Description
Book SynopsisThe new University of Cologne celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2019. Forty years of that, as a city university, it held a special position in the German university system. Its founding as a university financed by the city of Cologne, its growth during the Weimar Republic and its gradual takeover as a state university by North Rhine-Westphalia in the 1950s and 1960s are largely due to members of the Adenauer family. By looking at events and developments in which Konrad or Max, but also August or Ludwig Adenauer had something to do with the alma mater of their hometown, a story of its own arises that throws new light on both actors. to the Adenauers involved and to Cologne University. The Mayor of Cologne, Konrad Adenauer, gambled when he assured the Prussian government in the revolutionary post-war months of 1918/19 that the higher technical schools in Cologne could be expanded into a university without financial sacrifices from the state. But as in his later life as a politician, Adenauer often demonstrated a flair for the right moment. He received the concession from Berlin and was also able to convince the Cologne city parliament to commit funds for the project in an as yet unknown amount. The university developed into a magnet for students and quickly advanced to become the second largest university in Prussia. However, when in the course of the twenties the willingness of the city parliament to grant the university the funds it needed for its establishment and successful development dwindled, Lord Mayor Adenauer was able to mobilize considerable private funds. When the mayor was chased out of office in 1933, the university also fell to the National Socialist rulers without a fight. After a general break during the Nazi dictatorship, Konrad Adenauer vigorously advocated the reopening in 1945 as Lord Mayor appointed by the victors. In 1953, his son Max took up the post of city director. While his party friends from the CDU held on to a city university for a long time, Max Adenauer soberly realized that it was in the interests of both the city and the university''s competitiveness to break the communal ties. With a revision of the State Treaty of 1919, the University of Cologne became a university of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1960.
