Germany. Auswärtiges Amt

The Auswärtiges Amt is Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, the cabinet-level ministry responsible for foreign policy and for Germany’s relationship with the European Union. It is one of the country’s central foreign-service institutions and serves as the hub of Germany’s diplomatic work.

Its roots go back to 12 January 1870, when the Foreign Office was established for the North German Confederation and then continued under the German Empire. After the Second World War, the ministry was re-established in 1951 in Bonn, and in 1999 it returned to Berlin, where its main headquarters now stand at Werderscher Markt.

The institution also presents itself as one that engages seriously with its own past. Public material from its Political Archive and historical information from the ministry highlight both its long institutional history and its efforts to make records accessible and encourage open examination of that history.