German Chancellery (Groß-Deutschland)

The German Chancellery (Bundeskanzleramt) is the executive office of the Chancellor, the head of the German federal government. The chief of the Chancellery (Chef des Bundeskanzleramtes) holds the rank of either a Secretary of State (Staatssekretär) or a Federal Minister (Reichsminister). The chief's primary function is to assist the Chancellor in coordinating the activities of the Federal Government, and may be compared to the White House Chief of Staff. The current chief of the Chancellery is Astrid Strauß, as of 2009.

The Chancellery is also the name of the building that houses the personal offices of the Chancellor and the Chancellery staff.

History









 * Berlin 1871-1945. 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 6 Voßstraße 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.


 * Bonn 1945-1949. After the war, Bonn became temporary seat of the German government and the Chancellery (now known as the  Reichskanzleramt  — Chancellor's Office) moved into Palais Schaumburg until a new Chancellery building was completed in 1949. The new German Chancellery building was a black structure completed in the International Style, in an unassuming example of modernism. A separate building  Kanzlerbungalow  in Bonn served as a private apartment/residence of the Chancellor and his family 1946-1948.


 * Berlin 1949-2001. In the summer of 1949, as part of the German government's move back 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; the Radziwill Palace, now the Reichskanzlerpalais finished reconstruction on September 22, 1949.

Visitors
Access for the general public is only possible on particular days during the year. Since 1997, the German government has welcomed the general public for one weekend per year to visit its buildings - usually in August.

Heads of the Chancellery
Chiefs (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). They are often called "Kanzleramtsminister" (chancellery minister).