The Auswärtiges Amt (literally "Foreign Office") is the German federal ministry charged with conducting the country's foreign relations and representing Germany abroad. It is headquartered in Berlin at Werderscher Markt, with a secondary site in Bonn, and runs Germany's worldwide network of embassies, consulates-general, and permanent missions to international organisations.
Originally founded in 1870 as the foreign office of the North German Confederation, it became the foreign ministry of the German Empire in 1871 under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. The institution retained the unusual name Amt ("office") rather than Ministerium ("ministry") for historical reasons tied to Bismarck's preference for personally directing foreign affairs as Chancellor. The ministry continued through the Weimar Republic and the Nazi period — a history examined critically in the 2010 independent historians' report Das Amt und die Vergangenheit. After 1945 a new Foreign Office was re-established in the Federal Republic in 1951, initially headed by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer himself.
The Auswärtiges Amt is led by the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs (Bundesaußenminister), supported by ministers of state and a career civil-service apparatus organised into regional and functional directorates-general covering political affairs, European policy, economic and sustainable development, cultural relations, legal affairs, and consular and protocol matters. It coordinates closely with the Chancellery, the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee, and EU institutions.
For MUN delegates and researchers, the ministry is the primary public source for German positions on UN, EU, NATO, OSCE, and G7/G20 questions. Its website publishes country profiles, press statements, and the texts of bilateral treaties. Notable recent ministers include Joschka Fischer (1998–2005), Frank-Walter Steinmeier (2005–09, 2013–17), Heiko Maas (2018–21), and Annalena Baerbock (2021–25), the first Green to hold the post and architect of Germany's 2023 National Security Strategy and feminist foreign policy guidelines.
Example
In February 2022, the Auswärtiges Amt under Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock summoned the Russian ambassador to Berlin in response to Russia's recognition of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics."
Frequently asked questions
The name dates to 1870, when Bismarck as Chancellor preferred to keep foreign policy under his own direction rather than create a fully autonomous ministry. The label stuck even after the minister became a full cabinet member.
Keep learning