Reichsminister (in German singular and plural; 'minister of the realm') was the title of members of the German Government during two historical periods: during the March Revolution of 1848/1849 in the German Reich of that period, and in the modern German federal state from 1919 to the end of the National Socialist regime in 1945.
"Reich" was the name of the German federal state from 1871 to 1945: Deutsches Reich. In English, it is translated to "empire" (for the period with an Emperor), and often left untranslated for the time after. A Reichsminister was a member of the national government, not to be confused with a member of a government of one of the many Länder (states) of Germany.
The Holy Roman Empire that existed until 1806 did not have a modern government and thus no ministers.
In German, the word Reichsminister may refer in rare cases to a minister of a different country, such as a Danish rigsminister or a Dutch rijksminister.
- ^ Ralf Heikaus: Die ersten Monate der provisorischen Zentralgewalt für Deutschland (Juli bis Dezember 1848). 1997, p. 61–63.