List of German finance ministers

The Minister of Finance of Germany (German: Finanzminister) is the head of the Federal Ministry of Finance and a member of the Federal Cabinet.

Minister of Finance
Finanzminister
Coat of arms of the German Government
State flag of Germany
Incumbent Lars Klingbeil since 6 May 2025
Federal Ministry of Finance
Member of	Federal Cabinet
Appointer	The Chancellor
Formation	1880
First holder	Adolf von Scholz

State Secretaries for Finance of the German Empire (1880–1918)

• Adolf Heinrich Wilhelm Scholz 1880–1882
• Franz Emil Emanuel von Burchard 1882–1886
• Karl Rudolf Jacobi 1886–1888
• Baron Helmuth von Maltzahn 1888–1893
• Count Arthur von Posadowsky-Wehner 1893–1897
• Baron Max Franz Guido von Thielmann 1897–1903
• Baron Hermann von Stengel 1903–1908
• Reinhold Sydow 1908–1909
• Adolf Wermuth 1909–1912
• Hermann Kühn 1912–1915
• Karl Helfferich 1915–1916
• Count Siegfried von Roedern 1916–1918

Ministers of Finance (1918–1945)

No.	Portrait	Name (born and died)	Term			Political party	Government
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Eugen Schiffer (1860–1954)	13 February 1919	19 April 1919	65 days	DDP	Scheidemann
2		Bernhard Dernburg (1865–1937)	19 April 1919	20 June 1919	62 days	DDP	Scheidemann
3		Matthias Erzberger (1875–1921)	21 June 1919	12 March 1920	265 days	Centre	Bauer
4		Joseph Wirth (1879–1956)	27 March 1920	22 October 1921	1 year, 209 days	Centre	Müller I Fehrenbach Wirth I
5		Andreas Hermes (1878–1964)	26 October 1921	13 August 1923	1 year, 291 days	Centre	Wirth II Cuno
6		Rudolf Hilferding (1877–1941)	13 August 1923	1 October 1923	49 days	SPD	Stresemann I
7		Hans Luther (1879–1962)	6 October 1923	15 December 1924	1 year, 70 days	Independent	Stresemann II Marx I–II
8		Otto von Schlieben [de] (1875–1932)	19 January 1925	26 October 1925	280 days	DNVP	Luther I
–		Hans Luther (1879–1962) Acting	26 October 1925	20 January 1926	86 days	Independent	Luther I
9		Peter Reinhold (1887–1955)	20 January 1926	29 January 1927	1 year, 9 days	DDP	Luther II Marx III
10		Heinrich Köhler (1878–1949)	29 January 1927	29 June 1928	1 year, 152 days	Centre	Marx IV
(6)		Rudolf Hilferding (1877–1941)	29 June 1928	21 December 1929	1 year, 175 days	SPD	Müller II
11		Paul Moldenhauer (1876–1947)	23 December 1929	20 June 1930	179 days	DVP	Müller II Brüning I
–		Heinrich Brüning (1885–1970) Acting	20 June 1930	26 June 1930	6 days	Centre	Brüning I
12		Hermann Dietrich (1879–1954)	26 June 1930	1 June 1932	1 year, 341 days	DStP	Brüning I–II
13		Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk (1887–1977) (Independent until 1937)	1 June 1932	23 May 1945	12 years, 356 days	NSDAP	Papen Schleicher Hitler Goebbels Schwerin von Krosigk

Ministers of Finance of the German Democratic Republic (1949–1990)

No.	Portrait	Name (born and died)	Term			Political party	Government
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Hans Loch (1898–1960)	11 October 1949	26 November 1955	6 years, 46 days	LDPD	Provisional government Council of Ministers (1950–1954) (1954–1958)
2		Willy Rumpf (1903–1982)	26 November 1955	12 December 1966	11 years, 16 days	SED	Council of Ministers (1954–1958) (1958–1963) (1963–1967)
3		Siegfried Böhm (1928–1980)	12 December 1966	5 May 1980	13 years, 145 days	SED	Council of Ministers (1963–1967) (1967–1971) (1971–1976) (1976–1981)
4		Werner Schmieder (born 1926)	5 May 1980	26 June 1981	1 year, 52 days	SED	Council of Ministers (1976–1981)
5		Ernst Höfner (1929–2009)	26 June 1981	7 November 1989	8 years, 134 days	SED	Council of Ministers (1981–1986) (1986-1989)
6		Uta Nickel (born 1941)	18 November 1989	12 April 1990	145 days	SED	Modrow
7		Walter Romberg (1928–2014)	12 April 1990	16 August 1990	126 days	SPD	de Maizière
–		Werner Skowron [de] (1943–2016) Acting	16 August 1990	2 October 1990	47 days	CDU	de Maizière

Ministers of Finance of the Federal Republic of Germany (1949–present)

Political party:   CSU   CDU   FDP   SPD

Name (born and died)		Party	Term of office		Chancellor (Cabinet)
1	Fritz Schäffer (1888–1967)	CSU	20 September 1949	29 October 1957	Adenauer (I • II)
2	Franz Etzel (1902–1970)	CDU	29 October 1957	14 November 1961	Adenauer (III)
3	Heinz Starke (1911–2001)	FDP	14 November 1961	19 November 1962	Adenauer (IV)
4	Rolf Dahlgrün (1908–1969)	FDP	14 December 1962	28 October 1966	Adenauer (V) Erhard (I • II)
5	Kurt Schmücker (1919–1996)	CDU	8 November 1966	30 November 1966	Erhard (II)
6	Franz Josef Strauß (1915–1988)	CSU	1 December 1966	21 October 1969	Kiesinger (I)
7	Alex Möller (1903–1985)	SPD	22 October 1969	13 May 1971	Brandt (I)
8	Karl Schiller (1911–1994)	SPD	13 May 1971	7 July 1972
9	Helmut Schmidt (1918–2015)	SPD	7 July 1972	1 May 1974	Brandt (I • II)
10	Hans Apel (1932–2011)	SPD	16 May 1974	15 February 1978	Schmidt (I • II)
11	Hans Matthöfer (1925–2009)	SPD	16 February 1978	28 April 1982	Schmidt (II • III)
12	Manfred Lahnstein (b. 1937)	SPD	28 April 1982	1 October 1982	Schmidt (III)
13	Gerhard Stoltenberg (1928–2001)	CDU	4 October 1982	21 April 1989	Kohl (I • II • III)
14	Theodor Waigel (b. 1939)	CSU	21 April 1989	27 October 1998	Kohl (III • IV • V)
15	Oskar Lafontaine (b. 1943)	SPD	27 October 1998	18 March 1999	Schröder (I)
16	Hans Eichel (b. 1941)	SPD	12 April 1999	22 November 2005	Schröder (I • II)
17	Peer Steinbrück (b. 1947)	SPD	22 November 2005	28 October 2009	Merkel (I)
18	Wolfgang Schäuble (1942–2023)	CDU	28 October 2009	24 October 2017	Merkel (II • III)
–	Peter Altmaier (acting) (b. 1958)	CDU	24 October 2017	14 March 2018	Merkel (III)
19	Olaf Scholz (b. 1958)	SPD	14 March 2018	8 December 2021	Merkel (IV)
20	Christian Lindner (b. 1979)	FDP	8 December 2021	7 November 2024	Scholz (I)
21	Jörg Kukies (b. 1968)	SPD	7 November 2024	6 May 2025	Scholz (I)
22	Lars Klingbeil (b. 1978)	SPD	6 May 2025	incumbent	Merz (I)

See also

• List of deputy finance ministers of Germany