What you always wanted to know:
German Federal Chancellors
- Konrad Adenauer (CDU)
born 1876
died 1967
chancellor: Sept. 15, 1949 - Oct. 16, 1963
- Ludwig Erhard (CDU)
born 1897
died 1977
chancellor: Oct. 16, 1963 - Dec. 1, 1966
- Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU)
born 1904
died 1988
chancellor: Dec. 1, 1966 - Oct. 21, 1969
- Willy Brandt (SPD)
born 1913
died 1992
chancellor: Oct. 21, 1969 - May 7, 1974
--> Based upon article 69 of the Basic Constitutional Law (Grundgesetz) of the Federal Republik of Germany, a Federal Chancellor holds office until his successor is chosen. Upon his resignation, Willy Brandt asked then Federal President Gustav Heinemann not to be assigned to continue to officiate. Therefore, then vice-chancellor Walter Scheel (FDP; born 1919) was asked to do so by Heinemann until the next chancellor was elected. - Helmut Schmidt (SPD)
born 1918
chancellor: May 16, 1974 - Oct. 1, 1982
- Helmut Kohl (CDU)
born 1930
chancellor: Oct. 1, 1982 - Oct. 27, 1998
- Gerhard Schröder (SPD)
born 1944
chancellor: Oct. 27, 1998 - Nov. 22, 2005
- Angela Merkel (CDU)
born 1954
chancellor: Nov. 22, 2005 - (in office)
Of eight chancellors, I have lived under four. See how young my country still is, in terms of political leaders... we are nothing compared to Great Britain or the USA.
And then, there's this amusing discussion about the female form of "chancellor" (which is something connected to the German language).
Some very important board of whizzes found that ...
Mrs Merkel is, in fact, the eighth German Federal Chancellor (in the masculine form, "Bundeskanzler") whereas she ought to be addressed as Mrs Federal Chancellor (in the feminine form, "Bundeskanzlerin").
However, should a male chancellor be her successor, he cannot be referred to as "eighth Bundeskanzler" (in the masculine form) but shall enter history as "ninth Bundeskanzler" for - in that case - the male form to be used for describing the "eighth Bundeskanzler" (who is, indeed, a woman) does not imply any gender, at all.