Members of the government and top officials in the ministries shape policy and hold an influential position in the state. This study offers the first comprehensive collective biographical analysis of political and administrative elites in Germany since the German Empire. It shows how elite characteristics - such as social background, professional biography or politicization - differ over time and in a comparison of systems. It also examines the extent to which traditional patterns of elite recruitment were used in the Federal Republic and the GDR after the Nazi regime. Particularly in the case of the administrative elites, pronounced personnel continuities can be seen after system breaks.