List of diplomatic missions of Germany

Diplomatic missions of Germany

This is a list of diplomatic missions of Germany. Historically, the German state of Prussia and several smaller German states, had sent emissaries abroad prior to the establishment of the North German Confederation, the precursor to the modern State of Germany.

In 1874 Germany had only four embassies (in London, Paris, Saint Petersburg and Vienna), but this was complemented by non-ambassadorial representation in the form of 14 ministerial posts (in Athens, Bern, Brussels, The Hague, Constantinople, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Madrid, Rome, Stockholm, Peking, Rio de Janeiro, Washington, D.C. and to the Holy See), seven consulates-general with diplomatic status (in Alexandria, Belgrade, Bucharest, London, New York, Budapest and Warsaw) and 37 consulates and vice-consulates headed by consular officers. By 1914 five additional embassies were established in Constantinople, Madrid, Rome, Washington, D.C. and Tokyo. The Foreign Office progressively reformed itself in this time to serve Germany's rising commercial and colonial interests abroad, as well as to reflect the professionalisation of diplomacy generally.

Politics of the Third Reich affected the Foreign Office. In 1933 the Reich Citizenship Act led to the forced retirement of over 120 tenured civil servants. Positions and structures were created to imbed NSDAP representatives, and the SS began to be posted abroad as "police attachés". Under Joachim von Ribbentrop the Reich Foreign Ministry grew from 2,665 officers in 1938 to a peak of 6,458 in 1943, despite missions abroad closing as a consequence of the Second World War.

Germany's post-war diplomatic network started as early as 1949 with a mission in Paris to the newly formed Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The following year consulates-general were (re)opened in London, New York, Paris, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Brussels, Rome and Athens (until 1951 these were not embassies, as by virtue of the Occupation Statute the three allied powers had competence of foreign affairs; these consulates were intended to just manage commercial and consular affairs). West Germany's Foreign Office grew, and by the time of its reunification in 1990 there were 214 diplomatic missions abroad. Following German reunification, the federal republic inherited several diplomatic buildings of the former German Democratic Republic.[1]

The West German embassy in Stockholm was occupied by the Red Army Faction in 1975. In 1989 its embassies in Budapest and Prague sheltered fleeing East Germans while waiting for permission to travel onwards to West Germany; permission was subsequently given by the Czechoslovakian and Hungarian governments, accelerating the collapse of socialist hegemony in Eastern Europe.

Germany serves as the protecting power for the United Kingdom in Iran after an attack on its embassy led to a severing of relations. Germany also "assists" Sweden in its duties as protecting power for several Western states in North Korea "when necessary".

Today Germany manages 226 diplomatic missions abroad (listed below). There are also 354 unpaid honorary consuls.