Religious affiliations of chancellors of Germany
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Most German chancellors have been followers of a Christian church. German society has been affected by a Catholic-Protestant divide since the Protestant Reformation, and the same effect is visible in this list of German chancellors. It is largely dominated by Catholics and Protestants as these remain the main confessions in the country.
The current German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is Catholic.
Details
Most of Germany's chancellors have been either Protestants or Catholics. A significant portion of Protestant chancellors belonged to the Prussian Union of Churches, which united the Reformed and Lutheran confessions throughout the Kingdom of Prussia and was in force since 1817. Some Catholic chancellors came from the Catholic Centre Party. The Christian Democratic Union, a party of both Catholics and Protestants, produced both kinds of chancellors. One chancellor, namely Philipp Scheidemann, was Reformed (Calvinist).[1]
Although there were some religious sceptic chancellors, most never officially renounced their faith and were given a Christian funeral. Hermann Müller, a Social Democrat heavily influenced by his father, an advocate of Ludwig Feuerbach's views, is the only one notable for not having been a member of any confession at all.
As some chancellors' views are uncertain or cause confusion among researchers, their official affiliation to a church is mentioned. Due to the German church tax system, legal membership in a church that has the right to collect taxes is officially registered and certain information on this status is available. Actual worldviews are not known for some chancellors; for others, they may differ from the belief system of the church of which they were legal members, as is the case e.g. Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. A further link to information on their worldviews is given where available, but the absence of such a mention does not mean that other chancellors’ views were necessarily in line with the teachings of their church. For issues about Nazi stance on religion, see Religion in Nazi Germany, Religious aspects of Nazism, and Religious views of Adolf Hitler.
By term
North German Confederation (1867–1871)
| Name | Term | Legal affiliation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Otto von Bismarck | 1867–1871 | Protestant[2] |
German Reich (1871–1945)
| Name | Term | Legal affiliation during office and notes on belief | |
|---|---|---|---|
| German Empire (1871–1918) | |||
| 1 | Otto von Bismarck | 1871–1890 | Affiliation: Protestant[2] |
| 2 | Leo von Caprivi | 1890–1894 | Affiliation: Protestant[3] |
| 3 | Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst | 1894–1900 | Affiliation: Catholic[4] |
| 4 | Bernhard von Bülow | 1900–1909 | Affiliation: Protestant[5] |
| 5 | Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg | 1909–1917 | Affiliation: Protestant[6] |
| 6 | Georg Michaelis | 1917 | Affiliation: Protestant[7] |
| 7 | Georg von Hertling | 1917–1918 | Affiliation: Catholic[8] |
| 8 | Max von Baden | 1918 | Affiliation: Protestant[9] |
| Weimar Republic (1918–1933) | |||
| 9 | Friedrich Ebert | 1918–1919 | Affiliation: None Baptised Catholic, but later (before 1912) officially left the denomination.[10] |
| 10 | Philipp Scheidemann | 1919 | Affiliation: Protestant[11] |
| 11 | Gustav Bauer | 1919–1920 | Affiliation: None Unaffiliated to any recognised religion at least from 1912 to 1924. Buried in a Protestant cemetery.[12] |
| 12 | Hermann Müller | 1920 | Affiliation: None[13] |
| 13 | Constantin Fehrenbach | 1920–1921 | Affiliation: Catholic[14] |
| 14 | Joseph Wirth | 1921–1922 | Affiliation: Catholic[15] |
| 15 | Wilhelm Cuno | 1922–1923 | Affiliation: Catholic[16] |
| 16 | Gustav Stresemann | 1923 | Affiliation: Protestant[17] |
| 17 | Wilhelm Marx | 1923–1925 | Affiliation: Catholic[18] |
| 18 | Hans Luther | 1925–1926 | Affiliation: Protestant[19] |
| 19 (17) | Wilhelm Marx | 1926–1928 | Affiliation: Catholic[18] |
| 20 (12) | Hermann Müller | 1928–1930 | Affiliation: None[13] |
| 21 | Heinrich Brüning | 1930–1932 | Affiliation: Catholic[20] |
| 22 | Franz von Papen | 1932 | Affiliation: Catholic[21] |
| 23 | Kurt von Schleicher | 1932–1933 | Affiliation: Protestant[22] |
| Nazi Germany (1933–1945) | |||
| 24 | Adolf Hitler | 1933–1945 | Affiliation: Catholic[23] A determined opponent of the Catholic faith, see Nazi attitudes towards Christianity and Religious views of Adolf Hitler |
| 25 | Joseph Goebbels | 1945 | Affiliation: Catholic[24] A determined opponent of the Catholic faith, see Nazi attitudes towards Christianity. Claims in his diary that Hitler forbade him to disaffiliate for tactical political reasons. |
| 26 | Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk | 1945 | Affiliation: Protestant[25] |
Federal Republic of Germany (1949–present)
| Name | Term | Legal affiliation during office and notes on belief | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Konrad Adenauer | 1949–1963 | Affiliation: Catholic[26] |
| 2 | Ludwig Erhard | 1963–1966 | Affiliation: Protestant[27] |
| 3 | Kurt Georg Kiesinger | 1966–1969 | Affiliation: Catholic[28] |
| 4 | Willy Brandt | 1969–1974 | Affiliation: Protestant[29] |
| 5 | Helmut Schmidt | 1974–1982 | Affiliation: Protestant[30] He is known to have had a distant relationship with religion, having no faith in divine justice.[31] |
| 6 | Helmut Kohl | 1982–1998 | Affiliation: Catholic[32] |
| 7 | Gerhard Schröder | 1998–2005 | Affiliation: Protestant[33] He did not use the religious form of his oath of office. |
| 8 | Angela Merkel | 2005–2021 | Affiliation: Protestant[34] She is the daughter of a pastor and has regularly affirmed her Christian beliefs. |
| 9 | Olaf Scholz | 2021–2025 | Affiliation: None[35] In spite of having disaffiliated, Scholz has claimed that he has completely read the Bible and that Christianity has left a clear mark on who he is.[36] He did not use the religious form of his oath of office. |
| 10 | Friedrich Merz | 2025–present | Affiliation: Catholic[37] |
Affiliation totals
| Affiliation | |
|---|---|
| Protestant | 16 |
| Catholic | 14a |
| None | 4 |
a. ^Including two determined opponents of the Catholic faith, Hitler and Goebbels (see Nazi attitudes towards Christianity).