Editing Konrad Adenauer (section)

==Later Years and Legacy==
Adenauer retired as chancellor in 1963 at age 87, pressured by CDU colleagues amid declining health and political scandals, including the Spiegel Affair (1962), which exposed authoritarian tendencies. He remained CDU chairman until 1966 and died on April 19, 1967, in Rhöndorf, Germany, at 91. His funeral was attended by global leaders, reflecting his stature.

Adenauer is celebrated as the “Father of the New Germany” for rebuilding West Germany, anchoring it to the West, and fostering European integration. His economic and diplomatic successes—NATO membership, the EEC, and Franco-German reconciliation—are monumental. However, his legacy is complicated by his pragmatic reintegration of former Nazis, including Gehlen’s network, and his covert tactics against the SPD, which critics argue undermined democratic norms. Historians like Norbert Frei note Adenauer’s amnesty policies for Nazis facilitated political consensus but delayed justice, while his reliance on Gehlen’s BND highlights a Cold War-driven moral compromise.