Religious affiliations of chancellors of Germany

Most German chancellors have been 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 Catholics and Lutherans as these remain the main confessions in the country.

Current German Chancellor, Angela Merkel is Lutheran.

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

Details

Most of Germany's chancellors have been either Lutherans or Catholics. 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 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. 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].

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 Religious views of Adolf Hitler.

By term

North German Confederation

	Name	Term	Religious affiliation
1	Otto von Bismarck	1867–1871	Lutheran

German Empire

	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	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	Catholic
8	Max von Baden	1918	Lutheran

Weimar Republic

	Name	Term	Religious affiliation
1	Friedrich Ebert	1918–1919	Irreligious (see details above)
2	Philipp Scheidemann	1919	Reformed
3	Gustav Bauer	1919–1920	Irreligious (see details above)
4	Hermann Müller	1920	Irreligious
5	Constantin Fehrenbach	1920-1921	Roman Catholic
6	Joseph Wirth	1921–1922	Roman Catholic
7	Wilhelm Cuno	1922–1923	Roman Catholic
8	Gustav Stresemann	1923	Lutheran
9	Wilhelm Marx	1923–1925	Roman Catholic
10	Hans Luther	1925–1926	Lutheran
11	Wilhelm Marx	1926–1928	Roman Catholic
12	Hermann Müller	1928-1930	Irreligious
13	Heinrich Brüning	1930-1932	Roman Catholic
14	Franz von Papen	1932	Roman Catholic
15	Kurt von Schleicher	1932–1933	Lutheran

Nazi Germany

	Name	Term	Religious affiliation
1	Adolf Hitler	1933–1945	initially Roman Catholic, see details
2	Joseph Goebbels	1945	initially Roman Catholic
3	Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk	1945	Lutheran

West Germany and reunified Germany

	Name	Term	Religious affiliation
N/A	Vacant	1945-1949	N/A
1	Konrad Adenauer	1949–1963	Roman Catholic
2	Ludwig Erhard	1963–1966	Lutheran
3	Kurt Georg Kiesinger	1966–1969	Roman Catholic
4	Willy Brandt	1969–1974	Lutheran
N/A	Walter Scheel	1974, acting	Lutheran
5	Helmut Schmidt	1974–1982	Lutheran
6	Helmut Kohl	1982–1998	Roman Catholic
7	Gerhard Schröder	1998-2005	Lutheran
8	Angela Merkel	2005–present	Lutheran

Affiliation totals

This table doesn't include Walter Scheel, a Lutheran who served as acting Chancellor in May 1974.

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

References

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

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[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"