In
German politics, the Ministry of Finance beside the
Interior,
Foreign,
Justice and
Defence ministries is counted as one of the "classical portfolios" (denoted by the definite article
der), which were also part of the first German government under
Otto von Bismarck following the
Unification of 1871. , Berlin, 1930s Fiscal policy in the
German Empire was predominantly the domain of the various
states responsible for all direct taxation according to the 1833
Zollverein treaties. The federal government merely received indirect contributions from the states. Matters of fiscal policy at the federal level initially was the exclusive responsibility of the
German Chancellery under
Otto von Bismarck. However, in 1877 a special finance department was established, which with effect from 14 July 1879 was separated from the chancellery as the Imperial Treasury (
Reichsschatzamt), a federal agency in its own right. With its seat vis-à-vis on
Wilhelmplatz in
Berlin, it was first headed by a subsecretary, and from 1880 by a
State Secretary only answerable to the chancellor. After
World War I, the newly established
Weimar Republic had to face huge
reparations and a fiscal emergency. To cope with the implications, the former
Reichsschatzamt in 1919 was re-organised as a federal ministry, the
Reichsministerium der Finanzen, as supreme financial authority headed by a federal minister. Besides a Reich Treasury Ministry (
Reichsschatzministerium) was established for the administration of the federal property, both agencies were merged in 1923. Already in the German cabinet of Chancellor
Franz von Papen, Undersecretary
Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk was appointed Finance Minister in 1932, an office he held throughout the
Nazi era until 1945. The ministry played a vital role in financing the
German re-armament, in the "
Aryanization" of Jewish property ("
Reich Flight Tax"), German
war economy, and the plundering of occupied countries in
World War II. The
budget deficit had already reached heady heights on the eve of the war, aggrandised by hidden
Mefo and
Oeffa bill financing. In turn, saving banks and credit institutions were obliged to sign
war bonds while price stability was enforced by
government intervention and the German public was called up to bank surplus money. After
World War II the ministry was re-established in 1949 and renamed the
West German Bundesministerium der Finanzen. Since 1999, the Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus (former
Air Ministry Building) in Berlin has been the headquarters of the ministry. During the period of Reunification in the 1990s', the Ministry of Finance headed by Theo Waigel, refused to return eight buildings in East Germany belonging to six Austrian Jewish citizens / NS victims. Allgemeine Judische Wochenzeitung; 10 September 1992; "Expropriation through the back door; German Government adds to its coffers / Loopholes in German bureaucracy make Injustice permanent." ("Enteignung durch die Hintertur; Der Bund bereichert sich / Winkelzuge deutscher Burocratie schreiben Unrecht fest"). == Structure and function ==