In German politics the Chancellor is equivalent to that of a Prime Minister in many other countries. The German term directly equivalent of Prime Minister, Ministerpräsident, is used exclusively for the heads of government of most German states (referred to in German as Bundesländer or Länder for short).
The current Chancellor is Angela Merkel, who was re-elected in 2009 after her first election in 2005. She is the first female Chancellor. In German she is thus known as Bundeskanzlerin. That particular word was never used officially before 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 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.
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.
[edit]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.
Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 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 Chancellory. After only two months in office, and following the burning of the Reichstag building, the Reichstag body 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. With Goebbels following Hitler's suicide with his own, the reins of power passed to Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as President of Germany. Dönitz in turn appointed non-partisan conservative Count Schwerin von Krosigk as head of government with the title Leading Minister. Dönitz and Schwerin von Krosigk negotiated the surrender to the Allies.
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 Chancellor is officially addressed as "Herr Bundeskanzler" if the Chancellor is a man. The current female Chancellor 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.
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