Minister of Intra-German Relations

The Federal Minister of Intra-German Relations (

The ministry was renamed in 1969 because "All-German" might have evoked irredentist associations. The change of the name was supported by both left- and right-wing politicians.^[citation needed]

The ministry was abolished in 1991 when a new government was established after the federal election of December 1990, some months after German reunification, having supported the transition.

Since West Germany maintained an exclusive mandate for all of Germany, and the legal pretense that the authorities of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) or Soviet occupation zone (SBZ) should not be recognized, it could not handle relations with East Germany through the Federal Foreign Office, since this would acknowledge that the GDR was a separate country. Hence, a separate ministry for relations within Germany had to be created. Since this ministry had very limited competence and virtually no political power, it soon became a post used by chancellors to block rivals without publicly offending them. One of the main tasks of the ministry was the publication of information material about the situation in the East, to keep the idea of German unity alive and to inform the public about actions of the East German government.

When German reunification became a possibility after

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term			Political Party	Government
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
Federal Minister of All-German Affairs
1	CDU	Adenauer I–II
2	CDU	Adenauer III–IV
3	Adenauer V
4		Erich Mende (1916–1998)	17 October 1963	28 October 1966	3 years, 11 days	FDP	Erhard I–II
5	CDU	Erhard II
6	Kiesinger
Federal Minister of Intra-German Relations
7		Egon Franke (1913–1995)	22 October 1969	1 October 1982	12 years, 344 days	SPD	Brandt I–II Schmidt I–II–III
8	CDU	Kohl I
9	CDU	Kohl II
10	CDU	Kohl III

Publications

• BMgF (Hrsg.): SBZ von A-Z, Deutscher Bundes-Verlag, Bonn, 1. bis 10. Aufl., 1953 bis 1966, ca. 500 Seiten.
• BMgF (Hrsg.): Sowjetische Auffassungen zur Deutschlandfrage 1945–1954. Dargestellt nach amtlichen Dokumenten, Deutscher Bundes-Verlag, Bonn, 1954.
• BMgF (Hrsg.): Wer ist wer in der SBZ? Ein biographisches Handbuch, Verlag für Internationalen Kulturaustausch, Berlin, 1958.
• BMgF (Hrsg.): Die Situation der Jugend im kommunistischen Herrschaftssystem der SBZ Deutschlands in Bonner Berichte aus Mittel- und Ostdeutschland, Bonn – Berlin, 1960.
• BMgF (Hrsg.): Die Bemühungen der Bundesrepublik um Wiederherstellung der Einheit Deutschlands durch gesamtdeutsche Wahlen. Dokumente und Akten. I. Teil, Oktober 1949–Oktober 1953, Deutscher Bundes-Verlag, Bonn, 1958.

See also

• Central Registry of State Judicial Administrations, a West German registry to verify East German human rights violations from 1961 until 1992.
• Committee for Reunification / Ministry of Unification, the North / South Korean departments handling similar issues.
• Mainland Affairs Council / Taiwan Affairs Office, the Taiwanese / Mainland Chinese departments handling similar issues.

References