Friday March 15th

How successful was Adenauer as chancellor of Germany?

THE DER SPIEGEL SCANDAL
The Der Spiegel scandal of 1962 involved the weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel and the West German
government. In early October, Der Spiegel published an article that included details about the
performance of West Germany’s defence forces during a recent North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) exercise and a NATO commander’s assessment that found the West German forces to be only
partially ready to defend the country. The article drew anger from some quarters, particularly from
Defence Minister Franz Josef Strauss (who was later forced to resign over his actions) and others in the
Defence Ministry, and actions against the magazine and its staff were quietly pursued. A federal judge
approved search and arrest warrants for Der Spiegel materials and staff based on allegations that the
magazine had committed high treason by publishing details that a hastily compiled Defense Ministry
document claimed were state secrets. On the evening of October 26, federal police detained a Der
Spiegel employee who they mistakenly thought was the magazine’s publisher, Rudolf Augstein, the
subject of one of the arrest warrants. When the error was realized and the employee was released,
officials feared that Augstein would be tipped off to their investigation and that evidence might be
destroyed. Der Spiegel’s offices were raided later that night and were then occupied for a month; some
Der Spiegel employees also had their homes searched. The scandal marked the first time that the post-
World War II West German government acted in such an extreme manner against the press. The incident
elicited a strong show of support for Der Spiegel from domestic and international media as well as the
public, who were galvanized to demonstrate against the government’s actions.

THE DECLINE OF ADENAUER

Although the repercussions of the Der Spiegel affair are usually seen as the major factor in the decline
of Adenauer and his subsequent resignation as chancellor, his decline had begun before then. Although
he was a master of political judgement, he did make a political error in 1959 when, with elections due
for the presidency of the Republic, he announced his intention to run and then withdrew. Initially, he
had seen it as an opportunity to prolong his influence after he stopped being chancellor and also to
prevent an SPD nominee from winning, but his indecision damaged both his image and his reputation.
His reputation suffered further in 1961 over his handling of the Berlin Wall. It was Willy Brandt, the
SPD mayor of West Berlin, who offered the strong response on behalf of freedom and democray, rather
than Adenauer. Not only did Adenauer fail to intervene, but also he virtually ignored the crisis,
postponing a visit for two days while he carried out other routine engagements. Such was the impact on
his reputation that when he did finally go to West Berlin he was greeted with jeers. When President
Kennedy visited West Germany in 1963, Brandt, rather than Adenauer, was again placed at the centre
of German affairs.
However, it was Adenauer’s treatment of the press and his handling of the Der Spiegel crisis in late
1962 and the issues it raised that was the final cause of his demise. The magazine published an article
that was critical of the readiness of West German defence forces. The defence minister misled the
Bundestag in response to questions on this issue. Matters were made worse when the government
appeared to try to silence the magazine by raiding its offices and arresting some of its journalists. A
public outcry followed, less because of the defence policy, but because it appeared as if the government
was acting like a dictatorship and attempting to silence the press. As a result, Adenauer resigned the
following year.
Despite the ignominious ending to his chancellorship, his fourteen years in office were largely
successful. He was able to establish a stable democracy and preside over a period of sustained economic
growth and rising standards of living, all of which had eluded the Weimar Republic. West Germany
had been integrated into Western Europe more fully than in the period after the First World War, despite
the horrors of the Second World War. More than being integrated, it was taken back as an equal.
However, there were clouds on the horizon, which would soon follow his fall. Social tensions were
resurfacing and facing questions of collusion with Nazism began to resurface. Trials for war crimes,
reminding Germany of the horrors of the Nazi period, seemed to show that Adenauer had been too quick
to try to forget the Nazi past and look to the future.