time the creation of a Rhenish Federal State so as to appease the French in their need for safety.

His influence spread beyond regional boundaries when he was made President of the Prussian State Council in 1921, an office which he held until 1933. Repeatedly, he was mentioned in government circles as one of the candidates for the office of Chancellor in the periodic crises of the Weimar Republic. In conjunction with his fundamental federalist, Christian, and social convictions, his republicanism made him an object of hate among the adversaries of the Weimar 'system'. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, therefore, he was immediately replaced as Lord Mayor of Cologne and banished from the city of his birth. He was returned to the office of Lord Mayor of Cologne by the victorious Americans.

After a very few months, and after a switch of control, he was dismissed from office by the British military government then in charge after he had criticised its occupation policy . For the second time in his life, Adenauer found himself compelled to retire and expelled from Cologne. The ban on political activity, which had been imposed at the same time, had barely been lifted when Adenauer, who by then was 70, focussed all his energies on his activities within the CDU, which he had joined shortly after its foundation. A number of political concepts and programmatical ideas which he had developed after the First World War and submitted to the test of his experiences during the rule of the Nazis laid the foundations for a 'lightning career' in his party. As early as February 5, 1946, Adenauer was elected Chairman of the Rhineland CDU and - a scant month later - Chairman of the CDU of the British Zone. He took his most important step on his way to the top of the nascent West German governmental system when he was elected President of the Parliamentary Council created at the instruction of the three Western Allied Powers in 1948 to formulate the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany. At the age of 73, he was elected Federal Chancellor, a position which he was destined to hold for 14 years. The governments he led prepared the ground for the successful construction of a new democracy. Some epoch-making decisions will remain connected to the 'Adenauer era' forever.

In foreign politics, these include the achievement of national sovereignty, the establishment of close ties with the free West, the reconciliation of France and the unification of Europe. In domestic policy, they include the integration of refugees and displaced persons as well as the construction of social market economy, a novel economic order amalgamating the promotion of free competition with the responsibility of social government. The 'economic miracle' of Germany could not have been brought about without secure social peace in the country. Legislation establishing co-determination in the coal and steel industry, the system of employee property formation, the equalisation of burdens, the creation of subsidised housing, child benefits, the agricultural Green Plan, and the dynamisation of pensions became the cornerstones of the much-famed social network of the Federal Republic of Germany.

At the general elections of 1957, the CDU/CSU headed by Adenauer won an absolute majority of 50.2% of the votes cast. When Adenauer's third period of office as Chancellor ended, however, uncertainties had become preponderant. The general picture of global politics had changed after the United States had modified its priorities, and this, in turn, caused the Soviets to bring more pressure to bear on Berlin. Domestic politics, in turn, succumbed to the struggle for the 'old man's' succession. One historical feat at the time was the establishment of close political ties between Germany and France on the strength of the friendship between Adenauer and de Gaulle, who had met for the first time in 1958. On the other hand, political relations between the two German entities reached an all-time low. The construction of the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961, just a few weeks before the fourth general elections, seemed to be cementing the separation of Germany. Having been elected Chancellor once again by a coalition of CDU/CSU and FDP in 1961, Adenauer stepped down at the half-way mark of the legislative period in conformance with a previous agreement.

When he died aged 91 on April 19, 1967, he received worldwide honours as a statesman who gave freedom, prosperity, and social security to the citizens of the Federal Republic.

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