List of German finance ministers

This article deals with the Reich and Federal Finance Ministers. For the state finance ministers, see the list of incumbent German state finance ministers .

Finance ministers are, among other things, responsible for drawing up and supervising the budget . If there was no Treasury Department , they also administered the assets of the Reich or the Federation. In Germany, the Federal Ministry of the Treasury was dissolved in 1969 and merged into the Federal Ministry of Finance .

The provisional central power was the first Reich government in 1848/1849 as the executive branch of the emerging German Empire during the revolutionary period. In the North German Confederation , there was except the Chancellor's Office and the Office Foreign no other supreme federal authorities. The Reich Treasury was established in 1880 during the German Empire . It can best be compared to today's Treasury. Since 1919 the highest heads of authorities have had the rank and title of minister.

GDR finance minister Uta Nickel was the only woman in this office to date.

Reich Minister of Finance in the Provisional Central Authority (1848/1849)

Imperial eagle of the central power

Surname	Term of office (beginning)	Term of office (end)
Hermann von Beckerath	August 5, 1848	May 4, 1849
Ernst Merck	May 16, 1849	December 20, 1849

State Secretaries of the Reich Treasury of the German Empire (1880–1918)

Coat of arms of the German Empire

Surname	Start of office	End of office	Political party
Adolf von Scholz	1880	1882	independent
Franz Emil Emanuel von Burchard	1882	1886	independent
Karl von Jacobi	1886	1888	independent
Helmuth Freiherr von Maltzahn	1888	1893	independent
Arthur Graf von Posadowsky-Wehner	1893	1897	Free Conservative Party
Max Franz Guido Freiherr von Thielmann	1897	1903	independent
Hermann Freiherr von Stengel	1903	1908	independent
Reinhold Sydow	1908	1909	independent
Adolf Wermuth	1909	1912	independent
Hermann Kühn	1912	1915	independent
Karl Helfferich 1)	1915	1916	independent
Siegfried Count von Roedern	1916	1918	independent

¹⁾ In the Reichstag protocols referred to as "Minister of State, State Secretary of the Reich Treasury".

Reich Minister of the German Empire (1919–1945)

Coat of arms of the Weimar Republic (1919–1933)

Coat of arms of Germany during National Socialism (1933–1945)

Surname	Start of office	End of office	Political party
Eugene Schiffer	February 13, 1919	April 19, 1919	DDP
Bernhard Dernburg	April 19, 1919	June 20, 1919	DDP
Matthias Erzberger	June 21, 1919	March 12, 1920	center
Joseph Wirth	March 27, 1920	October 22, 1921	center
Andreas Hermes	October 26, 1921	August 13, 1923	center
Rudolf Hilferding	August 13, 1923	October 1, 1923	SPD
Hans Luther	October 6, 1923	December 15, 1924	independent
Otto von Schlieben	January 19, 1925	October 26, 1925	DNVP
Hans Luther	October 26, 1925	January 20, 1926	independent
Peter Reinhold	January 20, 1926	January 29, 1927	DDP
Heinrich Koehler	January 29, 1927	June 29, 1928	center
Rudolf Hilferding	June 29, 1928	December 21, 1929	SPD
Paul Moldenhauer	December 23, 1929	June 20, 1930	DVP
Heinrich Brüning	June 20, 1930	June 26, 1930	center
Hermann Dietrich	June 26, 1930	June 1, 1932	DDP
Johann Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk	June 2, 1932	May 23, 1945	Independent from 1937: NSDAP

Minister of Finance of the GDR (1949–1990)

Coat of arms of the GDR

Surname	Start of office	End of office	Political party
Hans Loch	October 11, 1949	November 26, 1955	LDPD
Willy hull	November 26, 1955	December 12, 1966	SED
Siegfried Boehm	December 12, 1966	May 5th 1980	SED
Werner Schmieder	May 5th 1980	June 26, 1981	SED
Ernst Höfner	June 26, 1981	November 7, 1989	SED
Uta Nickel	November 18, 1989	April 12, 1990	SED
Walter Romberg	April 12, 1990	August 16, 1990	SPD
Werner Skowron	August 16, 1990	October 2, 1990	CDU

Federal Minister of Finance of the Federal Republic of Germany (since 1949)

Coat of arms of the Federal Republic

No.	Surname	Life dates	Political party	Term of office (beginning)	Term of office (end)
01	Fritz Schäffer	1888-1967	CSU	September 20, 1949	October 29, 1957
02	Franz Etzel	1902-1970	CDU	October 29, 1957	November 14, 1961
03	Heinz Starke	1911-2001	FDP	November 14, 1961	November 19, 1962
04th	Rolf Dahlgrün	1908-1969	FDP	December 13, 1962	October 28, 1966
05	Kurt Schmücker	1919-1996	CDU	October 28, 1966	November 30, 1966
06th	Franz Josef Strauss	1915-1988	CSU	2nd December 1966	20th October 1969
07th	Alex Möller	1903-1985	SPD	October 22, 1969	May 13, 1971
08th	Karl Schiller	1911-1994	SPD	May 13, 1971	June 7, 1972
09	Helmut Schmidt	1918-2015	SPD	June 7, 1972	May 16, 1974
10	Hans Apel	1932-2011	SPD	May 16, 1974	February 15, 1978
11	Hans Matthöfer	1925-2009	SPD	February 16, 1978	April 28, 1982
12	Manfred Lahnstein	* 1937	SPD	April 28, 1982	October 1, 1982
13	Gerhard Stoltenberg	1928-2001	CDU	4th October 1982	April 21, 1989
14th	Theo Waigel	* 1939	CSU	April 21, 1989	October 27, 1998
15th	Oskar Lafontaine	* 1943	SPD	October 27, 1998	March 18, 1999
-	Werner Müller (acting)	1946-2019	independent	March 18, 1999	April 12, 1999
16	Hans Eichel	* 1941	SPD	April 12, 1999	November 22, 2005
17th	Peer Steinbruck	* 1947	SPD	November 22, 2005	October 28, 2009
18th	Wolfgang Schäuble	* 1942	CDU	October 28, 2009	October 24, 2017
-	Peter Altmaier (acting)	* 1958	CDU	October 24, 2017	March 14, 2018
19th	Olaf Scholz	* 1958	SPD	March 14, 2018	officiating