Auswärtiges Amt

Auswärtiges Amt 

The term"Auswärtiges Am" was first used to designate the Foreign Office established in 1870 by the North German Confederation, which became the Foreign Office of the German Empire in 1871. This is still the name by which the German foreign ministry is known today. In Bismarck's time the Auswärtiges Amt had only two directorates: the Political Directorate and a second Directorate responsible for foreign trade and other issues as well as legal and consular matters. During the Weimar Republic the AA was reorganized along modern lines. Under the Third Reich the AA was part of the apparatus of dictatorship. Some members of the AA, however – men such as Ulrich von Hassell and Adam von Trott zu Solz – joined the German resistance and were put to death. After World War II the Auswärtiges Amt was re-established on 1951-03-15 in Bonn.