FRANKFURT, Germany — The chancellor who led Germany as it recovered from the destruction of World War II has been named his country’s greatest citizen, beating out such luminaries as Johann Sebastian Bach and Albert Einstein.
Konrad Adenauer, chancellor from 1949 to 1963, won the most votes in a survey conducted by a public television station to name the greatest German of all time.
Placing second was Martin Luther, the theologian who sparked the Protestant Reformation, ZDF television said Friday in announcing the results of its survey.
Karl Marx, a favorite among former East Germans, placed third.
Of more than 3.3 million votes collected over three months, Adenauer received 778,984, Luther 556,298 and Marx 500,442.
Adenauer is credited with pulling postwar Germany out of the ashes and earning it a place on the world stage.
The channel invited Germans to vote by telephone, cell phone text message, Internet and mail to determine the overall winner.
Johann Sebastian Bach and Albert Einstein were among the 10 finalists, along with the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; printing pioneer Johannes Gutenberg, and Hans and Sophie Scholl, siblings who were beheaded by the Nazis in 1943 for opposing Adolf Hitler.
Former West German chancellor Willy Brandt, who promoted detente with Eastern Europe, and Otto von Bismarck, the "Iron Chancellor" who unified the nation, were also among the finalists.
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