1.
Konrad Adenauer
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Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman who served as the first post-war Chancellor of Germany from 1949 to 1963. He led his country from the ruins of World War II to a productive and prosperous nation that forged close relations with France, the United Kingdom, during his years in power West Germany achieved democracy, stability, international respect and economic prosperity. He was the first leader of the Christian Democratic Union, a Christian Democratic party that under his leadership became one of the most influential parties in the country, Adenauer, the Chancellor till age 87 was dubbed Der Alte. British historian Roy Jenkins says he was the oldest statesman ever to function in elected office and he belied his age by his intense work habits and his uncanny political instinct. He displayed a strong dedication to a vision of market-based liberal democracy. A shrewd politician, Adenauer was deeply committed to a Western-oriented foreign policy and he worked to restore the West German economy from the destruction of World War II to a central position in Europe, presiding over the German Economic Miracle. He reestablished the German military in 1955 and he came to terms with France, which made possible the economic unification of Western Europe. Adenauer opposed rival East Germany and made his nation a member of NATO, a devout Roman Catholic, he had been a leading Centre Party politician in the Weimar Republic, serving as Mayor of Cologne and as president of the Prussian State Council. Konrad Adenauer was born as the third of five children of Johann Konrad Adenauer and his wife Helene in Cologne, Rhenish Prussia and his siblings were August, Johannes, Lilli and Elisabeth, who died shortly after birth in c. In 1894, he completed his Abitur and began studying law and politics at the universities of Freiburg, Munich and Bonn. In 1896, at the age of 20, he was conscripted into the German army and he was a member of several Roman Catholic students associations under the K. St. V. He graduated in 1900 and afterwards worked as a lawyer at the court in Cologne and he was strongly interested in the use of medicinal herbs, according to famous French herbalist Maurice Messugue, whom he met and befriended. These were his favorite medicinal plants according to Messugue, though he had knowledge of a wide range of plants. He agreed with Messugue that plants had to be free of sprays and he told Messugue that he owed his good health to the plants, to nature. Adenauer found relaxation and great enjoyment in the Italian game of bocce, as a devout Catholic, he joined the Centre Party in 1906 and was elected to Colognes city council in the same year. In 1909, he became Vice-Mayor of Cologne, a metropolis with a population of 635,000 in 1914. From 1917 to 1933, he served as Mayor of Cologne, Adenauer headed Cologne during World War I, working closely with the army to maximize the citys role as a rear base of supply and transportation for the Western Front. He paid special attention to the food supply, enabling the residents to avoid the worst of the severe shortages that beset most German cities during 1918–19
2.
Ludwig Erhard
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Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and the second Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is often famed for leading German postwar economic reforms and economic recovery in his role as Minister of Economics under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer from 1949 to 1963. During that period he promoted the concept of the market economy. In his tenure as chancellor, however, Erhard failed to win confidence in his handling of a deficit and his direction of foreign policy. He resigned his chancellorship on 1 December 1966, born in Fürth, Kingdom of Bavaria, Erhard was a commercial apprentice from 1913 to 1916. After his apprenticeship he worked as retail salesman in his fathers drapers shop, in 1916, during World War I, he joined the German forces as an artilleryman. He fought in Romania and was injured near Ypres in 1918. Because of his injury he could no longer work as a draper and he received his Ph. D. from the University of Frankfurt in 1925, for a dissertation written under Franz Oppenheimer. During his time in Frankfurt he married Luise Lotter, widow Schuster, after his graduation they moved to Fürth and he became executive in his parents company in 1925. After three years he became assistant at the Institut für Wirtschaftsbeobachtung der deutschen Fertigware, a research institute. Later, he became deputy director of the institute, during World War II, he worked on concepts for a postwar peace, however, officially such studies were forbidden by the Nazis, who had declared total war. As a result, Erhard lost his job in 1942 but continued to work on the subject by order of the Reichsgruppe Industrie, in 1944 he wrote War Finances and Debt Consolidation. In this study he assumed that Germany had already lost the war and he sent his thoughts to Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, a central figure in the German resistance to Nazism, who recommended Erhard to his comrades. Erhard also discussed his concept with Otto Ohlendorf, deputy secretary of state in the Reichsministerium für Wirtschaft, Ohlendorf himself spoke out for active and courageous entrepreneurship, which was intended to replace bureaucratic state planning of the economy after the war. After the war Erhard became an economic consultant, in April 1948 Erhard was elected director of economics by the Bizonal Economic Council. On 20 June 1948, the Deutsche Mark was introduced, Erhard abolished the price-fixing and production controls that had been enacted by the military administration. This exceeded his authority, but he succeeded with this step, in the first free elections following the Nazi era, Erhard stood for election in a Baden-Württemberg district and was elected. He was appointed Minister for Economics, a position he would hold for the next 14 years, some of the societys members were members of the Allied High Commission and Erhard was able to make his case directly to them
3.
Kurt Georg Kiesinger
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Kurt Georg Kiesinger was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1 December 1966 to 21 October 1969. Before he became Chancellor he served as Minister President of Baden-Württemberg from 1958 to 1966 and he was Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union from 1967 to 1971. Kiesinger studied law and worked as a lawyer in Berlin from 1935 to 1940, to avoid conscription, he found work at the Foreign Office in 1940, and became deputy head of the Foreign Offices broadcasting department. During his service at the Foreign Office, he was denounced by two colleagues for his anti-Nazi stance and he had nevertheless joined the Nazi Party in 1933, but remained a largely inactive member. In 1946 he became a member of the Christian Democratic Union and he was elected to the Bundestag in 1949, and was a member of the Bundestag until 1958 and again from 1969 to 1980. Kiesinger was considered an outstanding orator and mediator, and was dubbed Silver Tongue and he was an author of poetry and various books, and founded the universities of Konstanz and Ulm as Minister President of Baden-Württemberg. Born in Ebingen, Kingdom of Württemberg, Kiesinger studied law in Berlin, as a student, he joined the Roman Catholic corporations K. St. V. He became a member of the Nazi Party in February 1933, after the war, he was interned and spent 18 months in the Ludwigsburg camp before being released as a case of mistaken identity. They accused Kiesinger specifically of hampering anti-Jewish actions within his department, Kiesinger joined the Christian Democratic Union in 1946. From 1946 he gave lessons to law students, and in 1948 he resumed his practice as a lawyer. In 1947 he also became unpaid secretary-general of CDU in Württemberg-Hohenzollern, in the federal election in 1949 he was elected to the Bundestag. In 1951 he became a member of the CDU executive board, during that time, he became known for his rhetorical brilliance, as well as his in-depth knowledge of foreign affairs. However, despite the recognition he enjoyed within the Christian Democrat parliamentary faction, consequently, he decided to switch from federal to state politics. Kiesinger became Minister President of the state of Baden-Württemberg on 17 December 1958, as Minister President he founded two universities, the University of Konstanz and the University of Ulm. In 1966 following the collapse of the existing CDU/CSU-FDP coalition, Kiesinger was elected to replace Ludwig Erhard as Chancellor, the government formed by Kiesinger remained in power for nearly three years with the SPD leader Willy Brandt as Deputy Federal Chancellor and Foreign Minister. Kiesinger reduced tensions with the Soviet bloc nations establishing diplomatic relations with Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia, a number of progressive reforms were also realised during Kiesingers time as Chancellor. Pension coverage was extended in 1967 via the abolition of the income-ceiling for compulsory membership, vocational training legislation was also introduced, while a reorganisation of unemployment insurance promoted retraining schemes, counselling and advice services and job creation places. In addition, under the “Lohnfortzahlunggesetz” of 1969, employers had to pay all employees’ wages for the first 6 weeks of sickness, in August 1969, the Landabgaberente was introduced
4.
Bundestag
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The Bundestag is a constitutional and legislative body at the federal level in Germany. For its similar function, it is described as a lower house of parliament along the lines of the US House of Representatives. The German constitution, however, does not define the Bundestag, since 1999 it has met in the Reichstag Building in Berlin. Norbert Lammert is the current President of the Bundestag, Members of the Bundestag are usually elected every four years by all adult German citizens in a mixed system of constituency voting and list voting. There are currently 631 seats, however, one – belonging to the CDU – remains vacant. The Election Day, however, can be if the Federal Chancellor loses a vote of no confidence. In the 19th century the name Bundestag was the designation for the assembly of the sovereigns and mayors of the Monarchies. Its seat was in the Free City of Frankfurt on the Main, two decades later, the current parliament building was erected. The Reichstag delegates were elected by direct and equal male suffrage, the Reichstag did not participate in the appointment of the Chancellor until the parliamentary reforms of October 1918. After this the Reichstag met only rarely, usually at the Krolloper following the Reichstag fire starting in 1933 to unanimously rubber-stamp the decisions of the government and it last convened on 26 April 1942. With the new constitution of 1949, the Bundestag was established as the new German parliament, the Bundeshaus in Bonn is the former Parliament Building of Germany. The sessions of the German Bundestag were held there from 1949 until its move to Berlin in 1999, today it houses the International Congress Centre Bundeshaus Bonn and in the north areas the branch office of the Bundesrat. The southern areas became part of German offices for the United Nations in 2008, the former Reichstag building housed a history exhibition and served occasionally as a conference center. The Reichstag building was occasionally used as a venue for sittings of the Bundestag and its committees and the Bundesversammlung. In 2005, an aircraft crashed close to the German parliament. It was then decided to ban private air traffic over Central Berlin, together with the Bundesrat, the Bundestag is the legislative branch of the German political system. The committees play a prominent role in this process, Plenary sessions provide a forum for members to engage in public debate on legislative issues before them, but they tend to be well attended only when significant legislation is being considered. This check on executive power can be employed through binding legislation, public debates on government policy, investigations, for example, the Bundestag can conduct a question hour, in which a government representative responds to a previously submitted written question from a member
5.
Rees, Germany
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Rees is a town in the district of Cleves in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the bank of the Rhine, approx. Founded in 1228, Rees is the oldest town in the lower Rhine area, the origin of the town is a Frankish settlement established between 500-800 AD. The name Rees most probably goes back to the Franconian term Rys, the Lower Rhine area was Christianized by the Irish missionary Willibrord between 657-739. Around 1000 the nearby monastery of Aspel was first mentioned, on 14 July 1228 Rees was granted municipal rights by Heinrich I von Müllenark, Archbishop of Cologne. At that time it had about 600 inhabitants, in 1289/90 the works on a fortified city wall began, which was completed in 1350. In 1392 Rees and the monastery of Aspel became parts of the County of Cleves, during the Eighty Years War, the town was captured by Spanish troops in 1598. After the death of the last duke of Cleves in 1609 the town belonged to the Margraviate of Brandenburg, between 1616 and 1625 Rees was occupied by Dutch troops who transformed the town into a huge fortress. In 1701 Rees became a part of the Kingdom of Prussia, in 1816 Rees became capital of the newly founded Rees District within Regierungsbezirk Kleve. The railway line from Oberhausento Arnhem was inaugurated in 1856 and a station was built near Rees. At the beginning of the 20th century Rees had 4.096 inhabitants of whom 330 were Protestants and 52 were Jews, during the Nazi period, many Jewish inhabitants were deported. Today the only reminders on Jewish culture in Rees are two historic Jewish cemeteries, the city was almost completely destroyed by an Allied air raid on February 16,1945 during World War II. It became part of North Rhine-Westphalia after the war, the Rhine bridge of Rees was completed in 1967. The mayor of Rees is since 2009 Christoph Gerwers and he was reelected in 2015 with 66,6 % of the votes. In the Middle Ages Rees was surrounded by a city wall which was built from 1289 -1307, several parts of the wall are well-preserved and can be visited, e. g. the White Tower built in 1410 which was used as a prison until the 18th century. The watch tower near the Jewish cemetery dates from 1480 and it was destroyed by bombs in 1945 and rebuilt in 1993. Mühlenturm, the tallest tower, was built in 1470 and used as a windmill and it suffered comparatively little bomb damage and was renovated in 1984. Near the river there are further remains of the ancient city fortification
6.
Kingdom of Prussia
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It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia. Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of Frederick II, more known as Frederick the Great. After the might of Prussia was revealed it was considered as a power among the German states. Throughout the next hundred years Prussia went on to win many battles and it was because of its power that Prussia continuously tried to unify all the German states under its rule. Attempts at creation of a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when war ensued between its two most powerful states, Prussia and Austria. The North German Confederation which lasted from 1867–1871, created a union between the Prussian-aligned states while Austria and most of Southern Germany remained independent. The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War, the German Empire lasted from 1871–1918 with the successful unification of all the German states under Prussian hegemony. This was due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, in 1871, Germany unified into a single country, minus Austria and Switzerland, with Prussia the dominant power. Prussia is considered the predecessor of the unified German Reich. The Kingdom left a significant cultural legacy, today notably promoted by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in 1415 a Hohenzollern Burgrave came from the south to the March of Brandenburg and took control of the area as elector. In 1417 the Hohenzollern was made an elector of the Holy Roman Empire, after the Polish wars, the newly established Baltic towns of the German states including Prussia, suffered many economic setbacks. Many of the Prussian towns could not even afford to attend political meetings outside of Prussia, the towns were poverty stricken, with even the largest town, Danzig, having to borrow money from elsewhere to pay for trade. Poverty in these towns was partly caused by Prussias neighbors, who had established and developed such a monopoly on trading that these new towns simply could not compete and these issues led to feuds, wars, trade competition and invasions. However, the fall of these gave rise to the nobility, separated the east and the west. It was clear in 1440 how different Brandenburg was from the other German territories, not only did it face partition from within but also the threat of its neighbors. It prevented the issue of partition by enacting the Dispositio Achillea which instilled the principle of primogeniture to both the Brandenburg and Franconian territories, the second issue was solved through expansion
7.
German Empire
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The German Empire was the historical German nation state that existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918, when Germany became a federal republic. The German Empire consisted of 26 constituent territories, with most being ruled by royal families and this included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. Although Prussia became one of kingdoms in the new realm, it contained most of its population and territory. Its influence also helped define modern German culture, after 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron, chemicals, and railways. In 1871, it had a population of 41 million people, and by 1913, a heavily rural collection of states in 1815, now united Germany became predominantly urban. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire operated as an industrial, technological, Germany became a great power, boasting a rapidly growing rail network, the worlds strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. In less than a decade, its navy became second only to Britains Royal Navy, after the removal of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck by Wilhelm II, the Empire embarked on a bellicose new course that ultimately led to World War I. When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, the German Empire had two allies, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, however, left the once the First World War started in August 1914. In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in autumn 1914 failed, the Allied naval blockade caused severe shortages of food. Germany was repeatedly forced to send troops to bolster Austria and Turkey on other fronts, however, Germany had great success on the Eastern Front, it occupied large Eastern territories following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 was designed to strangle the British, it failed, but the declaration—along with the Zimmermann Telegram—did bring the United States into the war. Meanwhile, German civilians and soldiers had become war-weary and radicalised by the Russian Revolution and this failed, and by October the armies were in retreat, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, Bulgaria had surrendered and the German people had lost faith in their political system. The Empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution as the Emperor and all the ruling monarchs abdicated, and a republic took over. The German Confederation had been created by an act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, German nationalism rapidly shifted from its liberal and democratic character in 1848, called Pan-Germanism, to Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarcks pragmatic Realpolitik. He envisioned a conservative, Prussian-dominated Germany, the war resulted in the Confederation being partially replaced by a North German Confederation in 1867, comprising the 22 states north of the Main. The new constitution and the title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871, during the Siege of Paris on 18 January 1871, William accepted to be proclaimed Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. The second German Constitution was adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April, the political system remained the same. The empire had a parliament called the Reichstag, which was elected by universal male suffrage, however, the original constituencies drawn in 1871 were never redrawn to reflect the growth of urban areas
8.
Bonn
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The Federal City of Bonn is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of 311,287. About 24 km south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region, Germanys largest metropolitan area, the title of Federal City reflects its particular political status within Germany. Founded in the 1st century BC as a Roman settlement, Bonn is one of Germanys oldest cities, from 1597 to 1794, Bonn was the capital of the Electorate of Cologne, and residence of the Archbishops and Prince-electors of Cologne. Composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born here in 1770, from 1949 to 1990, Bonn was the capital of West Germany, and it is here where Germanys present constitution, the Grundgesetz, was declared in 1949. From 1990 to 1999, Bonn served as the seat of government, two DAX-listed corporations, Deutsche Post DHL and Deutsche Telekom, have headquarters in Bonn. The city is the location of the University of Bonn, spanning an area of more 141.2 km2 on both sides of the River Rhine, almost three quarters of the city lie on the rivers left bank. To the south and to the west, Bonn is bordering the Eifel region which encompasses the Rhineland Nature Park, to the north, Bonn borders the Cologne Lowland. Natural borders are constituted by the River Sieg to the north-east, the largest extension of the city in north-south dimensions is 15 km and 12.5 km in west-east dimensions. The city borders have a length of 61 km. The geographical centre of Bonn is the Bundeskanzlerplatz in Bonn-Gronau, the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia is divided into five governmental districts, and Bonn is part of the governmental district of Cologne. Within this governmental district, the city of Bonn is an district in its own right. The urban district of Bonn is then divided into four administrative municipal districts. These are Bonn, Bonn-Bad Godesberg, Bonn-Beuel and Bonn-Hardtberg, in 1969, the independent towns of Bad Godesberg and Beuel as well as several villages were incorporated into Bonn, resulting in a city more than twice as large as before. In the south of the Cologne lowland in the Rhine valley, the history of the city dates back to Roman times. In about 12 BC, the Roman army appears to have stationed a small unit in what is presently the historical centre of the city, even earlier, the army had resettled members of a Germanic tribal group allied with Rome, the Ubii, in Bonn. The Latin name for that settlement, Bonna, may stem from the population of this and many other settlements in the area. The Eburoni were members of a tribal coalition effectively wiped out during the final phase of Caesars War in Gaul. After several decades, the gave up the small camp linked to the Ubii-settlement
9.
North Rhine-Westphalia
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North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with a population of approximately 18 million, and the fourth largest by area. Its capital is Düsseldorf, the most populous city is Cologne, four of Germanys ten largest cities—Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, and Essen—are located within the state, as well as the largest metropolitan area on the European continent, Rhine-Ruhr. North Rhine-Westphalia was formed in 1946 as a merger of the provinces of North Rhine and Westphalia, the state has been run by a coalition of the Social Democrats and Greens since 2010. The Ubii and some other Germanic tribes such as the Cugerni were later settled on the west side of the Rhine in the Roman province of Germania Inferior, North of the Sigambri and the Rhine region were the Bructeri. By the 8th century the Frankish dominion was established in western Germany. But at the time, to the north, Westphalia was being taken over by Saxons pushing south. The Merovingian and Carolingian Franks eventually built an empire which controlled first their Ripuarian kin, the Ottonian dynasty had both Saxon and Frankish ancestry. As the central power of the Holy Roman Emperor weakened, the Rhineland split into small independent principalities, each with its separate vicissitudes. Such struggles as the War of the Limburg Succession therefore continued to create military, Aachen was the place of coronation of the German emperors, and the ecclesiastical principalities of the Rhine bulked largely in German history. Prussia first set foot on the Rhine in 1609 by the occupation of the Duchy of Cleves and about a century later Upper Guelders and Moers also became Prussian. At the peace of Basel in 1795 the whole of the bank of the Rhine was resigned to France. In 1920, the districts of Eupen and Malmedy were transferred to Belgium, around 1 AD there were numerous incursions through Westphalia and perhaps even some permanent Roman or Romanized settlements. The Battle of Teutoburg Forest took place near Osnabrück and some of the Germanic tribes who fought at this came from the area of Westphalia. Charlemagne is thought to have spent considerable time in Paderborn and nearby parts and his Saxon Wars also partly took place in what is thought of as Westphalia today. Popular legends link his adversary Widukind to places near Detmold, Bielefeld, Lemgo, Osnabrück, Widukind was buried in Enger, which is also a subject of a legend. Along with Eastphalia and Engern, Westphalia was originally a district of the Duchy of Saxony, in 1180 Westphalia was elevated to the rank of a duchy by Emperor Barbarossa. The Duchy of Westphalia comprised only an area south of the Lippe River. Parts of Westphalia came under Brandenburg-Prussian control during the 17th and 18th centuries, the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, signed in Münster and Osnabrück, ended the Thirty Years War
10.
West Germany
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West Germany is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation on 23 May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990. During this Cold War era, NATO-aligned West Germany and Warsaw Pact-aligned East Germany were divided by the Inner German border, after 1961 West Berlin was physically separated from East Berlin as well as from East Germany by the Berlin Wall. This situation ended when East Germany was dissolved and its five states joined the ten states of the Federal Republic of Germany along with the reunified city-state of Berlin. With the reunification of West and East Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany, enlarged now to sixteen states and this period is referred to as the Bonn Republic by historians, alluding to the interwar Weimar Republic and the post-reunification Berlin Republic. The Federal Republic of Germany was established from eleven states formed in the three Allied Zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom and France, US and British forces remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Its population grew from roughly 51 million in 1950 to more than 63 million in 1990, the city of Bonn was its de facto capital city. The fourth Allied occupation zone was held by the Soviet Union, as a result, West Germany had a territory about half the size of the interbellum democratic Weimar Republic. At the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided among the Western and Eastern blocs, Germany was de facto divided into two countries and two special territories, the Saarland and divided Berlin. The Federal Republic of Germany claimed a mandate for all of Germany. It took the line that the GDR was an illegally constituted puppet state, though the GDR did hold regular elections, these were not free and fair. For all practical purposes the GDR was a Soviet puppet state, from the West German perspective the GDR was therefore illegitimate. Three southwestern states of West Germany merged to form Baden-Württemberg in 1952, in addition to the resulting ten states, West Berlin was considered an unofficial de facto 11th state. It recognised the GDR as a de facto government within a single German nation that in turn was represented de jure by the West German state alone. From 1973 onward, East Germany recognised the existence of two German countries de jure, and the West as both de facto and de jure foreign country, the Federal Republic and the GDR agreed that neither of them could speak in the name of the other. The first chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who remained in office until 1963, had worked for an alignment with NATO rather than neutrality. He not only secured a membership in NATO but was also a proponent of agreements that developed into the present-day European Union, when the G6 was established in 1975, there was no question whether the Federal Republic of Germany would be a member as well. With the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, symbolised by the opening of the Berlin Wall, East Germany voted to dissolve itself and accede to the Federal Republic in 1990. Its five post-war states were reconstituted along with the reunited Berlin and they formally joined the Federal Republic on 3 October 1990, raising the number of states from 10 to 16, ending the division of Germany
11.
Christian Democratic Union of Germany
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The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Germany. It is the major party of the centre-right in German politics. The CDU forms the CDU/CSU grouping, also known as the Union, the leader of the CDU, Angela Merkel, is the current Chancellor of Germany. The CDU is a member of the Centrist Democrat International, International Democrat Union, immediately following the collapse of the Nazi dictatorship at the end of World War II, the need for a new political order in Germany was paramount. Simultaneous yet unrelated meetings began occurring throughout Germany, each with the intention of planning a Christian-democratic party, the Christlich-Demokratische Union was established in Berlin on 26 June 1945, and in Rheinland and Westfalen in September of the same year. The founding members of the CDU consisted primarily of members of the Centre Party, German Democratic Party, German National Peoples Party. In the Cold War years, after World War II up to the 1960s, a prominent anti-Nazi member was theologian Eugen Gerstenmaier who became Acting Chairman of the Foreign Board. One of the lessons learned from the failure of the Weimar Republic was that disunity among the parties ultimately allowed for the rise of the Nazi Party. It was therefore crucial to create a party of Christian Democrats – a Christian Democratic Union. The result of meetings was the establishment of an inter-confessional party influenced heavily by the political tradition of liberal conservatism. The latter was more nationalist and sought German reunification, even at the expense of concessions to the Soviet Union, the Western powers appreciated the CDUs moderation, its economic flexibility and its value as an oppositional force to the Communists, which appealed to European voters at the time. Also, Adenauer was trusted by the British, the party was split over issues of rearmament within the Western alliance and German unification as a neutral state. Adenauer staunchly defended his position and outmanoeuvred some of his opponents. He also refused to consider the SPD as a party of the coalition until he felt sure that they shared his anti-Communist position, the CDU was the dominant party for the first two decades following the establishment of West Germany in 1949. Konrad Adenauer remained the leader until 1963, at which point the former minister of economics Ludwig Erhard replaced him. As the Free Democratic Party withdrew from the coalition in 1966 due to disagreements over fiscal and economic policy. Consequently, a coalition with the SPD took over government under CDU Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger. The CDU continued its role as opposition until 1982, when the FDP’s withdrawal from the coalition with the SPD allowed the CDU to regain power, CDU Chairman Helmut Kohl became the new Chancellor of West Germany and his CDU-FDP coalition was confirmed in the 1983 federal election
12.
Weimar Republic
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Weimar Republic is an unofficial, historical designation for the German state between 1919 and 1933. The name derives from the city of Weimar, where its constitutional assembly first took place, the official name of the state was still Deutsches Reich, it had remained unchanged since 1871. In English the country was known simply as Germany. A national assembly was convened in Weimar, where a new constitution for the Deutsches Reich was written, in its fourteen years, the Weimar Republic faced numerous problems, including hyperinflation, political extremism, and contentious relationships with the victors of the First World War. The people of Germany blamed the Weimar Republic rather than their leaders for the countrys defeat. However, the Weimar Republic government successfully reformed the currency, unified tax policies, Weimar Germany eliminated most of the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles, it never completely met its disarmament requirements, and eventually paid only a small portion of the war reparations. Under the Locarno Treaties, Germany accepted the borders of the republic. From 1930 onwards President Hindenburg used emergency powers to back Chancellors Heinrich Brüning, Franz von Papen, the Great Depression, exacerbated by Brünings policy of deflation, led to a surge in unemployment. In 1933, Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor with the Nazi Party being part of a coalition government, the Nazis held two out of the remaining ten cabinet seats. Von Papen as Vice Chancellor was intended to be the éminence grise who would keep Hitler under control, within months the Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act of 1933 had brought about a state of emergency, it wiped out constitutional governance and civil liberties. Hitlers seizure of power was permissive of government by decree without legislative participation and these events brought the republic to an end, as democracy collapsed, a single-party state founded the Nazi era. The Weimar Republic is so called because the assembly that adopted its constitution met at Weimar, Germany from 6 February 1919 to 11 August 1919, but this name only became mainstream after 1933. To the right of the spectrum the politically engaged rejected the new democratic model, the Catholic Centre party, Zentrum favoured the term Deutscher Volksstaat while on the moderate left the Chancellors SPD preferred Deutsche Republik. Only during the 1930s did the term become mainstream, both within and outside Germany, after the introduction of the republic, the flag and coat of arms of Germany were officially altered to reflect the political changes. The Weimar Republic retained the Reichsadler, but without the symbols of the former Monarchy and this left the black eagle with one head, facing to the right, with open wings but closed feathers, with a red beak, tongue and claws and white highlighting. If the Reichs Eagle is shown without a frame, the charge and colors as those of the eagle of the Reichs coat of arms are to be used. The patterns kept by the Federal Ministry of the Interior are decisive for the heraldic design, the artistic design may be varied for each special purpose. The achievements and signs of movement were mostly done away with after its downfall
German Empire
Weimar Republic
Nazi Germany
German Army
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West Germany: Former Grand Master of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of West Germany, Special Class[4][5][6]
Cameroon: Grand Cross of the Order of Valour[7]
Ethiopia: Knight Grand Collar of the Order of Solomon[8][9]
France: Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour[10]
Iran: Knight Grand Cordon with Collar of the Order of Pahlavi[11][12]
Philippines: Rajah Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Sikatuna[13][14]
Thailand: Honorary Knight Grand Cordon with Collar of the Order of the Rajamitrabhorn[15]
United Kingdom: Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath[6][16]
