The
Chancellor of Germany is the
head of government of
Germany. The full term of the today office is
Bundeskanzler (federal chancellor).
In
German politics the
chancellor () is equivalent to that of a
Prime Minister in other countries. The direct German equivalent of Prime Minister,
Ministerpräsident, is used exclusively for the heads of government of most German states (called
Länder in
German).
The current Chancellor of Germany is
Angela Merkel, who was reelected in 2009 after her first election 2005. She is the first female Chancellor. In German she is thus known as
Bundeskanzlerin. That word was never used officially before Angela Merkel, but it is a grammatically regular formation of a noun denoting a female.
The office of Chancellor has a long history, stemming back to the
Holy Roman Empire. The title was at times used in several states of German-speaking Europe. The modern office of Chancellor was established with the
North German Confederation, of which
Otto von Bismarck became Chancellor (German,
Bundeskanzler) in 1867. After the
Unification of Germany in 1871, the office became known in German as
Reichskanzler, although it continued to be referred to as Chancellor in English. With Germany's constitution of 1949, the title
Bundeskanzler was revived in German.
During the various eras, the role of the Chancellor has varied. From 1871 to 1918, the Chancellor was only responsible to the
Emperor. With the constitutional reform in 1918, the Parliament was granted the right to dismiss the Chancellor. According to the
Weimar Constitution of 1919, the Chancellor was appointed by the President and responsible to Parliament. After the death of
President Hindenburg, the Weimar Constitution was effectively set aside during the
Nazi dictatorship. The
1949 constitution gave the Chancellor greater powers than during the Weimar Republic, while diminishing the role of the President. Germany is today often referred to as a "chancellor democracy", reflecting the
de facto role of the Chancellor as the country's chief executive.
Since 1867,
34 individuals have served as heads of government of Germany or its predecessor, the North German Confederation, most of them with the title Chancellor.
Historical overview
Due to his administrative tasks, the head of the chapel of the imperial palace during the
Holy Roman Empire was called Chancellor. The
Archbishop of Mainz was German Chancellor until the end of the
Holy Roman Empire in 1806 while the
Archbishop of Cologne was Chancellor of Italy and the
Archbishop of Trier of Burgundy. These three Archbishops were also
Prince-electors of the empire. Already in medieval times the Chancellor had political power like
Willigis of
Mainz (Archchancellor 975–1011, regent for
Otto III 991–994) or
Rainald von Dassel (Chancellor 1156–1162 and 1166–1167) under
Frederick I.
From 1867 to 1871 the title
Bundeskanzler (federal chancellor) was used in the
German language, during the time of the
North German Confederation. From 1871 to 1945, the office was named
Reichskanzler (literally, Chancellor of the Realm). Since 1949 the formal title of the office in the German language is once again
Bundeskanzler.
In the now defunct
German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany), which existed from 7 October 1949 to 3 October 1990 (when the territory of the former GDR was reunified with the Federal Republic of Germany), the position of Chancellor did not exist. The equivalent position was called either
Minister President (Ministerpräsident) or
Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the GDR (Vorsitzender des Ministerrats der DDR). (See
Leaders of East Germany.)
Chancellor of the North German Confederation (1867–1871)
The head of the federal government of the
North German Confederation, which was created on 1 July 1867, had the title
Bundeskanzler. The only person to hold the office was
Otto von Bismarck, the
Prime Minister of Prussia.
The King of Prussia was
crowned as German Emperor at the
Palace of Versailles on 18 January 1871, however, the North German Confederation did not cease to exist until the
1871 Constitution of Germany went into force on 16 April. Bismarck hence remained Chancellor of the Confederation until that date. During these months, the North German Confederation was also referred to as the German Confederation, after the South German states (excluding Austria) had joined the confederation.
The Chancellor was appointed by the
King of Prussia in his capacity as President of the North German Confederation. His role and powers were very similar to that of the office of Chancellor of Germany from 1871.
Chancellor of the German Empire (1871–1918)
In the 1871
German Empire, the Chancellor served both as the Emperor's first minister, and as presiding officer of the
Bundesrat, the upper chamber of the German parliament. He was neither elected by nor responsible to Parliament (the
Reichstag). Instead, the Chancellor was appointed by the Emperor.
The Federal Government consisted of
- a federal council (Bundesrat), consisting of representatives of the federal states and presided over by the King of Prussia
Technically, the Foreign Minister of Prussia was in charge of the Federal Council and therefore the superior of the chancellor. It was for this reason that von Bismarck was simultaneously Chancellor and Foreign and Prime Minister of Prussia.
The term Chancellor signalled the seemingly low priority of this institution compared to the governments of the states, because the new Chancellor of the Federation should not be a fully-fledged prime minister, in contrast to the heads of the federal states. The title of Chancellor additionally symbolized a strong monarchic-bureaucratic and ultimately antiparliamentary component, as in the Prussian tradition of for instance
von Hardenberg.
In both of these aspects, the executive of the Federation resp. the Empire as it was formed in 1867/71 was deliberately different from the Imperial Ministry of the
revolutionary years 1848/49, which had been led by a Prime Minister, who was elected by the
National Assembly.
In 1871, the concept of the federal chancellor was transferred to the executive of the newly formed German Empire, which now also contained the south German states. Here too, the terms of Chancellor and Federal Agency (as opposed to Ministry or Government) suggested an (apparent) lower priority of the federal executive as compared to the governments of the federal states. For this reason, neither the Chancellor nor the leaders of the imperial departments under his command used the title of
Minister until 1918.
The constitution of Germany was amended on 29 October 1918, when the Parliament was given the right to dismiss the Chancellor. However, the change could not prevent the outbreak of the revolution a few days later.
Revolutionary period 1918/19
On 9 November 1918, Chancellor
Max von Baden handed over his office to
Friedrich Ebert. Ebert continued to serve as Head of Government during the three months between the end of the German Empire in November 1918 and the first gathering of the National Assembly in February 1919, but did not use the title of Chancellor.
During that time, Ebert also served as Chairman of the
Council of the People's Delegates, until 29 December 1918 together with the
Independent Social Democrat Hugo Haase.
Chancellor of the Weimar Republic (1919–1933)
The office of Chancellor was continued in the Weimar Republic. The Chancellor was appointed by the President and was responsible to the Reichstag.
Under the Weimar Republic, the Chancellor was a fairly weak figure. Much like his
French counterpart, he served as little more than a chairman. Cabinet decisions were made by majority vote. In fact many of the Weimar governments depended highly on the cooperation of the President, due to the difficulty of finding a majority in Parliament.
Chancellor of the Third Reich (1933–1945)
Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, a point which historians agree marks the beginning of the Third Reich. Upon taking office Hitler immediately began accumulating power and changing the nature of the Chancery. After only two months in office the Reichstag passed the
Enabling Act which gave the Chancellor full legislative powers for a period of four years – the Chancellor could introduce any law without consulting Parliament. The Chancellorship grew greater still in August 1934 when the incumbent
President Paul von Hindenburg died. Hitler used the Enabling Act to merge the office of Chancellor with that of President to create a new office,
Führer; although the offices were merged, Hitler continued to be addressed as "
Führer und Reichskanzler" indicating that the Head of State and Head of Government were still separate positions albeit held by the same man. This separation was made more evident when in April 1945 Hitler gave instruction that upon his death the office of Führer would dissolve and there would be a new President and Chancellor. On 30 April 1945 Hitler committed suicide and was briefly succeeded as Chancellor by Joseph Goebbels, as dictated in Hitler's Last Will and Testament.
Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (since 1949)
The 1949 German
constitution, the
Basic Law (
Grundgesetz), invests the Chancellor (German,
Bundeskanzler) with broad powers to initiate government policy. For that reason, some observers refer to the German political system as a "chancellor democracy". Whichever major party (CDU/CSU or SPD) does not hold the chancellorship usually calls its leading candidate for the federal election "
chancellor-candidate" (
Kanzlerkandidat). The Federal Government (
Bundesregierung) consists of the Chancellor and his or her
cabinet ministers.
The chancellor's authority emanates from the provisions of the Basic Law and in practice from his or her status as leader of the
party (or coalition of parties) holding a majority of seats in the
Bundestag (federal parliament). With the exception of
Helmut Schmidt, the chancellor has usually also been chairman of his or her own party. This was the case with Chancellor
Gerhard Schröder from 1999 until he resigned the chairmanship of the
SPD in 2004.
The German post-war chancellors were officially addressed as "Herr Bundeskanzler", however
Angela Merkel is officially addressed as "Frau Bundeskanzlerin", the female form of the title. Use of the mixed form "Frau Bundeskanzler" was deprecated by the government in 2004 because it is regarded as impolite.
See also
