On Wednesday, the German press agency dpa reported that the villa had been sold. The villa, which fell into disrepair after construction was halted, was rumored to have included a bomb shelter in the basement and a helicopter landing pad on the roof, though architect Roland Thelen, who has researched the history of the project and has blueprints of it, says that was not the case. Local media reported that "the expensive gift smelled too much of corruption for the old man." When the project's lead architect confessed that the villa was not for Spennrath but in fact meant as a gift to Adenauer, the project was stopped in early 1956, despite being well underway. Adenauer's son Konrad was employed by AEG after completing university.įurther complicating the matter was the fact that Adenauer's son-in-law was among the architects hired to build the villa. When Spennrath applied for a building permit on Jit was granted just 12 days later - he was the president of Germany's Chamber of Industry and Commerce as well as the chairman of the board of directors at the German electricity giant AEG. Read more: West Germany's first chancellor and more: Who was Konrad Adenauer? The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) is a political foundation based in Germany, acting as a think-tank and consulting agency. He was likely eager to avoid negative press and the label of being a "servant of industry barons."
The 600-square-meter (6,500-square-foot) villa, nestled on a 2,000 square meter parcel in North Rhine-Westphalia's picturesque Eifel region, was never finished after Adenauer got wind of the project and refused to accept it as a gift from his close friend, business magnate Friedrich Spennrath.Īlthough it was never proven for certain, it is thought that Adenauer stepped away from the project when media reports surfaced pointing to the cozy relationship the politician had with Spennrath. Thurner said that the purchaser had paid an amount slightly higher than the last bid published on eBay, which was €35,000 ($39,850). Although no final sale price has been made public, Ms. Ilse Thurner has sold a never-completed weekend and hunting lodge designed for former West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. Finally, KAS stands up for the harmonization of the traditional system with chiefs and queenmothers and the modern democratic system, closly together with the National House of Chiefs and the NGO Center for Indiginous Knowledge and Organizational.After inheriting a piece of postwar German history last year, L. Moreover, the foundation works together with political parties about their organizational structures and contents in order to foster multiparty democracy. KAS does not only cooperates with the Catholic Church of Ghana in Civic Education, matters of Justice and Peace or the observation of election (in this year but also in former elections), but is eager to improve the politico- economic frame conditions in cooperation with the Guta Union of Traders Association and Private Enterprise Federation respecting principles of social market economy. The profile has changed over the years towards civic education, but as well political and politico-economic support on the base of Christian- democratic values which are represented by KAS worldwide. The first partner organization was the so called Christian Mothers Association which still is closely connected to KAS. The work of the foundation in Ghana started in 1966 particularly in the areas of agriculture, health and education. The Konrad Adenauer-Foundation feels committed to freedom, justice and solidarity. Source and point of reference is the Christian understanding that human beings are created by God with equality, difference and imperfection. The foundation advocates peace, freedom and justice through civic and political education. Since 1964 it is named after the first, Christian- democratic chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Konrad Adenauer. Konrad Adenauer – Foundation (KAS) was founded in 1955.