Konrad Adam

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Konrad Adam (2015)

Konrad Adam (born March 1, 1942 in Wuppertal ) is a German journalist , publicist and politician ( AfD ). From 1979 to 2000 he was the features editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) and then until 2007 chief correspondent and columnist for the daily newspaper Die Welt in Berlin. From April 2013 to July 2015 he was one of three federal spokesmen (federal chairmen) of the Alternative for Germany . From 2015 to 2017 he was the founding chairman of the party-affiliated Desiderius Erasmus Foundation and was appointed honorary chairman for life in 2018.

Life

Family and education

Konrad Adam was born in Wuppertal in 1942 as the son of a doctorate in law and senior railway official Friedrich Adam and his wife. During the war, his father was an Oberreichsbahnrat at the railway administration established by the German Empire in the General Government in Krakow and was one of the late-joining members of the George Circle . After the war, together with the poet Robert Boehringer, he became an important contact maintainer at the center of the scattered group.

At his father's request, Konrad Adam first attended the private seminars of the philosopher Kurt Hildebrandt , also a George student, but which he soon avoided because of the compromised society. According to Adam, the "ruthless attitude" cultivated by the George Circle members and his father also clouded the relationship to the same.

After graduating from high school in the 1960s, he studied classical philology , history and law at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen , the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich and the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel . After the state examination in 1971, he received his doctoral thesis Docere - delectare - movere at the Philosophical Faculty in Kiel . On the poetic and rhetorical theory about the tasks and effects of the literature on Dr. phil. PhD .

Konrad Adam is married to the philologist Hella Adam and has three children.

Journalistic and journalistic activity

Instead of taking up the teaching profession, Adam became an editor at the German Press Agency (dpa) in Kiel and Hamburg after completing his studies . From 1979 to 2000 he was a member of the feature section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). Adam then went to Berlin for almost seven years as the chief political correspondent for the daily newspaper Die Welt . His weekly column in the so-called forum of the political section of the newspaper was best known . At the end of March 2007, Adam said goodbye to retire. Since then he has been writing more and more in the features section of his former employer, the FAZ . In the academic year 1995/1996 Adam was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin .

Adam published in political papers (including Die Politische Demokratie ) as well as in science ( Forum Classicum ) and cultural magazines such as Merkur. German magazine for European thinking and Neue Rundschau .

Political activity

Konrad Adam, Frauke Petry and Bernd Lucke at the founding party conference of the AfD 2013 in Berlin

Adam was initially a member of the CDU and belonged there to the conservative Berlin circle . He was a founding member of the Euro-critical election alternative in 2013 and in 2013 became one of the three founding spokesmen of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party that emerged from it . In March 2015 he was elected Chairman of the Board of the newly established party-affiliated Desiderius Erasmus Foundation . In July 2015, he resigned from the AfD's spokesperson position, as only two federal spokesmen were elected. He applied for an advisory board position, but received only 25.4 percent of the vote. In April 2017, Adam was voted out again at a member assembly of the Erasmus Foundation because he was also active in the competing Immanuel Kant Foundation (actually Immanuel Kant Association ). However, he is still honorary chairman of the Erasmus Foundation Brandenburg, which is only active regionally .

In December 2015 Adam was punished with a warning by the AfD district association Hochtaunus because of a public warning of another shift to the right of his party. Repeated public criticism threatened “further regulatory measures”.

The political scientists Gudrun Hentges and David Bebnowski locate him in the national-conservative party wing.

Positions

In the 2001 essay The Powerless Parliament , Adam comes to the conclusion that experts from business, science and the media are increasingly questioning the power of parliamentary and judicial power, and cites the decision-making on the Transrapid and university funding as examples. The essay was picked up several times, for example by Norbert Lammert , who denied Adam's theses.

His numerous books deal mainly with German domestic politics , especially educational policy . With Die Republik thanks ab (1998) the conservative and “astute analyst” Adam, according to the journalist Rolf Lamprecht , wrote an intellectually demanding, Europe-critical - sometimes liberal - work that can not be classified in the conventional left-right scheme . In the book Die deutsche Bildungsmisere (2002) he deals with the results of the PISA study and calls for a return to the classic educational ideal , which was taken up in the feature sections of national daily newspapers and received mixed echoes. The literary reviewer of the Süddeutsche Zeitung Johan Schloemann accused him in 2006 of wanting to revive Werner Jaeger's Third Humanism with his work The Ancient Greeks .

Adam makes the welfare state jointly responsible for the falling birth rate and the increase in the number of welfare recipients in Germany.

In a world column in 2006, Adam commented on a proposal by Friedrich August von Hayek , taken up by André Lichtschlag , to withdraw the right to vote for those groups that receive the majority of their income from the state (civil servants, politicians, unemployed and pensioners). According to Adam, in view of the difficulties faced by German politics in breaking free from the fixation on unproductive budget items such as pensions, care, debt servicing and unemployment, one can with some right to doubt whether the introduction of universal suffrage was a step forward. Individual media then addressed Adam's thoughts with a view to the member profile of the AfD.

According to Zeit journalist Christian Bangel, the calls of the Pegida demonstrators and AfD supporters could already be read ten years ago in Adam's comments. Before the attacks of September 11, 2001 , Adam expressed himself with aloof skepticism about Islam. Since then, his language has become sharper. For example, there is an “aggressive special awareness” among Muslims. Adam blames the integration policy of the “ multiculturalists ” in particular for this development . He criticized a milieu that enforces its own ideas through politically correct thinking and speaking and creates a climate in which extremism on both sides flourishes.

Awards

Publications (selection)

Monographs

  • Docere, delectare, movere. On the poetic and rhetorical theory of the tasks and effects of literature. Dissertation, University of Kiel, 1971.
  • Parents are responsible for children. The family as a victim of the affluent society. Quadriga (Beltz Verlag), Weinheim u. a. 1996, ISBN 3-88679-275-7 .
  • The republic abdicates. The Germans before the European temptation. Alexander Fest, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-8286-0037-9 .
  • Make state. Why the new center isn't and we need the old center . Siedler, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-88680-679-0 .
  • The impotence of power. How to exploit, cheat and gamble the state . Siedler, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-88680-545-X .
  • The German educational misery. Pisa and the consequences. Propylaea, Berlin a. a. 2002, ISBN 3-549-07166-3 (paperback edition as Ullstein 36500, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-548-36500-0 ).
  • The ancient Greeks (= books for the next generation ). Rowohlt, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-87134-553-9 (paperback edition as Rororo 62174, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-499-62174-1 ).
  • The short dream of eternal life. A society without a future. Manuscriptum (Landt Verlag), Waltrop u. a. 2009, ISBN 978-3-937801-55-1 .
  • Fight against nature. The dangerous wrong path of science. Rowohlt, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-87134-730-6 .

Editing

  • Creativity and achievement. Paths and wrong ways of self-realization. Lectures and contributions to discussions (= publications by the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Foundation , Volume 20). JP Bachem, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-7616-0831-4 .
  • Educational gaps. Neske, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-7885-0521-4 .
  • The AfD and the climate issue . Hess, Bad Schussenried 2019, ISBN 978-3-87336-654-1 .

Contributions to edited volumes

  • There are also mountains in the plains - or: why educate the elite? In: Heinz Bude , Stephan Schleissing (ed.): Young Elites. Self-employment as a profession. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-17-015103-7 , p. 61 ff.
  • Cartels are prohibited. In: Manfred Bissinger , Dietmar Kuhnt , Dieter Schweer (eds.): Consensus or conflict? How Germany should be governed (= Campe-Paperback ). Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-455-10393-6 , p. 11 ff.
  • Simplicity or cultural diversity? In: Walter-Raymond-Stiftung (Ed.): Politics and economy under the sign of globalization. Dresden, March 14-16, 1999 (= publications by the Walter Raymond Foundation of the BDA. Volume 39). Wirtschaftsverlag Bachem, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-89172-424-1 , p. 7 ff.
  • Limited resources, unlimited desires: Why healthcare reform isn't - and how it could become one. In: Friedrich Merz (Ed.): Health as a growth engine. The future of our healthcare system (= Edition DWC ). Hanser, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-446-41456-3 , p. 99 ff.

conversations

Audio books

literature

  • Helmut Glück (Ed.): Konrad Adam. About guilt, shame and shame (= yearbook of the Henning Kaufmann Foundation for the maintenance of the purity of the German language , 2009). On behalf of the Henning Kaufmann Foundation, IFB Verlag Deutsche Sprache, Paderborn 2010, ISBN 978-3-931263-91-1 .
  • Klaus Kempter : Comments on the recent debate on education and canon. A literature review . In: Klaus Kempter, Peter Meusburger (Hrsg.): Education and knowledge society . Springer, Berlin a. a. 2006, ISBN 3-540-29516-X , pp. 1-32. (therein: III: Konrad Adam against PISA disease: Konrad Adam and the return to Humboldt . p. 6 ff.)

Web links

Commons : Konrad Adam  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Konrad Adam  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Right-wing populist Lucke-Kritiker becomes head of the new AfD foundation The AfD sets up a political foundation - and names it after a great European of all people. She is supposed to lead Konrad Adam, one of the three party spokesmen and critic of party leader Lucke. Der Spiegel March 23, 2015
  2. ↑ a b Ulrich Raulff : Circle without a master. Stefan George's afterlife. 2nd Edition. CH Beck, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-59225-6 , p. 496 .
  3. ↑ Ulrich Raulff: Circle without a master. Stefan George's afterlife. 2nd Edition. CH Beck, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-59225-6 , p. 376 and more often.
  4. ↑ a b Ulrich Raulff: Circle without a master. Stefan George's afterlife. 2nd Edition. CH Beck, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-59225-6 , p. 381 .
  5. ↑ Interview with Konrad Adam at anbruch.info , July 20, 2019, accessed on December 5, 2019.
  6. ^ Presentation of Konrad Adams at the Berliner Morgenpost ( memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), archived on September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive
  7. ^ Fellows , Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, accessed on March 26, 2014.
  8. ↑ Among the founders are among others ( Memento of October 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). Section on the start page of the 2013 alternative , accessed on October 7, 2012.
  9. ↑ Joachim Jahn : Uprising against Merkel's "no alternative policy". In: FAZ.NET . April 14, 2013, accessed April 18, 2013 .
  10. ^ Co-founder of the Alternative für Deutschland: "The Euro turns peoples against each other" . In: Spiegel Online , April 13, 2013
  11. ^ "AfD establishes party-affiliated Erasmus Foundation" ( Memento from December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), AfD website from March 23, 2015, accessed on November 27, 2015
  12. ↑ “AfD Foundation starts with financial problems” , spiegel.de of March 27, 2015, accessed on November 27, 2015
  13. ↑ AfD-affiliated foundation deposed Adam as chairman , PANORAMA from April 24, 2017, accessed on July 31, 2017
  14. ↑ http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/streit-um-rechtsruck-der-afd-parteigruender-konrad-adam-hoecke-soll-den-mund-halten/12760178.html
  15. ↑ Gudrun Hentges : "Sarrazin's heirs: Resentments from PEGIDA and AfD can already be found in the ex-Finance Senator". In: ROSALUX. Journal of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation , edition 1/2015, 20 f.
  16. ^ David Bebnowski: The alternative for Germany. Rise and social representation of a right-wing populist party . Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-658-08285-7 , p. 22.
  17. ↑ Konrad Adam: The powerless parliament. Consensus without the common good: Experts, councils, opinion makers circumvent the constitution. In: Die Welt , June 2, 2001.
  18. ^ Speech by President of the Bundestag Dr. Norbert Lammert on the subject of "Neither powerless nor omnipotent: Parliamentary culture in Germany" at the Berlin Social Science Center. In: Bundestag.de , July 9, 2006, accessed April 26, 2013; Norbert Lammert: Relevance and reputation of parliament. The Bundestag. In: Klemens H. Schrenk, Markus Soldner (ed.): Analysis of democratic systems of government. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-531-16309-3 , pp. 257-262 ( preview on Google Books). Also mentioned by Axel Murswieck: The Chancellor's power. On Gerhard Schröder's style of government. In: Christoph Egle, Tobias Ostheim, Reimut Zohlnhöfer (eds.): The red-green project. A balance sheet by the Schröder government 1998–2002. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-531-13791-3 , pp. 117–135, here p. 121 .
  19. ^ Rolf Lamprecht : Adam, Konrad: The republic abdicates. The Germans before the European temptation . In: Journal for legal policy , 33 (2000) 11, p. 491.
  20. ^ Review notes in: Perlentaucher .
  21. ^ Christoph Butterwegge : Crisis and future of the welfare state. 3rd expanded edition. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-531-44848-X , p. 80.
  22. ↑ André Lichtschlag: Revokes the net state profiteers the right to vote! In: Die Welt , June 19, 2006.
  23. ^ Friedrich August von Hayek: The constitution of freedom. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2005, p. 135 .
  24. ↑ Konrad Adam: Who should vote? Column The Power of the Weak. In: Die Welt , October 16, 2006: “The other day a guest author made the suggestion on these pages to withdraw the right to vote from what he calls net state profiteers. [...] All of these groups derive their income wholly or mainly from public coffers and therefore have a very personal interest in making the state that feeds them appear as fat (and not as lean) as possible. […] Against this background, the suggestion to deny the inactive and pension recipients the right to vote sounds more provocative than it actually is. […] Whether the [universal suffrage] was a step forward can be seen in view of the difficulties that German politics have suffered from its inability to free itself from its fixation on unproductive budget items such as pension, care, debt servicing and unemployment some right to doubt. The preponderance of passives paralyzes the active in the long run and destroys the will for the future by harnessing and using up the country's resources to finance the past. "
  25. ↑ You want to be the alternative for Germany. In: Die Zeit , April 18, 2013: "If you talk to him [Axel Leonhardt] about the demand of party spokesman Konrad Adam to deprive unemployed people of the right to vote, he reacts evasively." See also The European : Without Democracy for Democracy. , April 24, 2013: "Spokesman Konrad Adam and Professor Vaubel, who sits on the scientific advisory board, have no problems with talking about the limitation of the right to vote."
  26. ↑ Christian Bangel: The man who came from the lying press. In: Zeit Online , January 5, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Adam, Konrad
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist, publicist and politician (AfD)
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Wuppertal