Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany)
Encyclopedia
The Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs is the head of the Federal Foreign Office
and a member of the Cabinet of Germany
. The current office holder is Guido Westerwelle
. Since 1966, the Foreign Minister has often also simultaneously held the office of Vice Chancellor
.
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.
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.
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 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 Franz Müntefering
as vice chancellor (2005-2007).
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No.
Name
Took office
Left office
1
Hermann von Thile
(1812–1889)
21 March 1871
30 September 1872
2
Hermann Ludwig von Balan
(1812–1874)1
3 October 1872
9 October 1873
3
Bernhard Ernst von Bülow
(1815–1879)
9 October 1873
20 October 1879
4
Josef Maria von Radowitz
(1839–1912)1
6 November 1879
17 April 1880
5
Chlodwig Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (1819–1901)1
20 April 1880
1 September 1880
6
Friedrich Graf zu Limburg Stirum
(1835–1912)1
1 September 1880
25 June 1881
7
Clemens Busch
(1834–1895)1
25 June 1881
16 July 1881
8
Paul Graf von Hatzfeld zu Trachenberg (1831–1901)
16 July 1881
24 October 1885
9
Herbert Fürst von Bismarck
(1849–1904)2
24 October 1885
26 March 1890
10
Adolf Freiherr Marschall von Bieberstein
(1842–1912)
31 March 1890
19 October 1897
11
Bernhard Graf von Bülow
(1849–1929)
20 October 1897
23 October 1900
12
Oswald Freiherr von Richthofen
(1847–1906)
23 October 1900
17 January 1906
13
Heinrich Leonhard von Tschirschky und Bögendorff (1858–1916)
24 January 1906
25 October 1907
14
Wilhelm Freiherr von Schoen
(1851–1933)
26 October 1907
27 June 1910
15
Alfred von Kiderlen-Wächter (1852–1912)
27 June 1910
30 December 1912
16
Gottlieb von Jagow
(1863–1935)
11 January 1913
22 November 1916
17
Arthur Zimmermann
(1864–1940)
22 November 1916
6 August 1917
18
Richard von Kühlmann
(1873–1948)
6 August 1917
9 July 1918
19
Paul von Hintze
(1864–1941)
9 July 1918
3 October 1918
20
Wilhelm Solf
(1862–1936)
3 October 1918
13 December 1918
21
Ulrich Graf von Brockdorff-Rantzau (1869–1928)
13 December 1918
13 February 1919
1 Held office only provisionally.
2 Held office provisionally until 17 May 1886.
No.
Name
Begin of office
End of office
Party
1
Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau (1869–1928)
February 13th 1919
June 20th 1919
none
2
Hermann Müller
(1876–1931)
June 21st 1919
March 26th 1920
SPD
3
Adolf Köster
(1883–1930)
April 10th 1920
June 8th 1920
SPD
4
Walter Simons
(1861–1937)
June 25th 1920
May 4th 1921
none
5
Friedrich Rosen
(1856–1935)
May 10th 1921
October 22nd 1921
none
6
Joseph Wirth
(1879–1956)
October 26th 1921
January 31st 1922
Zentrum
7
Walther Rathenau
(1867–1922)
February 1st 1922
June 21st 1922
DDP
8
Joseph Wirth
(1879–1956)
June 21st 1922
November 14th 1922
Zentrum
9
Friedrich von Rosenberg (1874–1937)
November 22nd 1922
August 11th 1923
none
10
Gustav Stresemann
(1878–1929)
August 13th 1923
October 3rd 1929
DVP
11
Julius Curtius
(1877–1948)
October 4th 1929
October 9th 1931
DVP
12
Heinrich Brüning
(1885–1970)
October 9th 1931
May 30th 1932
Zentrum
13
Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath (1873–1956)
1 June 1932
February 4th 1938
none (NSDAP after 1937)
14
Joachim von Ribbentrop
(1893–1946)
February 4th 1938
April 30th 1945
NSDAP
15
Arthur Seyss-Inquart
(1892–1946)
April 30th 1945
May 2nd 1945
NSDAP
16
Johann Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk (1887–1977)
May 2nd 1945
May 23rd 1945
none
No.
Name
Begin of office
End of office
Party
1
Georg Dertinger
(1902-1968)
October 12, 1949
January 15, 1953
CDU
2
Anton Ackermann
(1905-1973)
January 15, 1953
Juli
1953
SED
3
Lothar Bolz
(1903-1986)
Juli
1953
June 24, 1965
NDPD
4
Otto Winzer
(1902-1975)
June 24, 1965
January 20, 1975
SED
5
Oskar Fischer (*1923)
March 3, 1975
April 12, 1990
SED
6
Markus Meckel
(*1952)
April 12, 1990
August 20, 1990
SPD
7
Lothar de Maizière
(*1940)
August 20, 1990
October 2, 1990
CDU
No.
Name
Begin of office
End of office
Party
1
Konrad Adenauer
(1876–1967)
March 15th 1951
June 6th 1955
CDU
2
Heinrich von Brentano di Tremezzo (1904–1964)
June 6th 1955
October 17th 1961
CDU
3
Gerhard Schröder
(1910–1989)
November 14th 1961
November 30th 1966
CDU
4
Willy Brandt
(1913–1992)
December 1st 1966
October 20th 1969
SPD
5
Walter Scheel
(*1919)
October 21st 1969
May 15th 1974
FDP
6
Hans-Dietrich Genscher
(*1927)
May 17th 1974
September 17th 1982
FDP
7
Helmut Schmidt
(*1918)
September 17th 1982
October 1st 1982
SPD
8
Hans-Dietrich Genscher
(*1927)
October 1st 1982
May 17th 1992
FDP
9
Klaus Kinkel
(*1936)
May 18th 1992
October 26th 1998
FDP
10
Joschka Fischer
(*1948)
October 27th 1998
November 22nd 2005
Greens
11
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
(*1956)
November 22nd 2005
October 27th 2009
SPD
12
Guido Westerwelle
(*1961)
October 28th 2009
Incumbent
FDP
Foreign Office (Germany)
The Foreign Office is the foreign ministry of Germany, a federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign politics and its relationship with the European Union. From 1871 to 1919, it was led by a Foreign Secretary, and since 1919, it has been led by the Foreign Minister of Germany...
and a member of the Cabinet of Germany
Cabinet of Germany
The Cabinet of Germany is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Chancellor and the cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's organization are set down in articles 62 to 69 of the Basic Law.-Nomination:...
. The current office holder is Guido Westerwelle
Guido Westerwelle
Guido Westerwelle [] is a German liberal politician, who, since 28 October 2009, has been serving as the Foreign Minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel, and who was Vice Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011. He is the first openly gay person to hold either of those positions...
. Since 1966, the Foreign Minister has often also simultaneously held the office of Vice Chancellor
Vice-Chancellor of Germany
The Vice-Chancellor of Germany is, according to protocol, the second highest position in the Cabinet of GermanyIn case of the Chancellor's absence, the vice-chancellor acts in his or her place, for instance by heading cabinet meetings...
.
History of the office
The Foreign OfficeForeign Office (Germany)
The Foreign Office is the foreign ministry of Germany, a federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign politics and its relationship with the European Union. From 1871 to 1919, it was led by a Foreign Secretary, and since 1919, it has been led by the Foreign Minister of Germany...
was established within the North German Confederation
North German Confederation
The North German Confederation 1866–71, was a federation of 22 independent states of northern Germany. It was formed by a constitution accepted by the member states in 1867 and controlled military and foreign policy. It included the new Reichstag, a parliament elected by universal manhood...
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
Foreign Minister of Prussia
This page lists Foreign Ministers of Prussia. See also Foreign Minister of Germany and Prime Minister of Prussia. After the creation of the German Empire in 1871, the Imperial Chancellor was normally also 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
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
(1871–1890) and Bernhard von Bülow
Bernhard von Bülow
Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin von Bülow , named in 1905 Prince von Bülow, was a German statesman who served as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for three years and then as Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 to 1909.Bülow was described as possessing every quality except greatness...
(1900–1909), both of whom had considerable prior experience with foreign affairs, while secretaries at other times wielded more influence over the foreign policy.
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
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
Gustav Stresemann
was a German politician and statesman who served as Chancellor and Foreign Minister during the Weimar Republic. He was co-laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926.Stresemann's politics defy easy categorization...
, leader of the small National-liberal German People's Party
German People's Party
The German People's Party was a national liberal party in Weimar Germany and a successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire.-Ideology:...
, 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
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
for his work for reconciliation between Germany and France.
The foreign office remained relatively unaffected by the establishment of the Nazi regime in 1933, as minister Konstantin von Neurath
Konstantin von Neurath
Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath was a German diplomat remembered mostly for having served as Foreign minister of Germany between 1932 and 1938...
, 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
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
lost any independent standing.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, 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
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
ostensibly restored political sovereignty to its satellite and allowed for a Foreign Ministry of the GDR
Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the German Democratic Republic
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the German Democratic Republic was a government body of the German Democratic Republic that existed from 1949 to 1990. It had its seat at Schinkelplatz in Berlin-Mitte...
, 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 in West Germany, but Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...
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
Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Kurt Georg Kiesinger was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1 December 1966 until 21 October 1969.-Early career and wartime activities:...
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 Franz Müntefering
Franz Müntefering
Franz Müntefering is a German politician and industrial manager. He was Chairman of the Social Democratic Party from 18 October 2008 to 13 November 2009, a position he already held from 2004 to 2005...
as vice chancellor (2005-2007).
List of officeholders
{State Secretaries for Foreign Affairs (Außenstaatssekretäre), 1871–1919
Hermann von Thile
Karl Hermann von Thile was a German diplomat, and the first Foreign Secretary of Germany and head of the Foreign Office ....
(1812–1889)
Hermann Ludwig von Balan
Hermann Ludwig von Balan was a German diplomat who served as acting Foreign Secretary and head of the Foreign Office from 1872 to 1873....
(1812–1874)1
Bernhard Ernst von Bülow
Bernhard Ernst von Bülow was a Danish and German statesman.He was the son of Adolf von Bülow, a Danish official, and was born at Cismar in Holstein. His own son Bernhard von Bülow was also a German statesman and chancellor...
(1815–1879)
Josef Maria von Radowitz
Joseph Maria Friedrich von Radowitz was a German diplomat who served as acting Foreign Secretary and head of the Foreign Office from 6 November 1879 until 17 April 1880....
(1839–1912)1
Friedrich of Limburg Stirum
Friedrich Wilhelm Graf zu Limburg-Stirum was a German diplomat and politician who served as acting Foreign Secretary and head of the Foreign Office from September 1880 to 25 June 1881...
(1835–1912)1
Clemens Busch
Clemens August Busch was a German diplomat.Busch was born in Cologne. He served as acting head of the Foreign Office from 25 June to 16 July 1881, succeeding Count Friedrich of Limburg Stirum, until he was replaced by Paul von Hatzfeld zu Trachenberg, until then the Ambassador to Constantinople.He...
(1834–1895)1
Herbert von Bismarck
Herbert, Prince of Bismarck was a German politician, who served as Foreign Secretary from 1886 to 1890. His political career was closely tied to that of his father, Otto von Bismarck, and he left office a few days after his father's dismissal...
(1849–1904)2
Adolf Marschall von Bieberstein
Adolf Freiherr Marschall von Bieberstein was a German politician and Secretary of State of the Foreign Office of the German Empire.-Biography:...
(1842–1912)
Bernhard von Bülow
Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin von Bülow , named in 1905 Prince von Bülow, was a German statesman who served as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for three years and then as Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 to 1909.Bülow was described as possessing every quality except greatness...
(1849–1929)
Oswald von Richthofen
Oswald Freiherr von Richthofen, GCVO was a German diplomat and politician, who served as Foreign Secretary and head of the Foreign Office from 23 October 1900 to 17 January 1906.-Background and career:...
(1847–1906)
Wilhelm von Schoen
Wilhelm Eduard Freiherr von Schoen was a German diplomat. He was especially known as German ambassador in Paris at the beginning of World War I and as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the German Empire....
(1851–1933)
Gottlieb von Jagow
Gottlieb von Jagow was a German diplomat. He served as the foreign minister of Germany between January 1913 and 1916....
(1863–1935)
Arthur Zimmermann
Arthur Zimmermann was State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the German Empire from November 22, 1916, until his resignation on August 6, 1917. His name is associated with the Zimmermann Telegram during World War I...
(1864–1940)
Richard von Kühlmann
Richard von Kühlmann was a German diplomat and industrialist. From 6 August 1917 to 9 July 1918, he served as Germany's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.-Biography:Kühlmann was born in Constantinople...
(1873–1948)
Paul von Hintze
Paul von Hintze was a German naval officer and diplomatist, who served as Foreign Minister of Germany in the last stages of World War I, from July to October 1918....
(1864–1941)
Wilhelm Solf
Wilhelm Heinrich Solf was a German scholar, diplomat, jurist and statesman.-Early life:Wilhelm Solf was born into a wealthy and liberal family in Berlin. He attended secondary schools in Anklam in western Pomerania and in Mannheim...
(1862–1936)
2 Held office provisionally until 17 May 1886.
Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Reichsminister des Auswärtigen), 1919–1945
Hermann Müller (politician)
' , born in Mannheim, was a German Social Democratic politician who served as Foreign Minister , and twice as Chancellor of Germany under the Weimar Republic...
(1876–1931)
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
Adolf Köster
Adolf Köster was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister of Germany and Interior Minister of Germany .-Background:...
(1883–1930)
Walter Simons
Walter Simons was a German lawyer and politician. He served as president of the Reichsgericht from 1922 to 1929.-Biography:Walter Simons was a student of the jurist Rudolph Sohm, and was influenced by Humanism and Lutheran Pietism...
(1861–1937)
Friedrich Rosen
Friedrich Rosen or Fritz Rosen was a German Orientalist, diplomat and politician...
(1856–1935)
Joseph Wirth
Karl Joseph Wirth, known as Joseph Wirth, was a German politician of the Catholic Centre Party who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1921 to 1922.-Biography:...
(1879–1956)
Centre Party (Germany)
The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...
Walther Rathenau
Walther Rathenau was a German Jewish industrialist, politician, writer, and statesman who served as Foreign Minister of Germany during the Weimar Republic...
(1867–1922)
Joseph Wirth
Karl Joseph Wirth, known as Joseph Wirth, was a German politician of the Catholic Centre Party who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1921 to 1922.-Biography:...
(1879–1956)
Gustav Stresemann
was a German politician and statesman who served as Chancellor and Foreign Minister during the Weimar Republic. He was co-laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926.Stresemann's politics defy easy categorization...
(1878–1929)
German People's Party
The German People's Party was a national liberal party in Weimar Germany and a successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire.-Ideology:...
Julius Curtius
Julius Curtius was Foreign Minister of Germany from October, 1929 to October 1931. Curtius was a member of the national-liberal German People's Party and worked closely with Heinrich Brüning to revise the Treaty of Versailles in Germany's favor. However, Curtius was not a member of Brüning's inner...
(1877–1948)
Heinrich Brüning
Heinrich Brüning was Chancellor of Germany from 1930 to 1932, during the Weimar Republic. He was the longest serving Chancellor of the Weimar Republic, and remains a controversial figure in German politics....
(1885–1970)
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
(1893–1946)
Arthur Seyss-Inquart
Arthur Seyss-Inquart was a Chancellor of Austria, lawyer and later Nazi official in pre-Anschluss Austria, the Third Reich and for wartime Germany in Poland and the Netherlands...
(1892–1946)
Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the GDR, 1949-1990
Georg Dertinger
Georg Dertinger was a German politician from the German Democratic Republic .He was born in Berlin into a middle-class Protestant family. Dertinger briefly studied law and economics. After his study he became a journalist and later editor for the Magdeburger Volkszeitung and the nationalistic...
(1902-1968)
Christian Democratic Union (East Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany ) was an East German political party founded in 1945. It was part of the National Front with the Socialist Unity Party of Germany until 1989....
Anton Ackermann
Anton Ackermann was an East German politician. In 1953, he briefly served as Minister of Foreign Affairs....
(1905-1973)
Juli
In the German, Dutch, Scandinavian, South Slavic , and Indonesian languages, the name for "July" , but also:* The name of a female...
1953
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
Lothar Bolz
Lothar Bolz was an East German politician. From 1953 to 1965 he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of East Germany ....
(1903-1986)
Juli
In the German, Dutch, Scandinavian, South Slavic , and Indonesian languages, the name for "July" , but also:* The name of a female...
1953
National Democratic Party of Germany (East Germany)
The National Democratic Party of Germany was an East German political party that acted as an organisation for former members of the NSDAP, the Wehrmacht and middle classes...
Otto Winzer
Otto Winzer was an East German diplomat. He returned from exile in the Soviet Union as part of the Ulbricht Group, charged with setting up the Soviet Military Administration in Germany after World War II. He served as the foreign minister of East Germany between 1965 and 1975.- References :...
(1902-1975)
Markus Meckel
Markus Meckel is a German theologian and politician. He was the penultimate foreign minister of the GDR and is a member of the German Bundestag.-Early life:...
(*1952)
Social Democratic Party in the GDR
The Social Democratic Party in the GDR was a Social Democratic Party existing during the last phase of the East German state...
Lothar de Maizière
Lothar de Maizière is a German christian democratic politician. In 1990, he served as the only democratically elected Prime Minister of the German Democratic Republic, and as such was the last leader of an independent East Germany....
(*1940)
Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Bundesminister des Auswärtigen), since 1951
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...
(1876–1967)
Gerhard Schröder (CDU)
Gerhard Schröder was a West German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union Party.A lawyer by profession, Schröder joined the Nazi Party and the SA in 1933....
(1910–1989)
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....
(1913–1992)
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
Walter Scheel
Walter Scheel is a German politician . He served as Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development from 1961 to 1966, Foreign Minister of Germany and Vice Chancellor from 1969 to 1974, acting Chancellor of Germany from 7 May to 16 May 1974 , and finally as President of the Federal...
(*1919)
Free Democratic Party (Germany)
The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Hans-Dietrich Genscher is a German politician of the liberal Free Democratic Party . He served as Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany from 1974 to 1982 and, after a two-week pause, from 1982 to 1992, making him Germany's longest serving Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor...
(*1927)
Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt is a German Social Democratic politician who served as Chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Prior to becoming chancellor, he had served as Minister of Defence and Minister of Finance. He had also served briefly as Minister of Economics and as acting...
(*1918)
Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Hans-Dietrich Genscher is a German politician of the liberal Free Democratic Party . He served as Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany from 1974 to 1982 and, after a two-week pause, from 1982 to 1992, making him Germany's longest serving Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor...
(*1927)
Klaus Kinkel
Klaus Kinkel is a German civil servant, lawyer, and politician of the liberal Free Democratic Party . He served as Federal Minister of Justice , Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany in the government of Helmut Kohl. He was also chairman of the liberal Free Democratic Party from 1993...
(*1936)
Joschka Fischer
Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer is a German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens. He served as Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005...
(*1948)
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Frank-Walter Steinmeier is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , and currently the leader of the opposition in the Bundestag. Steinmeier was a close aide of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, serving as Chief of Staff in the German Chancellery from 1999 to 2005...
(*1956)
Guido Westerwelle
Guido Westerwelle [] is a German liberal politician, who, since 28 October 2009, has been serving as the Foreign Minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel, and who was Vice Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011. He is the first openly gay person to hold either of those positions...
(*1961)
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...