Department for External Affairs in the Federal Chancellery

Quelle: sulinet Walter Hallstein, after whom the „Hallstein-Doktrin“ is named, has been head of the „Dienststelle für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten“ („Department for External Affairs in the Federal Chancellery“) and became a secretary of state in the now independent Foreign Office in March 1951

Even after its founding in 1949, the Federal Republic was still not a sovereign nation. Control of the young Federal Republic’s „external affairs“ remained in the hands of the Western allies – the USA, France and Great Britain. An initial step toward creating the bases for an independent foreign policy by Bonn is taken on 1 April 1950 with the establishment of a „Department for External Affairs in the Federal Chancellery“ which exists for approximately a year. As early as 15 March 1951 it can be incorporated into the newly created „Foreign Office“.