May 2009 sees the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Basic Law (Constitution) of the Federal Republic of Germany. To mark this occasion, the Foundation is publishing two keynote speeches which Theodor Heuss delivered before the Parliamentary Council. His opening speech on 9th September 1948 and his final speech on 8th May 1949 are key markers for his active commitment to the work of this constituent assembly. An essay by Prof. Jutta Limbach, former President of the Federal Constitutional Court, completes the volume.

Theodor Heuss is one of the most significant founders of German politics' new political beginning in Germany. As a liberal party politician and leader of the WA1/4rttemberg-Baden "Kultministerium" (ministry of culture) he gained respect in all four occupied zones. He faced his most important task during 1948/49 in the Parlamentarischer Rat (parliamentary council), where he made an essential contribution to the creation of the constitution. Both as a journalist and an "educator for democracy," Heuss advocated a moral reformation and the ruthless examination of crimes committed by the German people under the National Socialist regime.