From about the 1890's on, the German Social Democratic Party was consistently the largest and strongest political party. However, post WW2 the Christian Democrats have generally been on top, with the Social Democrats taking until 1969 to get into office. Was it just the residue of Adenauer, or was there something deeper?
One large factor was the decimation of the social democratic organisation under the Nazi regime. All political parties other than the Nazi party were banned and many social democratic leaders were sent to concentration camps for years, and generally excluded from government. Whilst conservative parties were also dissolved, many of them found places in the government (although Adenauer was imprisoned for parts of the regime), or at least survived the war.
Furthermore, many more conservatives than social democrats (who were under a cloud due to the rise of the cold war) were included in post war administrative posts under the British and american occupation authorities (which is where Adenauer got his start).
A social democratic core region prussia was lost to the GDR. Regions like the Ruhr were more conservative due immigration from polish speaking people in the 19th century.