The Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs (, ; abbreviated BMAS) is a federal ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany headed by the Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs as a member of the Cabinet of Germany (). Its first location is on Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin, the second in Bonn.
History
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 LabourGerman name: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit 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 German Reich (until 1945)
Reich Ministers
Political Party:
! colspan="8"| Weimar Republic (1919–1933)
! colspan="8"| Nazi Germany (1933–1945)
Federal Republic of Germany (1949–present) Federal Ministers Political Party:
Name(Born-Died)Portrait Party Term of Office Chancellor(Cabinet) 1 Anton Storch(1892–1975) CDU 20 September 1949 29 October 1957 Adenauer(I • II) 2 Theodor Blank (1905–1972) CDU 29 October 1957 26 October 1965 Adenauer (III • IV • V) Erhard (I) 3 Hans Katzer(1919–1996) CDU 26 October 1965 21 October 1969 Erhard (II) Kiesinger (I) 4 Walter Arendt(1925–2005) SPD 22 October 1969 16 December 1976 Brandt (I • II) Schmidt (I) 5 Herbert Ehrenberg(1926–2018) SPD 16 December 1976 28 April 1982 Schmidt(II • III) 6 Heinz Westphal(1924–1998) SPD 28 April 1982 1 October 1982 Schmidt(III) 7 Norbert Blüm(1935–2020) CDU 1 October 1982 27 October 1998 Kohl(I • II • III • IV • V) 8 Walter Riester(b. 1943) SPD 27 October 1998 22 October 2002 Schröder(I) Federal Minister for Economics and Labour22 October 200222 November 2005Schröder(II) 9a Wolfgang Clement(1940–2020) SPD Federal Minister for Health and Social Security 9b Ulla Schmidt(b. 1949) SPD 10 Franz Müntefering(b. 1940) SPD 22 November 2005 21 November 2007Merkel(I) 11 Olaf Scholz(b. 1958) SPD 21 November 2007 28 October 2009 12 Franz Josef Jung(b. 1949) CDU 28 October 2009 27 November 2009Merkel(II) 13 Ursula von der Leyen(b. 1958) CDU 30 November 2009 17 December 2013 14 Andrea Nahles(b. 1970) SPD 17 December 2013 28 September 2017Merkel(III) 15 Hubertus Heil (b. 1972) SPD 14 March 2018 6 May 2025Merkel (IV)Scholz (I) 16 Bärbel Bas (b. 1972) SPD 6 May 2025 IncumbentMerz (I)
Parliamentary State Sectretaries 1969–1974: Helmut Rohde (SPD) 1972–1976: Herbert Ehrenberg (SPD) 1974–1982: Hermann Buschfort (SPD) 1980–1982: Anke Fuchs (SPD) 1982: Rudolf Dreßler (SPD) 1982: Jürgen Egert (SPD) 1982–1991: Wolfgang Vogt (CDU) 1982–1984: Heinrich Franke (CDU) 1984–1989: Stefan Höpfinger (CSU) 1989–1992: Horst Seehofer (CSU) 1991–1998: Horst Günther (CDU) 1992–1998: Rudolf Kraus (CSU) 1998–2008: Gerd Andres (SPD) 1998–2002: Ulrike Mascher (SPD) 2002–2005: Ditmar Staffelt (SPD) 2002–2005: Rezzo Schlauch (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) 2002–2009: Franz Thönnes (SPD) 2005–2009: Klaus Brandner (SPD) 2009–2013: Ralf Brauksiepe (CDU) 2009–2013: Hans-Joachim Fuchtel (CDU) 2013–2018: Gabriele Lösekrug-Möller (SPD) 2013-2025: Anette Kramme (SPD) since 2018: Kerstin Griese (SPD) since 2025: Natalie Pawlik (SPD) since 2025: Katja Mast (SPD)
State secretaries The Secretaries of State are Leonie Gebers, Lilian Tschan and Michael Schäfer.
Building The ministry is located within the former Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. For the building's interior courtyard, artist Daniel Buren was commissioned with his large-scale installation La Grande Fenêtre (2001).Michael Z. Wise (7 June 1998), Where the Past Haunts, Berlin Embraces the New New York Times.
Notes
References
External links
Official Web site