Federal Foreign Office

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  The federal eagle and the lettering "Auswärtiges Amt" can be seen on an exterior wall at an entrance to the Federal Foreign Office.

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  The participants of the OSCE Economic Conference stand in the courtyard of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. (Archive)

The building that now houses the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin was once the Reichsbank and the first major new building built by the National Socialists.

The Foreign Office (German: Auswärtiges Amt) is located on the banks of the Spree opposite Museum Island. The monumental building was the first new Nazi building in Berlin. It was preceded by an architectural competition in which Gropius, Poelzig and Mies van der Rohe, among others, took part. In the end, the designs by Reichsbank building director Heinrich Wolff won. However, his plans already existed before the competition. Historic buildings, such as the Alte Münze by Stüler, were demolished for the construction of the former Reichsbank.

The Central Committee of the SED moves in

The Reichsbank building was inaugurated in 1940. At the end of the Second World War, the building was damaged and the upper floors burnt out. Despite the damage, the Berliner Stadtkontor moved in from June 1945. Four years later, the GDR Ministry of Finance moved into the building. From 1959, the Central Committee of the SED determined the political conditions of the GDR from here for more than 30 years.

House of Parliamentarians

In 1990, the building was renamed the "House of Parliamentarians". The members of the first freely elected GDR People's Chamber moved into their offices here. After the closure of the Palace of the Republic, the People's Chamber meetings were held in the building until the GDR was history. Since 1999, the Foreign Office has been based in the former Reichsbank building.

Architecture of the Federal Foreign Office

The Foreign Office is an ensemble of four wings that form a courtyard of honor. The building, made of light-colored sandstone, was erected as a steel skeleton structure. The architects Thomas Müller and Ivan Reimann are responsible for an extension. This is open to the Friedrichwerder Church thanks to an atrium.

Information

• Address:
  Oberwasserstraße 9
  10117 Berlin
  City map
• Phone: [phone]