German Chancellery

The German Chancellery is an agency serving the executive office of the Chancellor of Germany, the head of the federal government, currently Angela Merkel. It is the largest government headquarters in the world. The Chancellery's primary function is to assist the Chancellor in coordinating the activities of the federal government. The Head of the Chancellery holds the rank of either a Secretary of State or a Federal Minister , currently held by Helge Braun. The headquarters of the German Chancellery is at the Federal Chancellery building in Berlin.

When the North German Confederation was created in 1867, the constitution mentioned only the Bundeskanzler as the responsible executive officer. There was no collegial government with ministers. Federal Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in the beginning only established a Bundeskanzleramt as his office. It was the only 'ministry' of the country until in early 1870 the Prussian foreign office became the North German foreign office. At that occasion, the Bundeskanzleramt lost some tasks to the foreign office.

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