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Joachim von Ribbentrop

Joachim von Ribbentrop (30 April 1893-16 October 1946) was the Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany from 4 February 1938 to 30 April 1945, succeeding Konstantin von Neurath and preceding Arthur Seyss-Inquart.

Biography[]

Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim Ribbentrop was born in Wesel, North Rhine-Westphalia, German Empire on 30 April 1893, and he was raised in Switzerland, France, England, and Canada. Fluent in both French and English, Ribbentrop worked as a banker in Montreal, as a journalist in New York City and Boston, and as a wine and champagne importer in Ottawa before finding sanctuary in America during World War I. In August 1914, he returned to Germany on a ship from Hoboken, New Jersey to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and he served in the Imperial German Army hussars during the Great War, serving on both the Eastern and Western Fronts, as well as a staff officer in Istanbul. After the war, he traveled throughout Europe as a wine salesman, and, when his aunt adopted him in 1925, he inherited her noble title and became known as "Joachim von Ribbentrop". In 1928, he was introduced to Adolf Hitler as a businessman with foreign connections, and he and his wife joined the Nazi Party in 1932. Ribbentrop worked with his old friend Franz von Papen to oust Kurt von Schleicher from power and elevate Hitler, and Ribbentrop attracted the hatred of Nazi veterans due to his exclusive access to Hitler without appointments, buying his noble title, marrying into money, and "swindling" his way into office, as Joseph Goebbels described it. Ribbentrop was no fascist during the Weimar Republic era, and he had no political views beyond an admiration for Gustav Stresemann, fear of communism, and monarchism, and he worked with several Jewish businesspeople who would be astonished with his later anti-Semitism.

Foreign Minister[]

Because of his familiarity with the outside world, Ribbentrop became Hitler's foreign policy advisor, and he was said to have memorized Hitler's pet ideas and presented them as his own, pleasing Hitler and earning his trust. Hitler had Ribbentrop oversee the undermining of the Treaty of Versailles and diplomatic overtures to Britain, and he served as ambassador to Britain from August 1936 to February 1938. That year, Hitler appointed Ribbentrop to replace Konstantin von Neurath as Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany, and he played a key role in brokering Germany's alliance with fascist Italy and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. Ribbentrop favored retaining good relations with Joseph Stalin, supported Italy's (albeit delayed) entry into World War II, championed Hitler's plan to deport Europe's Jews to Madagascar, and also supported autonomy for Vichy France. While Ribbentrop opposed Operation Barbarossa, he attempted to persuade Japan to join the war against the Soviets, and he also encouraged a war between Japan and America due to the USA's "lend-lease" agreement with the British Empire and America's role in the Battle of the Atlantic. Ribbentrop did his utmost to secure a German declaration of war on the United States after the 7 December 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor, but his influence declined as the Axis Powers came to be at war with most of the world, and diplomacy became less relevant.

Downfall[]

Ribbentrop on trial

Ribbentrop on trial

Ribbentrop's suggestion that Hitler make peace with the USSR, among other enemies, and the participation of several of his diplomatic colleagues in the 20 July plot led to his estrangement from Hitler. He went into hiding after Hitler's April 1945 suicide and his rejection from Karl Doenitz's cabinet, and he was arrested in Hamburg on 14 June 1945. On 16 October 1946, Ribbentrop was the first of the condemned defendants of the Nuremberg Trials to be executed by hanging, as Hermann Goering had committed suicide before his execution.

Gallery[]

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