Reich Minister

Anton von Schmerling from Austria: On July 15, 1848, he was one of the first three to be appointed German Reich Minister.

Reichsminister was the name of the members of the provisional central authority of the short-lived German Reich from 1848/49 and those of the government of the German Reich between 1919 and 1945.

In 1848/1849, instead of the organs of the German Confederation , the Frankfurt National Assembly acted as parliament and the provisional central authority it set up as government. According to the Central Power Act of June 28, 1848, the Reichsverweser appointed the Reichsminister . With the end of central power on December 20, the activities of the Reich ministers ended.

During the period of the German Empire between 1871 and 1918 there was no collegial government with ministers, but only a chancellor as the only responsible minister . The state secretaries of the highest Reich authorities, the Reichsämter , were subordinates of the Chancellor. Instead of the imperial government one spoke evasively of "imperial leadership".

In the Weimar Republic from 1919 to 1933, the Reich ministers were the other members of the Reich government as a collegial body , in addition to the Reich Chancellor , appointed by the Reich President on the proposal of the Reich Chancellor . A chancellor or minister had to resign if a majority in the Reichstag so demanded. In 1919, under the Act on Provisional Reich Power , the official title of the Reich Chancellor was initially President of the Reich Ministry (also Prime Minister ).

In the time of National Socialism between 1933 and 1945, the Reich Ministers were appointed by Adolf Hitler as “ Führer and Reich Chancellor” from 1934 onwards and were solely responsible to him ( Führer principle ). Their position was undermined by the organization of the NSDAP and the numerous special envoy that Hitler appointed.