Joseph Joos (1878–1965) was a prominent German intellectual and politician. As a Member of Parliament in Weimar, Joseph Joos grew to become one of the leading voices of the Christian Democratic Union in Germany. His convictions led him to become a political prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp from 1941 to 1945. After World War II, Joseph Joos became a close advisor to West Germany's Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. Life Joseph Joos was born on 13 November 1878 in Wintzenheim, near Colmar in Alsace, a region long disputed between France and Germany. At this time, Alsace belonged to Germany, which led Joos to follow the German education cursus. Following high school in Mulhouse and an apprenticeship in carpentry, Joos became the editor of the "Ober-Elsaessischen Landeszeitung", an Alsatian newspaper. As a committed Catholic, Joos got involved with the "Volksverein für das katholische Deutschland" (People Association for a Catholic Germany) in Mönchengladbach. He eventually became the editor of the Westdeutschen Arbeiterzeitung, which relayed the views of the Christian Democratic party. In 1905, he became the editor in chief. During World War I, Joos was a strong advocate of democracy in his editorials. As France took over Alsace following the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, Joos decided to remain involved in German politics and became an outspoken opponent of the then nascent National Socialist movement. When the Nazi Party came to power, Joos' political party came under a lot of pressure and his publications were often censored. In 1938, the Nazi authorities stripped Joos of his German citizenship as Alsatians were not considered reliable citizens in the imminence of a war. In 1940, Joos moved to Köln (Cologne) but was denounced and arrested for helping the French resistance in Alsace. In 1940, he was transferred to prisoner camp in Weissenburg in Bayern, in July 1941 to the Gestapo jail in Nuremberg and subsequently to the concentration camp of Dachau. In April 1945, he was transferred with about 140 other political prisoners to Niederdorf (South Tyrol). He was freed in May 1945. As Alsace was now part of France and since Joos had lost his German citizenship, he was sent back to France. In 1949, Joos moved back to Germany but refused to take the German citizenship. Until 1960, he lived in Fulda. Joos became involved again with the German Christian Democrats. Thanks to his personal background and his credibility with the new German government