Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967). Most Germans know him as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, an office he held from 1949 until 1963, and/or the mayor of Cologne (1917-1933). But did you know that he invented the Sojawurst (soy sausage) and that a rose is named after him?
Here are some things you (probably) didn’t know about Konrad Adenauer.
Honors
🎓Adenauer received 23 honorary doctorates from universities in Germany and abroad. Most notably from all colleges of the University of Cologne which he helped rebuild after WWI. Other universities include Georgetown, Ottawa, Yale, Harvard, Berkeley, University of Tehran, and two universities in Tokyo.
🎖He received the Order of Merit of Germany, and many Grand Crosses worldwide, from Austria to Italy, from Chile to Thailand, from Iran to Senegal.
⛪️ Adenauer is the only person other than Antonio Segni to receive the two Papal Orders: Supreme Order of Christ (1963) and the Order of the Golden Spur (1955).
⚔️ He also received several Knight Grand Crosses and was an Honorary Knight of the Teutonic Order.
Humor
Adenauer didn’t only receive honorary doctorate but also the Orden wider den tierischen Ernst (Order Combating Deadly Seriousness). The order is awarded by the Aachen Carnival Association to national and international public figures who show humor and humanity in their office. Adenauer was honored in 1959 for his skill to express complicated matters in a simple, understandable way.
Rose
🌹 A rose is named after him at the Internationale Gartenbauausstellung (garden festival/exhibition) in 1953. It was bred by Rosen Tantau and Adenauer had picked it.
Autobahn
🚗 In 1932, Konrad Adenauer as the mayor of Cologne opened the first Autobahn. The “A 555” was 18.5 kilometers long and connected Cologne and Bonn. It had four lanes, was 12 meters wide and had no median barrier. Technically, it wasn’t the first Autobahn in Germany, that was the “AVUS” in Berlin.
Mercedes
The Mercedes-Benz W 186 is also known as Mercedes-Benz 300. When Adenauer decided this was going to be his official car, people started calling the Mercedes 300 Adenauer-Mercedes or simply Adenauer.
The first Adenauer from 1951 is located in the “Haus der Geschichte” in Bonn, while his last one is in the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.
German-French Friendship
🇩🇪🇫🇷 German-French Day is celebrated on January 22 to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Élysée by Konrad Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle on January 22, 1963.
The monument below was made by artist Chantal de la Chauvinière-Riant for the 40th anniversary of the Friendship Treaty. The memorial is located in Tiergartenstraße 35 in Berlin.
Inventions
🌭 In 1916, during WWI and a meat shortage, Adenauer invented the Sojawurst (soja/soy sausage), also called Kölner Wurst or Adenauer-Wurst. He received a patent for it in the UK, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Austria, but not Germany.
His Kölner Wurst or “Cologne sausage” used soya, flour, corn, barley, and ground rice and was infamously bland. The meat substitutes available today have made big gains in texture and taste but rely on many of the same ingredients from Adenauer’s original recipe.
🍞 He patented a process of producing a whole meal bread that is similar to the rye dark bread from the Rhineland. It was also called Kölner Brot or Adenauer-Brot. You can still buy and eat a refined version of this bread.
As you can see from the receipt the Adenauerbrot bought in Rhöndorf am Rhein uses no rye but corn, barley, bran, wheat, and sourdough.
Man of the Year
📰 Time Magazine named Adenauer “Man of the Year” in 1953.
