The German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS) was founded on 29 May 1865. Since then it has carried out search and rescue missions along the German North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts – independently and accepting sole responsibility.

For more than a century, German life-saving missions at sea had been a private matter. The DGzRS held this statutory task practically from within its own traditions. As early as 1965, the role of DGzRS as sole maritime rescue service provider was laid down in the German “Maritime Responsibilities Act”. Further legal frameworks for the German rescue service were established in March 1982: with reference to the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, adopted in Hamburg in 1979 (IMO Convention), an agreement between the German Ministry of Transport and the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service formally conferred the undertaking, administration and co-ordination of the search and rescue service to DGzRS.

Both parties agreed that the DGzRS would continue to carry out SAR services as a charity on an independent, voluntary basis and financed by its own funds. In fact, the DGzRS assumed a more or less public duty without claiming one cent of the public funding that is normally awarded to non-profit organisations.

Approximately 300.000 sustaining supporters keep the rescue crews operational through regular contributions. There are various provisions making sure that the funds entrusted to DGzRS are used appropriately to fulfil the many tasks of the organisation or are put aside for midterm projects. 186 fulltime employees and more than 800 volunteers are on call on 20 rescue cruisers and 41 lifeboats. 54 stations in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, on the mainland and the islands form a dense rescue network. All missions are co-ordinated by the central MRCC – Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre – in Bremen.

The DGzRS board of Chairmen operates on an honorary basis: the highest legislating body is the steering committee. Its main duties include support to and nomination of the board, amendments to the statutes and regional representation. Three full-time  managing directors are responsible for the areas of rescue service/operations,
business administration and finance, as well as press and PR activities.

The patron of the DGzRS is the German Federal President

"The DGzRS is independently and single-handedly rendering an invaluable service to this country and to all those at sea. Probably, it is only the tens of thousands
of individuals who over decades have been rescued from a seemingly hopeless situation, who can truly judge the courage and bravery of the rescue crews.
However, the great number of friends and sponsors of the organisation proves the immeasurable esteem in which the maritime rescue service is held by the people of Germany. I wish the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service the best of luck for the future and God’s blessing."

Those were the words of the patron of the DGzRS, German Federal President Horst Köhler, as he paid tribute to the work of the rescue service.