In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the long chancellorship of Konrad Adenauer, West Germany’s first postwar leader. From the narrow vote that brought him to power in 1949 to the economic miracle, Western integration, NATO membership, and the slogan “No Experiments”, they examine how Adenauer helped turn a defeated and divided country into a stable democracy. But they also ask what this success cost: the sidelining of reunification, the compromises made over Germany’s Nazi past, Adenauer’s increasingly authoritarian style, and the scandals that finally brought his era to an end.