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"Als Deutscher, als Europäer, als Christ, habe ich den sehnlichsten Wunsch - und das ist das vornehmste Ziel meiner Arbeit - zur Errichtung einer europäischen Gemeinschaft freier und gleichberechtigter Völker zum Schutze der Freiheit und des Friedens in Europa und in der ganzen Welt." Adenauer, Bad Ems, 14. 9. 1951
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Konrad Adenauer und der rheinnland-pfälzische Ministerpräsident Peter Altmeier beim Singen der Nationalhymne.
Georg Adenauer führte uns über zweieinhalb Stunden durch Wohnhaus seiner Familie in Rhöndorf (Donner-stag, 2. März 2006), schilderte mit Kölschem Humor seine Jugendzeit, die Atmosphäre im Elternhaus, seinen Besuch bei Eisenhower im Weißen Haus und die letzten Tage seines Vaters.
Etwas verschwommen mit Georg Adenauer, jüngster Sohn des Kanzlers
Georg Adenauer (oben) im Wohnzimmer und im Schlaf- und Sterbezimmer seines Vaters
Vom 1. bis 3. März nahm ich am Seminar "Konrad Ade-nauer" der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung teil. Leitung: Jutta Graf, KAS und Dr. Corinna Franz, GF Stiftung Bundeskanzler-Adenauer-Haus. Referenten und Themen: Benedikt Praxenthaler: KA: Leben und Wirken in vier Epochen deutscher Geschichte. Christopher Beck-mann: Vom politischen Katholizismus zur christlichen Demokratie. KA als Parteipolitiker. PD Dr. Hanns Jür-gen Küsters: KA im christlich-jüdischen Dialog. Paul B. Wink: Adenauers Politik in der Karikatur. Prof. Man-fred Funke: Die Ära A.: Restauration oder Moderne? Besichtigung des Palais Schaumburg, Führung durch das "Haus der Geschichte" in Bonn.
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My last visit was to Dr. Adenauer.
Born to believe ~ An Autobiography. Lord Pakenham, Jonathan Cape, London, 1953
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(1) My last visit was to Dr. Adenauer. In many talks I had seldom, I felt, done more than scratch the surface of his mind. The longest had taken place a few weeks earlier in the garden of the Schloss Röttgen, when Alex Bishop and I had drawn from him, througout a long sunny afternoon, his interpretation of the true spririt of the Rhineland and its supreme significance for Germany and for Europe.
Aktentasche Adenauers
Our most dramatic discussion had followed my dismant-ling ordeal at Düsseldorf. On that occasion I had expres-sed the fear that Anglo-German relations were about to undergo their greatest strain, and the hope that we should still be able to work together. He had geplied that he had never doubted my own inner sense of responsibi-lity for German welfare since he first saw me at Düssel-dorf, but it would be hard indeed to convince the Ger-mans that our dismantling policy was actuated neither by the desire to punish Germany nor by the design of de-feating a trade competitor. I had replied that our Gover-ment's objects were strictly those of security and repara-tion. He said that few in Germany would be found to be-lieve it, and what he feared above all things was a resul-ting cynicism and disillusionment among the young. For this last visit he had honoured me by an invitation to his home in the Rhondorf. The tall lean figure was wai-ting as impasively as ever at the bottom of the path that leads up the precipitous hillside. Because of my broken Achilles tendon, my ankle was still in plaster of Paris and causing quite a bit of pain; more than once my heart al-most failed me as we silently made the ascent. More than once, too, my seventy-five year old host stopped sympathetically, but then as by some hidden telepathy he urged me on and without a word spoken we resumed our climb. Finally the summit was achieved, and we sat down to a family tea of strawberries in a rose garden looking far down to the Rhine. There are many spectacular views over the Rhine, but I should agree with Dr. Adenauer if he clai-med that none were more beautiful than his. Dr. Adenauer is a man of simple habits. An Oxford visi-tor is readily reminded of one of the more distinguished residents of Boars Hill. His love of beauty, an his pride in personal association with it, were obvious to me in his own garden. But not more so than on the seven hand-reth anniversary of Cologne Cathedral. Then he took in-finite pains to lead me to the one position form wich he considered a perfect view of the flood-lit Cathedral could be obtained...
Das Ahlener Programm der CDU (1947), nach Hans-Peter Schwarz maßgeblich von Adenauer vorformuliert
LINKS: Konrad-Adenauer-Stifung: www.kas.de