Asset Publisher

Populism

Contours, driving forces and dangers of a multifaceted political phenomenon

Prof Uwe Backes attributes the growing success of populist parties to the declining integrative power of moderate political forces and a lack of thematic representation.
learn more
Event report

Hi Ai - the AI congress for everyone

On March 20, 2024, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation invited guests from science, business, politics and culture to a one-day AI conference.
learn more
75 Jahre Bundesrepublik

"Soziale Marktwirtschaft muss es heißen"

Alfred Müller-Armacks Plädoyer für das Zusammendenken von Wirtschaft, Kultur und Gesellschaft ist auch heute noch aktuell.
learn more
9th issue of Zeitgeschichte AKTUELL: "The myth of victory"

History as a weapon: Russia's history policy since 2000

10 years after the annexation of Crimea and two years after the start of the war against Ukraine, a look at the Russian view of history can help us to understand the present.
learn more
Europäische Integration

Konstituierende Sitzung des Europäischen Parlaments

Bei ihrer ersten Sitzung am 19. März 1958 bestand die Europäische Parlamentarische Versammlung zunächst aus 142 Gesandten ihrer Länder, die kaum Mitwirkungsmöglichkeiten hatten.
learn more
Essay on Auschwitz and SS family life

The Zone of Interest: On the coexistence of crime and "normality"

The film shows the "normal" family life of the perpetrators right next to the camp. Sybille Steinbacher explains on GESCHICHTSBEWUSST why this "normality" promoted the murders.
learn more

Asset Publisher

Lesesaal des Archivs für Christlich-Demokratische Politik

Der Lesesaal ist geöffnet. Öffnungszeiten und weitere Hinweise können Sie der Benutzerinformation entnehmen.
Show details

Asset Publisher

Asset Publisher

Welcome

Archive of Christian-Democratic Policy (ACDP)

 

The ACDP collects, catalogs, and preserves archival material pertaining to Christian Democracy. Its focus lies on providing a high degree of accessibility to users. The archive’s tasks further entail conducting scholarly research as well as publishing pertaining results - both in print and online. In doing so it is also significantly contributing to academic discourse. The ACDP consists of five departments: the Records Archive, the Press Archive, the Media Archive, Publications/Library, and Contemporary History which together form the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s dedicated competence center for deepening and furthering historical and political awareness. In order to meet this aim the ACDP additionally organizes numerous exhibitions and conferences.

 

Flyer "about us"

 

The Records Archive

 

comprises written records which total over 17,000 meters of files. They focus on

  • the CDU, its committees, and its organizations on local, state, and federal levels,
  • the CDU/CSU parliamentary group of the Bundestag and the respective CDU parliamentary groups of the Landtage as well as in municipal councils,
  • personal papers of the CDU’s leading representatives,
  • the CDUD in the former Soviet Occupation Zone / German Democratic Republic
  • the European and international confederations of Christian Democratic parties,
  • the records of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

The Media Archive


comprises the photographic collection which contains approximately 300,000 negatives and prints focusing on

  • portraits of the CDU’s representatives,
  • the CDU’s conventions and congresses,
  • events organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation,
  • important historical events, the audiovisual collection which contains
  • more than 1,400 films,
  • more than 12,000 audio recordings,
  • historically important television and radio programs broadcast in the past three decades, and the poster collection which contains more than 22,000 objects, making it one of Germany’s prime repositories for political campaign posters.

The Press Archive

is responsible for providing a comprehensive view on current events in Germany and worldwide as well as for tracing the respective positions different newspapers assume when covering them. Its focus lies on

  • the evolution of political parties,
  • elections on local, state, federal, and European levels,
  • domestic, social, and economic policies, education, arts, sciences, and culture, churches and religious organizations, trade unions and pressure groups,
  • foreign and European policies.

For over three decades the Press Archive has been collecting and analyzing more than 40 daily and weekly newspapers, political magazines, and press releases published by parties and organizations. Articles published after 1993 can be easily searched for in the Press Archive’s data base.

 

The Digital Archive

is responsible for mirroring and thus permanently preserving websites of the CDU and its representatives. To secure this distinct category of historical testimonies for the future, the newly created software tool “Offline Web Archive” is being applied.

 

The Internet Portals

  • History of the CDU (cdu-geschichte.de),
  • Konrad Adenauer 1876–1967 (konrad-adenauer.de),
  • Helmut Kohl (helmut-kohl.kas.de)

offer extensive biographical data, background information, and interactive timelines and calendars outlining important Christian Democratic figures and historical events. They also contain a substantial and diverse selection of digitized primary sources (speeches, protocols, schedules, audio files, and videos).

 

Exhibitions

focusing on single aspects or time periods of the Christian Democratic movement make history vivid and tangible.

 

Scientific Publications

are being regularly released in two book series:

  • The “Historisch-Politische Mitteilungen”, an academic journal published once a year, providing essays and contributions to historical aspects of Christian Democracy and the history of the CDU,
  • “Forschungen und Quellen zur Zeitgeschichte”, whose more than 60 volumes contain monographic studies and scholarly editions of sources (e.g. minutes, diaries, or written records) focusing on the idea of Christian Democracy, the CDU, and biographies of its leading representatives.

The Library

ranks as the most important academic collection of books covering the history of Christian Democracy in Germany and Europe. It focuses especially on publications on the CDU from 1945 until today. More than 180,000 books and 400 current periodicals on politics, history, economy, the law, theology, and culture are available, with an online catalogue allowing for sophisticated queries based on metadata such as biographic indices, subject headings, and keywords. All resources are available in the library’s reading room.

More about us

Asset Publisher

Media library

KAS
Wanderausstellung
Freiheit, Solidarität, Gerechtigkeit - 75 Jahre CDU (2020)
read now
KAS
Wanderausstellung
Deine Stimme für Europa! Die Wahlen zum Europäischen Parlament (2019)
read now
BOK+KAS
Wanderausstellung
Einheit nur in Freiheit – Konrad Adenauer und die deutsche Frage (2017)
read now
KAS
Wanderausstellung
Konrad Adenauer und die Europäische Integration (2013)
read now

Asset Publisher

Current publications

Jahresbericht 2023 Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Key Visual KAS

Annual Report 2023

Insights into the year 2023 of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation

"Der ungewöhnlichste Film über den Holocaust"

Zeithistorische Filmreihe: „The Zone of Interest“ in Kooperation mit Leonine Studios

Kas.de

Johannes Nitsch

Findbuch

„Sozialpolitik ist keine Erfindung der Sozialisten“

20. Treffen des Ideengeschichtlichen Arbeitskreises

Holocaust und Erinnerungskultur in der Ukraine

Entwicklungen und Initiativen seit der Unabhängigkeit

Werbeplakat für den Hartung-Karikaturenband in der Schalterhalle der PSD Bank KAS/Christiane Stahr

Adenauers Spötter und ihre Erben

Bericht über die dreiteilige Veranstaltungsreihe im Herbst 2023

Prof. Töpfer, Prof. Boetius, Prof. Nonn am 13.12.2023 KAS/Marie-Lisa Noltenius

„Meinen Optimismus ziehe ich aus der Geschichte der Menschheit“

Bericht zur Veranstaltung 'Unsere Verantwortung für die Schöpfung' am 13. Dezember 2023 in Berlin.

Konservatismus in Deutschland – Eine tragische Geschichte?

19. Treffen des Ideengeschichtlichen Arbeitskreises

Buchcover „Adenauer-Karikaturen von Wilhelm Hartung“

Adenauer-Karikaturen von Wilhelm Hartung

hrsg. von der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e. V., bearb. von Matthias Krüger

Auf dem Podium saßen Dr. Simon Strauß, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Omid Nouripour MdB und Prof. Dr. Susanne Schröter (v.l.n.r.) KAS/Marie-Lisa Noltenius

„Die Mitte muss sich als Vermittler behaupten“

Podiumsdiskussion über Ursachen für und Wege aus der Polarisierung

Asset Publisher

Asset Publisher