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Federal Ministry of the Interior

Logo: Press and Information Office of the Federal Government of Germany - Bundesministerium des Innern ( BMI ), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

Ministry of the Interior of Germany

The Federal Ministry of the Interior is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its main office is in Berlin, with a secondary seat in Bonn. The current minister is Alexander Dobrindt.2 It employed 1,500 people in 2017.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1949Founded1

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Bundesministerium des Innern, Neubau Berlin
Photo: C. Müller, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons5

The Federal Ministry of the Interior (German: Bundesministerium des Innern, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsminɪsˌteːʁiʊm dɛs ˈʔɪnɐn ʔʊnt fyːɐ̯ ˈhaɪmaːt]; abbreviated BMI) is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its main office is in Berlin, with a secondary seat in Bonn. The current minister is Alexander Dobrindt.2

Corporate structure

Federal Ministry of the Interior sits at the top of its group. 29 entities, 1 country on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

  • Federal Ministry of the Interior Berlin
    • Federal Agency for Civic Education Subsidiary · Bonn
    • Federal Institute for Population Research Subsidiary · Wiesbaden
    • Federal Statistical Office of Germany Subsidiary · Wiesbaden
      • Library of the Federal Statistical Office Subsidiary · Germany
    • Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe Subsidiary · Bonn, Germany
    • Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge Subsidiary · Germany
    • Bundesausgleichsamt Subsidiary · Germany
    • Bundesbau Baden-Württemberg Subsidiary · Germany
    • Bundesgrenzschutz Subsidiary · Germany
    • Bundesinstitut für Sportwissenschaft Subsidiary · Germany
    • Bundesministerium des Innern. Schutzkommission Subsidiary · Germany
    • Bundesservice Telekommunikation Subsidiary · Germany
    • Bundesverwaltungsamt Subsidiary · Germany
    • Central Office for Information Technology in the Security Sector Subsidiary · Germany
    • Federal Academy of Public Administration Subsidiary · Germany
    • Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy Subsidiary · Germany
    • Federal Agency for Child and Youth Protection in the Media Subsidiary · Germany
    • Federal Agency for Public Safety Digital Radio Subsidiary · Germany
    • Federal Criminal Police Office Subsidiary · Germany
    • Federal Government Commissioner for Matters Related to Ethnic German Resettlers and National Minorities Subsidiary · Germany
    • Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Subsidiary · Germany
    • Federal Office for Central Services and Unresolved Property Issues Subsidiary · Germany
    • Federal Office for Information Security Subsidiary · Germany
    • Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution Subsidiary · Germany
    • Federal Police of Germany Subsidiary · Germany
    • Interministerieller Ausschuss für Geoinformationswesen Subsidiary · Germany
    • and 2 more

Built from subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

What it owns

What Federal Ministry of the Interior reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.

Stakes and holdings (Wikidata)

  • Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy

Things Wikidata records the company as owning, with the share when stated.1

The story

The Reichsamt des Innern (Imperial Office of the Interior) was the Ministry of the Interior of the German Empire. On the proposal of the Reichskanzler Otto von Bismarck it was created on 24 December 1879 by an Imperial decree from the Reich Chancellery. Like the other Imperial Offices it was directly under the control of the Reichskanzler. The seat of the office was in Berlin and it was managed by a Secretary of State, who from 1881 until 1916 also simultaneously held the office of Vice-Chancellor. The gazette for the publication of official notices was run by the Office from 1880. Entitled the Zentralblatt für das Deutsche Reich (ZBl), it had been published by the Reich Chancellery from 1873 until 1879.

With the Law on the Provisional Imperial Government of 11 February 1919, the Imperial Office became the Reichsministerium des Innern (RMI) (Ministry of the Interior) which remained the German Ministry of the Interior during the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. From 1923 until 1945, the ministry published the government gazette, which was entitled the Reichsministerialblatt (RMBl). On 1 November 1934 it was united with the Prussian Ministry of the Interior as the Reichs- und Preußischen Ministerium des Innern (Imperial and Prussian Ministry of the Interior).

In 1949, the Imperial Ministry of the Interior (effectively defunct since the end of the war in Europe in 1945) was succeeded by the present Federal Ministry, though it served as the Interior Ministry for West Germany only until German reunification in 1990. From 1949 to 1970, 54% of the ministry's department leaders were former Nazi Party members, their share peaking at 66% in 1961.

Under the Fourth Merkel cabinet, which took office in February 2018, the Ministry of the Interior was merged with the building department, which had been included in the ministry of transport from 1998 to 2013, and the environment ministry from 2013 to 2018. The ministry, headed by the former Bavarian minister-president Horst Seehofer, was then renamed to "Interior, Building and Community". The renaming was controversial as some interpreted the term Heimat as old-fashioned or even nationalistic. The ministry was renamed back to "Federal Ministry of the Interior" in 2025.

From Wikipedia’s article on Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Leadership

Who has led Federal Ministry of the Interior, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Chair

  1. Gustav Heinemann1949–1950
  2. Robert Lehr1950–1953
  3. Gerhard Schröder1953–1961
  4. Hermann Höcherl1961–1965
  5. Paul Lücke1965–1968
  6. Ernst Benda1968–1969
  7. Hans-Dietrich Genscher1969–1974
  8. Werner Maihofer1974–1978
  9. Gerhart Baum1978–1982
  10. Jürgen Schmude1982
  11. Friedrich Zimmermann1982–1989
  12. Wolfgang Schäuble1989–1991
  13. Rudolf Seiters1991–1993
  14. Manfred Kanther1993–1998
  15. Otto Schily1998–2005
  16. Wolfgang Schäuble2005–2009
  17. Thomas de Maizière2009–2011
  18. Hans-Peter Friedrich2011–2013
  19. Thomas de Maizière2013–2018
  20. Horst Seehofer2018–2021
  21. Nancy Faeser2021–2025
  22. Alexander Dobrindt2025–now
197019801990200020102020

Subsidiaries and ownership

Subsidiaries

  • Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe
  • Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge
  • Bundesausgleichsamt
  • Bundesbau Baden-Württemberg
  • Bundesgrenzschutz
  • Bundesinstitut für Sportwissenschaft
  • Bundesministerium des Innern. Schutzkommission
  • Bundesservice Telekommunikation
  • Bundesverwaltungsamt
  • Central Office for Information Technology in the Security Sector
  • Federal Academy of Public Administration
  • Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy
  • Federal Agency for Child and Youth Protection in the Media
  • Federal Agency for Civic Education
  • Federal Agency for Public Safety Digital Radio
  • Federal Criminal Police Office
  • Federal Government Commissioner for Matters Related to Ethnic German Resettlers and National Minorities
  • Federal Institute for Population Research
  • Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning
  • Federal Office for Central Services and Unresolved Property Issues
  • Federal Office for Information Security
  • Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
  • Federal Police of Germany
  • Federal Statistical Office of Germany
All 27 subsidiaries
  • Interministerieller Ausschuss für Geoinformationswesen
  • Procurement Agency of the Federal Ministry of the Interior
  • Technisches Hilfswerk

From Wikidata.1

Acquisitions

  1. 2018Acquired Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning1
  2. Jan 1, 2017Acquired Bundesausgleichsamt1
  3. Succeeded Federal Ministry of Construction1
  4. Succeeded Ministry of the Interior of the German Reich1

Employees over time

  • 20171,5001

Timeline

  1. May 6, 2025Renamed Name changed to Bundesministerium des Innern1
  2. Dec 8, 2021Renamed Name changed to Bundesministerium des Innern und für Heimat1
  3. 1949Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5