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
(III)
Hans-Dietrich Genscher
(1927–2016)
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
(1927–2016)
FPD 4 October 1982 17 May 1992 Kohl
(IIIIIIIV)
Klaus Kinkel
(1936–)
FPD 18 May 1992 26 October 1998 Kohl
(IVV)
Joschka Fischer
(1948–)
Greens 27 October 1998 22 November 2005 Schröder
(III)
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
(1956–)
SPD 22 November 2005 28 October 2009 Merkel
(I)
Guido Westerwelle
(1961–2016)
FPD 28 October 2009 17 December 2013 Merkel
(II)
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
(1956–)
SPD 17 December 2013 Incumbent Merkel
(III)

References

  1. Wright, Jonathan, Gustav Stresemann: Weimar's Greatest Statesman (2002)
  2. http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/en/AAmt/Geschichte/GeschichteAA.html
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