Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany)

Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs
Incumbent Frank-Walter Steinmeier since 17 December 2013
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 Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Since 1966, the Foreign Minister has often also simultaneously held the office of Vice Chancellor.

History of the office

The Foreign Office was established within the North German Confederation in 1870 and its head, first appointed in 1871, had the rank of Secretary of State. As the German constitution of 1871 installed the Chancellor as the sole responsible government minister and since the Chancellor generally also held the position of Foreign Minister of Prussia, the Secretary of State fulfilled a more subject role as an assistant to the Chancellor, acting largely to draft correspondence rather than to actually direct the formation of foreign policy. This was especially true during the chancellorships of Otto von Bismarck (1871–1890) and Bernhard von Bülow (1900–1909), both of whom had considerable prior experience with foreign affairs, while secretaries at other times wielded more influence over the foreign policy.

Gustav Stresemann, one of Germany's most influential Foreign Ministers and a 1926 Nobel Peace Prize laureate

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 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 Nazi regime in 1933, as minister Konstantin von Neurath, appointed in 1932, remained in office until 1938. However, the office was increasingly marginalised in actual policy-making and with the replacement of Neurath by Ribbentrop lost any independent standing.

After World War II, two separate German states emerged in 1949, the democratic Federal Republic of Germany in the West and the communist-ruled German Democratic Republic in the East. While the Soviet Union ostensibly restored political sovereignty to its satellite and allowed for a Foreign Ministry of the GDR, West Germany's sovereignty was officially curtailed by the Western powers, especially in the field of foreign policy. In 1951 the Foreign Office was reestablished^[2] in West Germany, but Chancellor Konrad Adenauer was required to hold the office of Foreign Minister until the Western powers restored sovereignty to West Germany in 1955. Then, Heinrich von Brentano di Tremezzo succeeded as foreign minister in 1955. In 1990, the GDR ceased to exist as a separate state and its territory was reunited with West Germany.

From the 1966 Grand Coalition government of Kurt Georg Kiesinger onwards, the office has been held by a member of the smaller partner in coalitions. Therefore, the Foreign Minister also mostly holds the office of Vice Chancellor of Germany, although there have been notable exceptions, most recently during the term of Philipp Rösler as Vice Chancellor, from 2011 to 2013.

List of officeholders

State Secretaries for Foreign Affairs (Außenstaatssekretäre), 1871–1919

Name (Born–Died)		Image	Party	Term of Office		Chancellor
	Hermann von Thile (1812–1889)		N/A	21 March 1871	30 September 1872	Bismarck
	Hermann Ludwig von Balan (1812–1874)		N/A	3 October 1872	9 October 1873
	Bernhard Ernst von Bülow (1815–1879)		N/A	9 October 1873	20 October 1879
	Joseph Maria von Radowitz, Jr. (1839–1912)		N/A	6 November 1879	17 April 1880
	Chlodwig Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (1819–1901)		N/A	20 April 1880	1 September 1880
	Friedrich Graf zu Limburg-Stirum (1835–1912)		N/A	1 September 1880	25 June 1881
	Clemens Busch (1834–1895)		N/A	25 June 1881	16 July 1881
	Paul Graf von Hatzfeldt zu Trachenberg (1831–1901)		N/A	16 July 1881	24 October 1885
	Herbert Fürst von Bismarck (1849–1904)		N/A	24 October 1885	26 March 1890	Bismarck von Caprivi
	Adolf Freiherr Marschall von Bieberstein (1842–1912)		N/A	31 March 1890	19 October 1897	von Caprivi Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst
	Bernhard Graf von Bülow (1849–1929)		N/A	20 October 1897	23 October 1900	Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst von Bülow
	Oswald Freiherr von Richthofen (1847–1906)		N/A	23 October 1900	17 January 1906	von Bülow
	Heinrich Leonhard von Tschirschky und Bögendorff (1858–1916)		N/A	24 January 1906	25 October 1907
	Wilhelm Freiherr von Schoen (1851–1933)		N/A	26 October 1907	27 June 1910	von Bülow von Bethmann-Hollweg
	Alfred von Kiderlen-Waechter (1852–1912)		N/A	27 June 1910	30 December 1912	von Bethmann-Hollweg
	Gottlieb von Jagow (1863–1935)		N/A	11 January 1913	22 November 1916
	Arthur Zimmermann (1864–1940)		N/A	22 November 1916	6 August 1917	von Bethmann-Hollweg Michaelis
	Richard von Kühlmann (1873–1948)		N/A	6 August 1917	9 July 1918	Michaelis von Hertling (I)
	Paul von Hintze (1864–1941)		N/A	9 July 1918	3 October 1918	von Hertling (I)
	Wilhelm Solf (1862–1936)		N/A	3 October 1918	13 December 1918	von Baden (I) Ebert (Council of the People's Deputies)
	Ulrich Graf von Brockdorff-Rantzau (1869–1928)		N/A	13 December 1918	13 February 1919	Ebert (Council of the People's Deputies)

Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Reichsminister des Auswärtigen), 1919–1945

Political Party:       SPD       Zentrum       DDP       DVP       NSDP

Name (Born–Died)		Image	Party	Term of Office		Chancellor (Cabinet)
	Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau (1869–1928)		Independent	13 February 1919	20 June 1919	Scheidemann (I)
	Hermann Müller (1876–1931)		SPD	21 June 1919	26 March 1920	Bauer (I)
	Adolf Köster (1883–1930)		SPD	10 April 1920	8 June 1920	Müller (I)
	Walter Simons (1861–1937)		Independent	25 June 1920	4 May 1921	Fehrenbach (I)
	Friedrich Rosen (1856–1935)		Independent	10 May 1921	22 October 1921	Wirth (I)
	Joseph Wirth (1879–1956)		Zentrum	26 October 1921	31 January 1922	Wirth (II)
	Walther Rathenau (1867–1922)		DDP	1 February 1922	21 June 1922
	Joseph Wirth (1879–1956)		Zentrum	21 June 1922	14 November 1922
	Hans von Rosenberg (1874–1937)		Independent	22 November 1922	11 August 1923	Cuno (I)
	Gustav Stresemann (1878–1929)		DVP	13 August 1923	3 October 1929	Stresemann (I, II) Marx (I, II) Luther (I, II) Marx (III, IV) Müller (II)
	Julius Curtius (1877–1948)		DVP	4 October 1929	9 October 1931	Müller (II) Brüning (I)
	Heinrich Brüning (1885–1970)		Zentrum	9 October 1931	30 May 1932	Brüning (II)
	Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath (1873–1956)		Independent (NSDAP after 1937)	1 June 1932	4 February 1938	von Papen (I) von Schleicher (I) Hitler (I)
	Joachim von Ribbentrop (1893–1946)		NSDAP	4 February 1938	30 April 1945	Hitler (I)
	Arthur Seyss-Inquart (1892–1946)		NSDAP	30 April 1945	2 May 1945	Donitz (Flensburg)
	Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk (1887–1977)		Independent	2 May 1945	23 May 1945

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the GDR, 1949–1990

Political Party:       CDU       SED       NDPD       SPD

Name (Born–Died)		Image	Party	Term of Office		Chairman
	Georg Dertinger (1902–1968)		CDU	12 October 1949	15 January 1953	Otto Grotewohl
	Anton Ackermann (1905–1973)		SED	15 January 1953	July 1953
	Lothar Bolz (1903–1986)		NDPD	July 1953	24 June 1965	Otto Grotewohl Willi Stoph
	Otto Winzer (1902–1975)		SED	24 June 1965	20 January 1975	Willi Stoph Horst Sindermann
	Oskar Fischer (1923–)		SED	3 March 1975	12 April 1990	Horst Sindermann Willi Stoph Hans Modrow
	Markus Meckel (1952–)		SPD	12 April 1990	20 August 1990	Lothar de Maizière
	Lothar de Maizière (1940–)		CDU	20 August 1990	2 October 1990

Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Bundesminister des Auswärtigen), since 1951

Political Party:       CDU       SPD       FDP       Green

Name (Born–Died)		Image	Party	Term of Office		Chancellor (Cabinet)
	Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967)		CDU	15 March 1951	6 June 1955	Adenauer (I • II)
	Heinrich von Brentano di Tremezzo (1904–1964)		CDU	6 June 1955	30 October 1961	Adenauer (II • III)
	Gerhard Schröder (1910–1989)		CDU	14 November 1961	30 November 1966	Adenauer (IV • V) Erhard (I • II)
	Willy Brandt (1913–1992)		SPD	1 December 1966	20 October 1969	Kiesinger (I)
	Walter Scheel (1919–)		FPD	21 October 1969	15 May 1974	Brandt (I • II)
	Hans-Dietrich Genscher (1927–)		FPD	17 May 1974	17 September 1982	Schmidt (I • II • III)
	Helmut Schmidt (1918–2015)		SPD	17 September 1982	4 October 1982	Schmidt (III)
	Hans-Dietrich Genscher (1927–)		FPD	4 October 1982	17 May 1992	Kohl (I • II • III • IV)
	Klaus Kinkel (1936–)		FPD	18 May 1992	26 October 1998	Kohl (IV • V)
	Joschka Fischer (1948–)		Greens	27 October 1998	22 November 2005	Schröder (I • II)
	Frank-Walter Steinmeier (1956–)		SPD	22 November 2005	28 October 2009	Merkel (I)
	Guido Westerwelle (1961–)		FPD	28 October 2009	17 December 2013	Merkel (II)
	Frank-Walter Steinmeier (1956–)		SPD	17 December 2013	Incumbent	Merkel (III)

References