German Chancellery
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The Chancellor's Office (Chancellery) (in German, Bundeskanzleramt, or more commonly Kanzleramt) is the office of the Chancellor, the head of the German federal government (Bundesregierung). The chief of the Chancellery (Chef des Bundeskanzleramtes) holds the rank of either a state secretary (Staatssekretär) or a federal minister (Bundesminister). The chief's primary function is to assist the Chancellor in coordinating the activities of the Federal Government. Despite this important position in the German political system, the Chancellery and its chief largely work in the background and have little public attention. The current chief of the Chancellery is Thomas de Maizière.
The Chancellery is also the name of the building that houses the personal offices of the Chancellor and the Chancellery staff.
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[edit] History
The German Chancellery was established in 1871 as the Imperial Chancellery (Reichskanzlei), and originally had its seat in the Radziwill Palace (also known as Reichskanzlerpalais), built by Anton Radziwill in Wilhelmstraße 77 in Berlin. In 1938-39 the New Chancellery (Neue Reichskanzlei), designed by Albert Speer, was built; it was located at Voßstraße 6 and occupied the entire northern side of the Voßstraße between Wilhelmplatz (to the east) and Hermann-Göring-Straße (to the west). It was damaged during World War II and later demolished by Soviet occupation forces.
After the war, Bonn became seat of the West German government and the Chancellery (now known as the Bundeskanzleramt - Chancellor's Office) moved into Palais Schaumburg until a new Chancellery building was completed in 1976. The new West German Chancellery building was a black structure completed in the International Style, in an unassuming example of modernism.
In the summer of 1999, as part of the German government's move to Berlin, the Chancellery was temporarily housed in the former GDR State Council building (Staatsratsgebäude) in eastern Berlin as the new Chancellery building was not yet finished at the time.
[edit] The new Chancellery building
The current Chancellery building (opened in the spring of 2001) was designed by Charlotte Frank and Axel Schultes and was built by Acciona[1] from concrete and glass in an essentially postmodern style, though some elements of modernist style are evident. Occupying 12,000 square meters (129,166 square feet), it is also one of the largest government headquarters buildings in the world. By comparison, the new Chancellery building is eight times the size of the White House.[2], though it should be noted that a large part of the White House staff is not located in the actual White House building, but in the neighbouring Old Executive Office Building.
Because of its spectacular but controversial architecture, journalists, tourist guides and some locals refer to the buildings as Kohllosseum (as a mix of collosseum and former chancellor Helmut Kohl under whom it was built), Waschmaschine (laundry machine; because of the round-shaped windows and its cubic form), or Elefantenklo (elephant loo).
[edit] Visitors
Access for the general public is only possible on particular days during the year. Since 1999, the German government has welcomed the general public for one weekend per year to visit its buildings. This usually takes place in August and follows a German tradition called Tag der offenen Tür ("Day of the open door"), during which many institutions such as museums or other establishments are open for visitors (free of charge).
[edit] Heads of the Chancellery since 1950
Directors of the Chancellery attend Cabinet meetings. They may also sit as members of the Cabinet if they are also given the position of Minister for Special Affairs (Minister für besondere Aufgaben), similar to that of Minister without Portfolio in some other countries. They are often incorrectly called "Kanzleramtsminister" (chancellery minister).
- 1950–1951: Walter Hallstein
- 1951–1953: Otto Lenz
- 1953–1963: Hans Globke
- 1963–1966: Ludger Westrick (also Minister for Special Affairs and the Defense Council, 1964-66)
- 1966–1967: Werner Knieper
- 1967–1969: Karl Carstens
- 1969–1972: Horst Ehmke (also Minister for Special Affairs)
- 1972–1974: Horst Grabert
- 1974–1980: Manfred Schüler
- 1980–1982: Manfred Lahnstein
- 1982: Gerhard Konow
- 1982–1984: Waldemar Schreckenberger
- 1984–1989: Wolfgang Schäuble (also Minister for Special Affairs)
- 1989–1991: Rudolf Seiters (also Minister for Special Affairs)
- 1991–1998: Friedrich Bohl (also Minister for Special Affairs)
- 1998–1999: Bodo Hombach (also Minister for Special Affairs)
- 1999-2005: Frank-Walter Steinmeier
- since 2005: Thomas de Maizière (also Minister for Special Affairs)
[edit] References
- ^ Structurae database
- ^ Steven Rosenberg. "Merkel's faces tough EU challenge", BBC, January 19, 2007.
[edit] External links
