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 |  | |
| Otto von Bismarck | 1871-1890 | chancellor | (Eduard, Leopold) | |
| Angela Merkel | 2005-2021 | chancellor | (Dorothea) | |
| Konrad Adenauer | 1949-1963 | chancellor | (Hermann, Joseph) | |
| Helmut Kohl | 1982-1998 | chancellor | (Josef, Michael) | |
| Gerhard Schröder | 1998-2005 | chancellor | (Fritz, Kurt) | |
| Joseph Goebbels | 1945 | chancellor | (Paul) | |
| Willy Brandt | 1969-1974 | chancellor | (Herbert, Ernst, Karl) | |
| Paul von Hindenburg | 1925-1934 | president | | |
| Helmut Schmidt | 1974-1982 | chancellor | (Heinrich, Waldemar) | |
| Olaf Scholz | 2021-2025 | chancellor | | |
| Horst Köhler | 2004-2010 | president | | |
| Joachim Gauck | 2012-2017 | president | | |
| Ludwig Erhard | 1963-1966 | chancellor | (Wilhelm) | |
| Frank-Walter Steinmeier | 2017- | president | | |
| Gustav Stresemann | 1923 | chancellor | | |
| Christian Wulff | 2010-2012 | president | (Wilhelm, Walter) | |
| Friedrich Ebert | 1918-1919; 1919-1925 | chancellor; president | | |
| Richard von Weizsäcker | 1984-1994 | president | (Karl) | |
| Franz von Papen | 1932 | chancellor | (Joseph, Hermann, Michael, Maria) | |
| Johannes Rau | 1999-2004 | president | | |
| Kurt Georg Kiesinger | 1966-1969 | chancellor | | |
| Roman Herzog | 1994-1999 | president | | |
| Gustav Heinemann | 1969-1974 | president | (Walter) | |
| Walter Scheel | 1974; 1974-1979 | chancellor; president | | |
| Heinrich Lübke | 1959-1969 | president | (Karl) | |
| Theodor Heuss | 1949-1959 | president | | |
| Kurt von Schleicher | 1932-1933 | chancellor | | |
| Karl Carstens | 1979-1984 | president | | |
| Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg | 1909-1917 | chancellor | | |
| Hans Luther | 1925-1926 | chancellor | | |
| Leo von Caprivi | 1890-1894 | chancellor | (Georg) | |
| Philipp Scheidemann | 1919 | chancellor | | |
| Wilhelm Marx | 1923-1925; 1926-1928 | chancellor | | |
| Bernhard von Bülow | 1900-1909 | chancellor | (Heinrich, Karl, Martin) | |
| Hermann Müller | 1920; 1928-1930 | chancellor | | |
| Gustav Bauer | 1919-1920 | chancellor | (Adolf) | |
| Friedrich Merz | 2025- | chancellor | (Joachim, Martin, Josef) | |
| Constantin Fehrenbach | 1920-1921 | chancellor | | |
| Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk | 1945 | chancellor | (Johann) | |
| Maximilian of Baden | 1918 | chancellor | (Alexander, Friedrich, Wilhelm) | |
| Georg Michaelis | 1917 | chancellor | | |
| Joseph Wirth | 1921-1922 | chancellor | (Karl) | |
| Wilhelm Cuno | 1922-1923 | chancellor | (Carl, Josef) | |
| Georg von Hertling | 1917-1918 | chancellor | (Friedrich) | |
| Heinrich Brüning | 1930-1932 | chancellor | | |
| Chlodwig of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst | 1894-1900 | chancellor | (Carl, Viktor) | |