50th anniversary of Adenauer’s death The life and work of Adenauer in Rhöndorf und Bonn

Bonn · Rhöndorf and Bonn are the central stages of Konrad Adenauer’s time as German Chancellor. He rarely got involved in local issues, but when he did, he got stuck in. We take a look at his life and his political work.

No reason to cry – those were Konrad Adenauer’s final words. At least that’s what was later reported by those who must have known. As the former Chancellor lay on his death bed, fading with strength, his relatives said that he pointed to an old altarpiece above his bed which depicted the dying Jesus tenderly received by God the Father with wide open arms. "Da jitt et nix ze kriesche". Konrad Adenauer used the Rhineland idiom deep-seated in Christian beliefs to comfort his children for the last time.

When Chancellery Minister Peter Altmaier opens the permanent exhibition at the Rhöndorf Museum on Wednesday and takes his first steps into the residential house, he will – as have all other visitors – find the scene resurrected, for the picture is hanging back in its original position after years of absence.

The Adenauer family moved to Rhöndorf in 1935. At first, they lived in Löwenburgstraße, and four years later they took up residence in a new house on Zennigsweg. Upper class but not at all palatial, this best describes the place of residence. The pensioner cultivated his garden and made sure that all the grandfather clocks were synchronised. The Nazis had removed him as the mayor of Cologne in 1933.

15 years later Adenauer brought himself back to power – naturally in Rhöndorf. No-one had seriously expected to see the 73-year-old in the parliamentary elections – and not with such craftiness. He invited credible members of the party leadership to his home and proceeded according to the motto that food and drink binds the body and soul together. For the young Franz Josef Strauß, one of the guests, it was an epiphany: "the buffet made an overwhelming impression on us hungry city types, all at Adenauer’s private cost, I have never before nor since experienced such a thing," he later remembered. The guests drank wine “as I had never drunk before in my life”. Finally, when everyone was well fed, Adenauer suddenly announced that the wish had come "from party circles" that he should make himself available for the chancellorship. Which party circles these were remained a secret, and were never discussed further in the lively company. On 15 September 1949 Adenauer was elected as the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

In the village, the famous citizen was seldom seen, although he regularly took up his seat in the parish church. Even there, the autograph hunters were not far away. Once one of these was said to have asked the priest if Adenauer was coming. With quick wit, the priest replied that he could only confirm that God was coming.

Adenauer also left his mark at the church in the Siebengebirge. The legendary red carpet scene at the Petersberg, where Adenauer literally met eye-to-eye with the Allied High Commissioners is one of these, as well as the German-French Youth Work Organisation which, during the time from its foundation up to the relocation of the government, was located, not without coincidence, only a stone’s throw from Adenauer’s house. At the vineyard of Karl-Heinz Broel there is a grey hut of Adenauer’s still waiting to be collected.

According to legend, Adenauer had the idea to make Bonn the capital city whilst drinking wine in Broels vaulted cellar. The order confirmations are proof even today of his love of wine and are immortalised in the winemaker’s heavy accounting books. However, the Adenauers did not order crates, but as a rule only in small quantities. "Everything in measure” was the motto. In one of his last interviews Adenauer said, in reference to the Rhöndorf confectioner Peter Profittlich, who annoyed the chancellor with his plans for a cable car, "oh, he was otherwise a decent man".

Another place of residence near to Rhöndorf must not be forgotten. Adenauer lived in the Pax-Haus in the middle of Unkel old town from October 1935 to April 1936. Whoever steps across the creaking floorboards to the dining room and sits down to breakfast overlooking the Rhine, can think of Adenauer’s time here amongst the old furniture. The house with its 48 beds is still run by nuns and is open for guests.

Adenauer’s traces are ever present in Bonn. Palais Schaumburg, the Redoute as the favourite location for Adenauer’s birthday parties, saloon cars and the office Mercedes in the ‘Haus der Geschichte’ museum, or the town hall staircase as the stage for many state visits – these images have become part of our collective memory, just like the sculpture by Hubertus von Pilgrim, which has given the Bundeskanzlerplatz a face since 1982 and became the popular photo motif of the Republic of Bonn.

Less well known, is that diagonally opposite in the Alexander Koenig natural history museum, not only did the Parliamentary Council meet here in 1948/49, but also Adenauer used the museum as his office for two months after his election to Chancellor in September 1949 and the cabinet meetings were held in the auditorium. The room with the stucco ceiling and the magnificent walls of books can be visited. Adenauer also held his first big speech to the people of Bonn in the domed hall of the museum on 7 April 1946, when he said; "Bonn has a duty to be the spiritual and cultural centre on the Rhine”.

On occasion the Bonn citizen also pointed the finger at the municipal administration. In an essay, Stephan Eisel quoted from a letter of Adenauer’s dated 16 August 1949 to the Director Johannes Langendörfer: "as I reliably hear, such considerable prices are being demanded for rooms in Bonn, that the word daylight robbery is almost too restrained. I ask you to use all your energy to make sure that such excessive demands stop.”

One Bonn resident is preserving the memory of Konrad Adenauer particularly intensively: for six years, ferryman Josef Kirfel brought the Chancellor across the Rhine between Dollendorf and Godesberg. "Usually he came around 8.30am in his limousine. People were already there, waiting to collect autographs. He always signed a few, but not all. If he didn’t fancy it anymore, he stayed in his Mercedes and read,” remembers Kirfel. On Adenauer’s birthday on 5 January, the ferry always made a commemorative turn in the middle of the river. Adenauer always gave the ferry personnel a thank you gift. “At the beginning, it was a hundred note, but then there were more of us and he knew his money was losing value", says Kirfel, struggling to hide his emotions. After Adenauer’s death, the ferry was baptised with his name. (Orig. text: Rüdiger Franz)

Meistgelesen
Neueste Artikel
Zum Thema
Aus dem Ressort