Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany)
Germany Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs | |
---|---|
German: Bundesminister des Auswärtigen | |
Federal Foreign Office | |
Formation | 21 March 1871 |
First holder | Hermann von Thile |
Website | auswärtiges-amt.de |
The Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs (German: Bundesminister des Auswärtigen) is the head of the Federal Foreign Office and a member of the Cabinet of Germany. The current office holder is Annalena Baerbock. Since 1966, the Minister for Foreign Affairs has often also simultaneously held the office of Vice-Chancellor of Germany.
History of the office
The
In 1919, the Weimar Republic elevated the head of the foreign office to the position of Foreign Minister responsible for his department. As governments were now formed by parties entering coalitions with each other, individual ministers also gained independence towards from the chancellor.
After a succession of short-lived ministers, Gustav Stresemann, leader of the small National-liberal German People's Party, held the office of Foreign Minister in successive cabinets from 1923 to his death in 1929. His long term gave stability to Germany's foreign policy and improved the minister's position towards the relatively weak and short-lived chancellors. Stresemann was awarded the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize for his work for reconciliation between Germany and France.[1]
The foreign office remained relatively unaffected by the establishment of the
After
From the 1966 Grand Coalition government of
List of officeholders
German Reich (1871–1945)
- State Secretaries for Foreign Affairs (1871–1919)
Name (Birth–Death) |
Portrait | Term of Office | Chancellor | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
German Empire (1871–1918) | ||||||
Hermann von Thile (1812–1889) |
21 March 1871 | 30 September 1872 | Bismarck | |||
Hermann Ludwig von Balan (1812–1874) |
3 October 1872 | 9 October 1873 | ||||
Bernhard Ernst von Bülow (1815–1879) |
9 October 1873 | 20 October 1879 | ||||
Joseph Maria von Radowitz Jr. (1839–1912) |
6 November 1879 | 17 April 1880 | ||||
Chlodwig Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (1819–1901) |
20 April 1880 | 1 September 1880 | ||||
Friedrich Graf zu Limburg-Stirum (1835–1912) |
1 September 1880 | 25 June 1881 | ||||
Clemens Busch (1834–1895) |
25 June 1881 | 16 July 1881 | ||||
Paul Graf von Hatzfeldt zu Wildenburg (1831–1901) |
16 July 1881 | 24 October 1885 | ||||
Herbert Fürst von Bismarck (1849–1904) |
24 October 1885 | 26 March 1890 | Bismarck von Caprivi | |||
Adolf Freiherr Marschall von Bieberstein (1842–1912) |
31 March 1890 | 19 October 1897 | von Caprivi Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst | |||
Bernhard Graf von Bülow (1849–1929) |
20 October 1897 | 23 October 1900 | Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst von Bülow | |||
Oswald Freiherr von Richthofen (1847–1906) |
23 October 1900 | 17 January 1906 | von Bülow | |||
Heinrich Leonhard von Tschirschky und Bögendorff (1858–1916) |
24 January 1906 | 25 October 1907 | ||||
Wilhelm Freiherr von Schoen (1851–1933) |
26 October 1907 | 27 June 1910 | von Bülow von Bethmann Hollweg | |||
Alfred von Kiderlen-Waechter (1852–1912) |
27 June 1910 | 30 December 1912 | von Bethmann Hollweg | |||
Gottlieb von Jagow (1863–1935) |
11 January 1913 | 22 November 1916 | ||||
Arthur Zimmermann (1864–1940) |
22 November 1916 | 6 August 1917 | von Bethmann Hollweg Michaelis | |||
Richard von Kühlmann (1873–1948) |
6 August 1917 | 9 July 1918 | Michaelis von Hertling (I) | |||
Paul von Hintze (1864–1941) |
9 July 1918 | 3 October 1918 | von Hertling (I) | |||
Wilhelm Solf (1862–1936) |
3 October 1918 | 9 November 1918 | von Baden (I) | |||
Weimar Republic (1918–1919) | ||||||
Wilhelm Solf (1862–1936) |
9 November 1918 | 13 December 1918 | Ebert (Council of the People's Deputies) | |||
Ulrich Graf von Brockdorff-Rantzau (1869–1928) |
13 December 1918 | 13 February 1919 | Ebert (Council of the People's Deputies) |
- Ministers of Foreign Affairs (1919–1945)
Political Party: SPD Zentrum DDP DVP NSDAP
No. | Portrait | Minister of Foreign Affairs | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Party | Cabinet |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Scheidemann | ||||||
2 | Hermann Müller (1876–1931) | 21 June 1919 | 26 March 1920 | 279 days | SPD | Bauer | |
3 | Adolf Köster (1883–1930) | 10 April 1920 | 8 June 1920 | 59 days | SPD | Müller I | |
4 | Walter Simons (1861–1937) | 25 June 1920 | 4 May 1921 | 59 days | Independent | Fehrenbach | |
5 | Friedrich Rosen (1856–1935) | 10 May 1921 | 22 October 1921 | 1 year, 136 days | Independent | Wirth I | |
– | Joseph Wirth (1879–1956) Acting | 26 October 1921 | 31 January 1922 | 97 days | Centre | Wirth II | |
6 | Walther Rathenau (1867–1922) | 1 February 1922 | 24 June 1922 † | 143 days | DDP | Wirth II | |
– | Joseph Wirth (1879–1956) Acting | 24 June 1922 | 14 November 1922 | 143 days | Centre | Wirth II | |
7 | Hans von Rosenberg (1879–1956) | 22 November 1922 | 11 August 1923 | 262 days | Independent | Cuno | |
8 | Gustav Stresemann (1878–1929) | 13 August 1923 | 3 October 1929 † | 6 years, 51 days | DVP | Stresemann I–II Marx I–II Luther I–II Marx III–IV Müller II | |
9 | Julius Curtius (1877–1948) | 4 October 1929 | 9 October 1931 | 2 years, 5 days | DVP | Müller II Brüning I | |
10 | Heinrich Brüning (1885–1970) | 9 October 1931 | 30 May 1932 | 234 days | Centre | Müller II Brüning II | |
11 | |||||||
12 | Joachim von Ribbentrop (1893–1946) | 4 February 1938 | 30 April 1945 | 7 years, 85 days | NSDAP | Hitler | |
13 | Arthur Seyss-Inquart (1892–1946) | 30 April 1945 | 2 May 1945 | 2 days | NSDAP | Goebbels | |
14 | Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk (1887–1977) | 2 May 1945 | 23 May 1945 | 21 days | NSDAP | Schwerin von Krosigk |
German Democratic Republic (1949–1990)
- Ministers of Foreign Affairs
Political Party: CDU SED NDPD SPD
No. | Portrait | Minister of Foreign Affairs | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Party | Chairman |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Georg Dertinger (1902–1968) | 12 October 1949 | 15 January 1953 | 3 years, 3 months | CDU | Grotewohl | |
2 | Anton Ackermann (1905–1973) | 15 January 1953 | July 1953 | 5 months | SED | Grotewohl | |
3 | Lothar Bolz (1903–1986) | July 1953 | 24 June 1965 | 11 years, 11 months | NDPD | Grotewohl Stoph | |
4 | Otto Winzer (1902–1975) | 24 June 1965 | 20 January 1975 | 9 years, 6 months | SED | Stoph Sindermann | |
5 | Oskar Fischer (1923–2020) | 3 March 1975 | 12 April 1990 | 15 years, 1 month | SED | Sindermann Stoph Modrow | |
6 | Markus Meckel (born 1952) | 12 April 1990 | 20 August 1990 | 4 months | SPD | de Maizière | |
7 | Lothar de Maizière (born 1940) | 20 August 1990 | 2 October 1990 | 1 month | CDU | de Maizière |
Federal Republic of Germany (1949–present)
- Ministers of Foreign Affairs, since 1951
Political Party:
CDU
SPD
FDP
No. | Portrait | Minister of Foreign Affairs | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Party | Cabinet |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967) | 15 March 1951 | 6 June 1955 | 4 years, 83 days | CDU | Adenauer I–II | |
2 | Heinrich von Brentano (1904–1964) | 6 June 1955 | 30 October 1961 | 6 years, 146 days | CDU | Adenauer II–III | |
3 | |||||||
4 | Willy Brandt (1913–1992) | 1 December 1966 | 20 October 1969 | 2 years, 323 days | SPD | Kiesinger | |
5 | Walter Scheel (1919–2016) | 21 October 1969 | 15 May 1974 | 4 years, 206 days | FDP | Brandt I–II | |
6 | Hans-Dietrich Genscher (1927–2016) | 17 May 1974 | 17 September 1982 | 8 years, 123 days | FDP | Schmidt I–II–III | |
7 | Helmut Schmidt (1918–2015) | 17 September 1982 | 1 October 1982 | 17 days | SPD | Schmidt III | |
8 (6) | Hans-Dietrich Genscher (1927–2016) | 1 October 1982 | 17 May 1992 | 9 years, 226 days | FDP | Kohl I–II–III–IV | |
9 | Klaus Kinkel (1936–2019) | 18 May 1992 | 26 October 1998 | 6 years, 161 days | FDP | Kohl IV–V | |
10 | Schröder I–II | ||||||
11 | Frank-Walter Steinmeier (born 1956) | 22 November 2005 | 28 October 2009 | 3 years, 340 days | SPD | Merkel I | |
12 | Guido Westerwelle (1961–2016) | 28 October 2009 | 17 December 2013 | 4 years, 50 days | FDP | Merkel II | |
13 (11) | Frank-Walter Steinmeier (born 1956) | 17 December 2013 | 27 January 2017 | 3 years, 41 days | SPD | Merkel III | |
14 | Sigmar Gabriel (born 1959) | 27 January 2017 | 14 March 2018 | 1 year, 46 days | SPD | Merkel III | |
15 | Heiko Maas (born 1966) | 14 March 2018 | 8 December 2021 | 3 years, 269 days | SPD | Merkel IV | |
16 | Scholz |
References
- ^ Wright, Jonathan, Gustav Stresemann: Weimar's Greatest Statesman (2002)
- ^ "Federal Foreign OfficeThe History". www.auswaertiges-amt.de. Archived from the original on 16 June 2006.