The first free West German Federal elections took place on 14 August 1949. Following the end of World War II in 1945, the country had been divided into four occupation zones: American, British, French and Soviet. Only the people in the Federal Republic of Germany (the three West German zones) participated in the elections. The turnout was 78.5%. Earlier, Bonn had become the provisional capital of the new democratic state. As a territory under Allied supervision, Berlin’s deputies did not get to cast their votes in the elections.
Most West German parties at the time of the 1949 West German Federal elections were committed to democracy. However, they disagreed on the kind of democracy. The Christian Democratic (CDU) leader and former mayor of the city of Cologne, 73-year-old Konrad Adenauer, was party chairman in the British Zone. He wanted a moderate, non-denominational, humanist Christian democracy. The Social Democratic (SPD) leader, Kurt Schumacher, pushed for a left-wing, patriotic party. He strongly opposed the earlier merger of the SPD with the Communist Party (KPD) in the Soviet zone and called Adenauer “Chancellor of the Allies.”
Konrad Adenauer
First President of the Federal Republic of Germany
In the first free West German Federal elections, the Christian Democrats formed a coalition with the Free Democrats (FDP) and the Conservatives (DP). Together, they obtained 31% of the votes. The Social Democrats achieved 29.2%. Therefore, on 15 September 1949, Konrad Adenauer was elected the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. He had made sure that the votes of the predominantly Social Democratic deputies from West Berlin did not count and later stated that he “naturally” had voted for himself. Adenauer held the office until 1963 and was re-elected three times. Schumacher assumed the chair as the minority leader of the SPD, ran for President of West Germany, but was defeated by FDP chairman Theodor Heuss.
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
Tags: first free West German elections, Konrad Adenauer, Kurt Schumacher, Theodor Heuss
