The Minister of Finance of Germany (german: Finanzminister) is the head of the Federal Ministry of Finance and a member of the Federal Cabinet.

State Secretaries for Finance of the German Empire (1880–1918)

* Adolf Heinrich Wilhelm Scholz 1880–1882 *

Franz Emil Emanuel von Burchard Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...

1882–1886 * Karl Rudolf Jacobi 1886–1888 * Baron Helmuth von Maltzahn 1888–1893 * Count

Arthur von Posadowsky-Wehner Arthur Adolf, Count of Posadowsky-Wehner, Baron of Postelwitz (german: Arthur Graf von Posadowsky-Wehner Freiherr von Postelwitz, 3 June 1845 – 23 October 1932) was a German conservative statesman. He served as the secretary for the Treasury (18 ...

1893–1897 * Baron Max Franz Guido von Thielmann 1897–1903 * Baron Hermann von Stengel 1903–1908 * Reinhold Sydow 1908–1909 *

Adolf Wermuth Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and to a lesser extent in var ...

1909–1912 * Hermann Kühn 1912–1915 *

Karl Helfferich Karl Theodor Helfferich (22 July 1872 – 23 April 1924) was a German politician, economist, and financier from Neustadt an der Weinstraße in the Palatinate. Biography Helfferich studied law and political science at the universities of Munich, ...

1915–1916 * Count Siegfried von Roedern 1916–1918

Ministers of Finance (1918–1945)

Minister of Finance of the German Democratic Republic (1949–1990)

Ministers of Finance of the Federal Republic of Germany (1949–present)

Political party: {, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" ! colspan=2, Name
(born and died) ! Party ! colspan=2, Term of office !

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

(Cabinet) , - ! style="background:;" , 1 ,

Fritz Schäffer Fritz Schäffer (12 May 1888 – 29 March 1967) was a German politician of the Bavarian People's Party (BVP) and the Christian Social Union (CSU). He was the Bavarian Minister of Finance from 1931 to 1933, when the Nazis came to power in Berlin ...

(1888–1967) ,

CSU CSU may refer to: * Channel service unit, a Wide area network equivalent of a network interface card * Chari Aviation Services, Chad, by ICAO airline code * Christian Social Union (UK), an Anglican social gospel organisation * Christian Social ...

, 20 September 1949 , 29 October 1957 , Adenauer
( I • II) , - ! style="background:;color:white;" , 2 ,

Franz Etzel Franz Etzel (12 August 1902 – 9 May 1970) was a German politician of the CDU. Etzel was born in Wesel, Rhine Province. From 1949 to 4 January 1953 and from 1957 to 1965 Etzel was member of the German Bundestag. From 1957 to 1961 he was Minis ...

(1902–1970) , CDU , 29 October 1957 , 14 November 1961 , Adenauer
(III) , - ! style="background:;" , 3 ,

Heinz Starke Heinz Starke (27 February 1911 – 31 January 2001) was a German politician. He was born in Schweidnitz, Silesia. He was Minister of Finance of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1961–62. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1953 to 1980 repr ...

(1911–2001) , FDP , 14 November 1961 , 19 November 1962 , Adenauer
(IV) , - ! style="background:;" , 4 ,

Rolf Dahlgrün Rolf Dahlgrün (19 May 1908 – 19 December 1969) was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). From 1962 to 1966, he was the Minister of Finance. Dahlgrün studied law. He worked since 1936 for the Phönix Gummiwerke AG in Hamb ...

(1908–1969) , FDP , 14 December 1962 , 28 October 1966 , Adenauer (V)

Erhard Erhard is a male German given name and surname, and may refer to: People *Erhard of Regensburg, bishop of Regensburg in the 7th century * Erhard Altdorfer (c. 1480–1561), German Early Renaissance printmaker, painter and architect *Erhard Arnold J ...

(I • II) , - ! style="background:;color:white;" , 5 ,

Kurt Schmücker Kurt Schmücker (10 November 1919 – 6 January 1996) was a German politician, member of Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Biography Schmücker was born on 10 November 1919 in Löningen, in the Free State of Oldenburg. In 1938, he ended a boo ...

(1919–1996) , CDU , 8 November 1966 , 30 November 1966 ,

(II) , - ! style="background:;" , 6 ,

Franz Josef Strauß Franz Josef Strauss ( ; 6 September 1915 – 3 October 1988) was a German politician. He was the long-time chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) from 1961 until 1988, member of the federal cabinet in different positions between ...

(1915–1988) , CSU , 1 December 1966 , 21 October 1969 , Kiesinger
( I) , - ! style="background:;" , 7 ,

Alex Möller Alexander Johann Heinrich Friedrich Möller (26 April 1903 – 2 October 1985) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Möller was born in Dortmund. He was a member of the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg from 1946 to 5 Octob ...

(1903–1985) , SPD , 22 October 1969 , 13 May 1971 , rowspan=2,

Brandt Brandt may refer to: Places United States * Brandt, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Brandt, South Dakota, a town * Brandt Township, Polk County, Minnesota Elsewhere * Mount Brandt, Queen Maud Land, Antarctica * Brandt Cove, South Georgi ...

( I) , - ! style="background:;" , 8 ,

Karl Schiller Karl August Fritz Schiller (24 April 1911 – 26 December 1994) was a German economist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). From 1966 to 1972, he was Federal Minister of Economic Affairs and from 1971 to 1972 Federal Minister o ...

(1911–1994) , SPD , 13 May 1971 , 7 July 1972 , - ! style="background:;" , 9 ,

Helmut Schmidt Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Before becoming Ch ...

(1918–2015) , SPD , 7 July 1972 , 1 May 1974 ,

( I • II) , - ! style="background:;" , 10 ,

Hans Apel Hans Eberhard Apel (25 February 1932 – 6 September 2011) was a German politician and a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). From 1972 to 1974 he was Parliamentary State Secretary to the Foreign Minister. From 1974 to 1978 he was the ...

(1932–2011) , SPD , 16 May 1974 , 15 February 1978 , Schmidt
( I • II) , - ! style="background:;" , 11 ,

Hans Matthöfer Hans Hermann Matthöfer (25 September 1925 – 14 November 2009) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Between 1974 and 1978 Matthöfer served as secretary of research and technology. In 1978 he took over as secretary of ...

(1925–2009) , SPD , 16 February 1978 , 28 April 1982 , Schmidt
(II • III) , - ! style="background:;" , 12 ,

Manfred Lahnstein Manfred Lahnstein (born 20 December 1937) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). In 1982 he was German Federal Minister of Finance as well as Federal Minister of Economics and until 2004 worked for the media conglomerat ...

(b. 1937) , SPD , 28 April 1982 , 1 October 1982 , Schmidt
(III) , - ! style="background:;color:white;" , 13 ,

Gerhard Stoltenberg Gerhard Stoltenberg (29 September 1928 – 23 November 2001) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and minister in the cabinets of Ludwig Erhard, Kurt Georg Kiesinger and Helmut Kohl. He served as Minister-Presiden ...

(1928–2001) , CDU , 4 October 1982 , 21 April 1989 ,

Kohl Kohl may refer to: *Kohl (cosmetics), an ancient eye cosmetic * Kohl (surname), including a list of people with the surname *Kohl's Kohl's (stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain, operated by Kohl's Corporation. ...

( I • II •

III III or iii may refer to: Companies * Information International, Inc., a computer technology company * Innovative Interfaces, Inc., a library-software company * 3i, formerly Investors in Industry, a British investment company Other uses * ...

) , - ! style="background:;" , 14 , Theodor Waigel
(b. 1939) , CSU , 21 April 1989 , 27 October 1998 ,

(

• IV • V) , - ! style="background:;" , 15 ,

Oskar Lafontaine Oskar Lafontaine (; born 16 September 1943) is a German politician. He served as Minister-President of the state of Saarland from 1985 to 1998, and was federal leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1995 to 1999. He was the lead candid ...

(b. 1943) , SPD , 27 October 1998 , 18 March 1999 , Schröder
( I) , - ! style="background:;" , 16 , Hans Eichel
(b. 1941) , SPD , 12 April 1999 , 22 November 2005 , Schröder
( I • II) , - ! style="background:;" , 17 ,

Peer Steinbrück Peer Steinbrück (born 10 January 1947) is a German politician who was the Chancellor-candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the 2013 federal election. Steinbrück served as the eighth Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia f ...

(b. 1947) , SPD , 22 November 2005 , 28 October 2009 , Merkel
( I) , - ! style="background:;color:white;" , 18 ,

Wolfgang Schäuble Wolfgang Schäuble (; born 18 September 1942) is a German lawyer, politician and statesman whose political career has spanned for more than five decades. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he is one of the longest-serving politi ...

(b. 1942) , CDU , 28 October 2009 , 24 October 2017 , Merkel
( II •

) , - , - ! style="background:;color:white;" , – ,

Peter Altmaier Peter Altmaier (born 18 June 1958) is a German lawyer and CDU politician who served as Acting Minister of Finance from 2017 to 2018 and as Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy from 2018 to 2021. He previously served as Federal Mi ...

(''acting'')
(b. 1958) , CDU , 24 October 2017 , 14 March 2018 , Merkel
(

) , - ! style="background:;" , 19 ,

Olaf Scholz Olaf Scholz (; born ) is a German politician who has served as the chancellor of Germany since 8 December 2021. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice Chancellor under Angela Merkel and as Federal Minister ...

(b. 1958) , SPD , 14 March 2018 , 8 December 2021 , Merkel
( IV) , - ! style="background:{{party color, Free Democratic Party (Germany);" , 20 , Christian Lindner
(b. 1979) , FDP , 8 December 2021 , ''Incumbent'' , Scholz
( Scholz)

State Secretaries for Finance of the German Empire (1880–1918)

Ministers of Finance (1918–1945)

Minister of Finance of the German Democratic Republic (1949–1990)

Ministers of Finance of the Federal Republic of Germany (1949–present)

See also