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Religious affiliations of Chancellors of Germany

Topic: Religion

 From HandWiki - Reading time: 3 min
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.

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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