German Chancellors and Presidents
This list is comprised of German Chancellors and Presidents. The Chancellor is the head of the government. Germany was unified in 1871, with the Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck becoming the first Chancellor.
The President is the official head of state. The office was established in 1919 during the Weimar Republic and re-established in 1949 in West Germany.
In German the Chancellor was originally called Reichskanzler meaning "imperial chancellor". Since 1949 the title is Bundeskanzler meaning "federal chancellor" (the first female chancellor, Angela Merkel, has the title Bundeskanzlerin). Likewise, the President was originally Reichspräsident and then Bundespräsident after 1949.
| Name | Years | Type | Other Names | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adolf Hitler | 1933-1945 | chancellor |  | |
| Angela Merkel | 2005-2021 | chancellor | (Dorothea) | |
| Bernhard von Bülow | 1900-1909 | chancellor | (Heinrich, Karl, Martin) | |
| Chlodwig of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst | 1894-1900 | chancellor | (Carl, Viktor) | |
| Christian Wulff | 2010-2012 | president | (Wilhelm, Walter) | |
| Constantin Fehrenbach | 1920-1921 | chancellor | | |
| Frank-Walter Steinmeier | 2017- | president | | |
| Franz von Papen | 1932 | chancellor | (Joseph, Hermann, Michael, Maria) | |
| Friedrich Ebert | 1918-1919; 1919-1925 | chancellor; president | | |
| Georg von Hertling | 1917-1918 | chancellor | (Friedrich) | |
| Georg Michaelis | 1917 | chancellor | | |
| Gerhard Schröder | 1998-2005 | chancellor | (Fritz, Kurt) | |
| Gustav Bauer | 1919-1920 | chancellor | (Adolf) | |
| Gustav Heinemann | 1969-1974 | president | (Walter) | |
| Gustav Stresemann | 1923 | chancellor | | |
| Hans Luther | 1925-1926 | chancellor | | |
| Heinrich Brüning | 1930-1932 | chancellor | | |
| Heinrich Lübke | 1959-1969 | president | (Karl) | |
| Helmut Kohl | 1982-1998 | chancellor | (Josef, Michael) | |
| Helmut Schmidt | 1974-1982 | chancellor | (Heinrich, Waldemar) | |
| Hermann Müller | 1920; 1928-1930 | chancellor | | |
| Horst Köhler | 2004-2010 | president | | |
| Joachim Gauck | 2012-2017 | president | | |
| Johannes Rau | 1999-2004 | president | | |
| Joseph Goebbels | 1945 | chancellor | (Paul) | |
| Joseph Wirth | 1921-1922 | chancellor | (Karl) | |
| Karl Carstens | 1979-1984 | president | | |
| Konrad Adenauer | 1949-1963 | chancellor | (Hermann, Joseph) | |
| Kurt Georg Kiesinger | 1966-1969 | chancellor | | |
| Kurt von Schleicher | 1932-1933 | chancellor | | |
| Leo von Caprivi | 1890-1894 | chancellor | (Georg) | |
| Ludwig Erhard | 1963-1966 | chancellor | (Wilhelm) | |
| Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk | 1945 | chancellor | (Johann) | |
| Maximilian of Baden | 1918 | chancellor | (Alexander, Friedrich, Wilhelm) | |
| Olaf Scholz | 2021- | chancellor | | |
| Otto von Bismarck | 1871-1890 | chancellor | (Eduard, Leopold) | |
| Paul von Hindenburg | 1925-1934 | president | | |
| Philipp Scheidemann | 1919 | chancellor | | |
| Richard von Weizsäcker | 1984-1994 | president | (Karl) | |
| Roman Herzog | 1994-1999 | president | | |
| Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg | 1909-1917 | chancellor | | |
| Theodor Heuss | 1949-1959 | president | | |
| Walter Scheel | 1974; 1974-1979 | chancellor; president | | |
| Wilhelm Cuno | 1922-1923 | chancellor | (Carl, Josef) | |
| Wilhelm Marx | 1923-1925; 1926-1928 | chancellor | | |
| Willy Brandt | 1969-1974 | chancellor | (Herbert, Ernst, Karl) | |