Germany. Auswärtiges Amt

The Auswärtiges Amt is Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, the cabinet-level ministry responsible for foreign policy and for Germany’s relations within the European Union. In today’s Federal Republic, it serves as one of the central institutions shaping how Germany deals with the wider world.

Its roots go back to the North German Confederation in 1870, and the office continued through the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the Nazi period, postwar West Germany, and reunified Germany. That long institutional life makes it more than a government department: it is also a witness to major turning points in modern German and European history.

Because of that history, works issued under this name often connect practical diplomacy with questions of memory, responsibility, and international order. For readers, the name Auswärtiges Amt signals an official German perspective on foreign affairs, often grounded in archival sources, policy experience, and the evolving role of Germany in the world.