Reichsminister

Reich Ministers were the names of the members of the provisional central power of the short-lived German Empire of 1848/49 as well as those of the governments of the German Empire between 1919 and 1945.

In 1848/1849, instead of the organs of the German Confederation, the Frankfurt National Assembly acted as parliament and the provisional central power it established acted as government. According to the Central Powers Act of 28 June 1848, the Reichsverweser appointed the Reich ministers. With the end of the central power on December 20, the activity of the ministers of the Reich ended.

In the period of the German Empire between 1871 and 1918, there was no collegial Reich government with ministers, but only an Imperial Chancellor as the only responsible minister. The state secretaries of the highest imperial authorities, the imperial offices, were subordinates of the chancellor. Instead of Reich government, one spoke evasively of "Reich leadership".

In the Weimar Republic from 1919 to 1933, the Reich Ministers were the other members of the Reich Government as a collegial body, appointed by the Reich President on the recommendation of the Reich Chancellor. A chancellor or minister had to resign if a majority of the Reichstag demanded it. In 1919, under the Act on Provisional Imperial Power, the Reich Chancellor's official title was initially President of the Reich Ministry (also Reich Minister President).

During the period of National Socialism between 1933 and 1945, the Reich Ministers were appointed by Adolf Hitler as "Führer and Reich Chancellor" since 1934 and were solely responsible to him (Führerprinzip). Their position was undermined by the organization of the NSDAP as well as the numerous special commissioners that Hitler appointed.