Religious affiliations of Chancellors of Germany

Current German Chancellor, Angela Merkel is Lutheran.

Most German Chancellors were 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 Roman Catholics and Lutherans as these remain the main confessions in the country. One chancellor, namely Philipp Scheidemann, was Reformed (Calvinist).[1] Although there were some religiously 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. Friedrich Ebert was baptised a Roman Catholic, but later officially left the denomination[2]. Gustav Bauer is on record as unaffiliated to any recognised religion at least from 1912 to 1924 (thus including his term of office)[3], but he was buried on a Protestant cemetery[4]. 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 Roman Catholic chancellors came from the Catholic Centre Party. The Christian Democratic Union, a party of both Roman Catholics and Protestants, produced both kinds of chancellors.

As some chancellors' views are uncertain or causing confusion among researchers, such as these of Adolf Hitler or Joseph Goebbels, the official religion they were brought up in is only mentioned with a further information on their worldviews, if available. For issues pertaining to Nazi stance on religion, see Religion in Nazi Germany, Religious aspects of Nazism, and Adolf Hitler's religious views.

The current German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is a Lutheran Protestant within the Evangelical Church.

## Contents

* 1 By term
* 1.1 North German Confederation
* 1.2 Germany
* 2 Affiliation totals
* 3 See also
* 4 References

## By term

### North German Confederation

| Name | Term | Religious affiliation

|
|
|

1 | Otto von Bismarck | 1867–1871 | Lutheran

### Germany

| Name | Term | Religious affiliation

|
|
|

1 | Otto von Bismarck | 1871–1890 | Lutheran
2 | Leo von Caprivi | 1890–1894 | Lutheran
3 | Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst | 1894–1900 | Roman Catholic
4 | Bernhard von Bülow | 1900–1909 | Lutheran
5 | Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg | 1909–1917 | Lutheran
6 | Georg Michaelis | 1917 | Lutheran
7 | Georg von Hertling | 1917–1918 | Roman Catholic
8 | Max von Baden | 1918 | Lutheran
9 | Friedrich Ebert | 1918–1919 | Irreligious (but see introduction above)
10 | Philipp Scheidemann | 1919 | Reformed
11 | Gustav Bauer | 1919–1920 | Irreligious (but see introduction above)
12 | Hermann Müller | 1920 | Irreligious
13 | Constantin Fehrenbach | 1920-1921 | Roman Catholic
14 | Joseph Wirth | 1921–1922 | Roman Catholic
15 | Wilhelm Cuno | 1922–1923 | Roman Catholic
16 | Gustav Stresemann | 1923 | Lutheran
17 | Wilhelm Marx | 1923–1925 | Roman Catholic
18 | Hans Luther | 1925–1926 | Lutheran
19 | Wilhelm Marx | 1926–1928 | Roman Catholic
20 | Hermann Müller | 1928-1930 | Irreligious
21 | Heinrich Brüning | 1930-1932 | Roman Catholic
22 | Franz von Papen | 1932 | Roman Catholic
23 | Kurt von Schleicher | 1932–1933 | Lutheran
24 | Adolf Hitler | 1933–1945 | initially Roman Catholic, see details
25 | Joseph Goebbels | 1945 | initially Roman Catholic
26 | Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk | 1945 | Lutheran
N/A | Vacant | 1945-1949 | N/A
27 | Konrad Adenauer | 1949–1963 | Roman Catholic
28 | Ludwig Erhard | 1963–1966 | Lutheran
29 | Kurt Georg Kiesinger | 1966–1969 | Roman Catholic
30 | Willy Brandt | 1969–1974 | Lutheran
N/A | Walter Scheel | 1974, acting | Lutheran
31 | Helmut Schmidt | 1974–1982 | Lutheran
32 | Helmut Kohl | 1982–1998 | Roman Catholic
33 | Gerhard Schröder | 1998-2005 | Lutheran
34 | Angela Merkel | 2005–present | Lutheran

## Affiliation totals

Affiliation |

|

Lutheran | 16
Roman Catholic | 12
initially Roman Catholic | 2
Reformed | 1
Irreligious | 3

## See also

* List of Prime Ministers of Canada by religious affiliation
* Religious affiliations of Prime Ministers of the Netherlands
* Religious affiliations of Presidents of the United States

## References

1. ↑ Scheidemann, Philipp Heinrich
2. ↑ Federal Archives, files of the Reich chancellery, Friedrich Ebert's death
3. ↑ See parliamentary handbooks downloadable here
4. ↑ See "Gemeinde Glienicke/Nordbahn: Schon fast in Vergessenheit geraten"

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