Foreign Office (Germany)

Federal Foreign Office
Federal Foreign Office
Auswärtiges Amt (AA)
Agency overview
Formed	1870
Jurisdiction	Government of Germany
Headquarters	Werderscher Markt 1; 10117 Berlin
Annual budget	€1.313 billion (2005)
Minister responsible	Guido Westerwelle, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs
Agency executives	Werner Hoyer, Minister of State at the Foreign Office; Cornelia Pieper, Minister of State for Europe
Website
	http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de

Guido Westerwelle

Foreign Office on the Spree river

The Federal Foreign Office (German: Auswärtiges Amt (help·info)), abbreviated AA, is the foreign ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany, a federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign politics and its relationship with the European Union. It is a cabinet-level ministry.

The term "Auswärtiges Amt" was the name of the Foreign Office established in 1870 by the North German Confederation, which then became German Empire's Foreign Office in 1871. It is still the name of the German foreign ministry today. From 1871 to 1919, the Foreign Office was led by a Foreign Secretary, and since 1919, it has been led by the Foreign Minister of Germany. Since 2009, Guido Westerwelle has served as Foreign Minister, and Werner Hoyer and Cornelia Pieper as Ministers of State. The primary seat of the ministry is at the Werderscher Markt square in the Mitte district, the historic centre of Berlin.

New Foreign Office building in Berlin (centre) with former Reichsbank (left)

History [edit]

The Auswärtiges Amt was established in 1870 to form the foreign policy of the North German Confederation, and from 1871 of the German Empire. The Foreign Office was originally led by a secretary of state (therefore not called a ministry), while the Chancellor remained in charge of foreign affairs.

Foreign Office on Wilhelmstraße 76, about 1880

In the first years of the German nation-state under Otto von Bismarck, the Foreign Office on Wilhelmstrasse No. 76 next to the Reich Chancellery had two departments: one for political affairs and the other for economic, legal and consular matters. After Bismarck's dismissal in 1890, another department for colonial policy was established, spun off as the separate Reichskolonialamt in 1907. In the years preceding World War I, the Auswärtiges Amt was responsible for the country's foreign policy under Emperor Wilhelm II.

In 1919, the Foreign Office was reorganized and a modern structure was established. It was now under the authority of a foreign minister, though still called Amt for traditional reasons. The most notable head of the Foreign Office during the Weimar Republic was Gustav Stresemann, foreign minister from 1923 to 1929, who strived for a reconciliation with the French Third Republic, which earned him - together with Aristide Briand - the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize. In 1932 Konstantin von Neurath was appointed foreign minister, he also held the office after Hitler became chancellor, finding himself exposed to increasing competition from Nazi politicians like Alfred Rosenberg and Joachim von Ribbentrop, who followed him in 1938.

A report written by historians and released by German government in 2010 shows that wartime-era diplomats played an important role in assisting the Nazis in carrying out the Holocaust, and disproved the claim often made after 1945 that German diplomats were "sand in the machine" who acted to moderate the actions of the Nazi regime.^[1] ^[2]^[3] ^[4]^[5] ^[6]

Foreign Office building in Bonn

While Georg Dertinger had been appointed the first minister of foreign affairs of East Germany already in 1949, the Auswärtiges Amt of West Germany, due to the Allied occupation statute was not reestablished until March 15, 1951. Chancellor Konrad Adenauer took the office of the first Foreign Minister in Bonn until the inauguration of Heinrich von Brentano in 1955. Since Willy Brandt served as Foreign Minister of the grand coalition under Kurt Georg Kiesinger from 1966, the office usually was connected with the position of the Vice-Chancellor. From 1974 until 1992 - with a short pause in 1982 - Hans-Dietrich Genscher served as Foreign Minister continuing Brandt's Ostpolitik and playing a vital role in the preparation of German reunification.

In 2000 the Foreign Office was relocated back to Berlin, where it moved into the former Reichsbank building, which from 1959 to 1990 had served as the seat of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, enlarged by a newly built annex. The former ministry in Bonn remained a second seat. The Foreign Office has always stressed its continuity and traditions since 1870.

German representation overseas [edit]

Main article: Diplomatic missions of Germany

In addition to the ministry's headquarters in Berlin, Germany has established embassies and consulates around the world.

List of Federal Foreign Ministers (since 1949) [edit]

Main article: Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany)

Political Party: CDU SPD FDP Green

Name (Born-Died)	Party	Term of Office		Chancellor (Cabinet)
Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967) Chancellor	CDU	15 March 1951	6 June 1955	Adenauer (I • II)
Heinrich von Brentano (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) Vice-Chancellor	SPD	1 December 1966	20 October 1969	Kiesinger (I)
Walter Scheel (b. 1919) Vice-Chancellor	FDP	21 October 1969	15 May 1974	Brandt (I • II)
Hans-Dietrich Genscher (b. 1927) Vice-Chancellor	FDP	17 May 1974	17 September 1982	Schmidt (I • II • III)
Helmut Schmidt (b. 1918) Chancellor	SPD	17 September 1982	4 October 1982	Schmidt (III)
Hans-Dietrich Genscher (b. 1927) Vice-Chancellor	FDP	4 October 1982	17 May 1992	Kohl (I • II • III • IV)
Klaus Kinkel (b. 1936) Vice-Chancellor 1993–98	FDP	18 May 1992	26 October 1998	Kohl (IV • V)
Joschka Fischer (b. 1948) Vice-Chancellor	Green	27 October 1998	22 November 2005	Schröder (I • II)
Frank-Walter Steinmeier (b. 1956) Vice-Chancellor 2007–09	SPD	22 November 2005	28 October 2009	Merkel (I)
Guido Westerwelle (b. 1961) Vice-Chancellor 2009–11	FDP	28 October 2009	Incumbent	Merkel (II)