The
Reich Ministry of Labour of the
Weimar Republic was established on 13 February 1919 as the successor of the Labour Office (
Reichsarbeitsamt) of the
German Empire. The
Social Democratic politician
Gustav Bauer became the first Minister for Labour under Chancellor
Philipp Scheidemann, whom he succeeded on 21 June that year. On the day of the
Machtergreifung in January 1933, the
German National politician and
Der Stahlhelm leader
Franz Seldte was appointed Minister for Labour in the
Cabinet Hitler, a position he officially held until 1945, though the day-to-day affairs of the Ministry were managed largely by the
State Secretaries Johannes Krohn (1933–1939) and
Friedrich Syrup (1939–1945). The
West German Ministry for Labour was re-established in
Bonn on 20 September 1949 with the
Cabinet Adenauer I. According to the 1991
Berlin/Bonn Act it moved to its present seat in Berlin-
Mitte in 2000, on premises formerly used by Goebbels'
Propaganda Ministry and the East German
National Front organisation. During the
Cabinet Schröder II from 2002 to 2005, the ministry had been dissolved and its responsibilities allocated to the
Federal Ministry for Economics and Labour and the
Federal Ministry of Health and Social Security. Responsibilities were re-allocated once again when a new government was formed under Chancellor
Angela Merkel following the
Bundestag elections of 2005. The German name was changed from
Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Sozialordnung to
Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales. == Ministers ==