Joachim von Ribbentrop is one of the key figures who made history during the Second World War. This man is best known as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany and one of those close to the Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler during the years of the Fuhrer in power. This article is devoted to key events in the life of the Reich Minister, beginning with his birth on April 30, 1893 and ending with the death sentence during the Nuremberg trials in October 1946. In order to have a clearer picture of Ribbentrop’s personality, you need to follow and analyze the most important, sometimes fateful moments of his life.
Childhood
Von Ribbentrop, whose biography is presented below, was born in the small German fortified town of Wesel. His parents were considered educated, wealthy, could boast of a noble birth.
Mother, unfortunately, died in 1902 from an illness, so both sons were brought up in severity and discipline by father Richard Ulrich Friedrich Joachim Ribbentrop, prime lieutenant of the artillery regiment. Young Joachim was provided with an excellent education for those years. Due to the fact that his father was sent to work in different parts of Germany, his sons from childhood knew both English and French, improved them in college. From mother Ribbentrop Jr. passed on a love of music: playing the violin has become an integral part of his life.
Youth and first career steps
Even in his teens, he managed to live several years in Switzerland, England, America (New York), and Canada through profitable parental acquaintances. In the latter, Joachim settled down, as favorable conditions were created there for building a career. During his stay in Montreal, he managed to try himself both in banking and in the position of transport controller. However, having moved by invitation to Ottawa, Ribbentrop wanted to open his own business, to correctly invest the inherited capital in the business.
Activities during the First World War
In 1914, not wanting to stay away from military operations, Ribbentrop leaves Canada and goes to serve in the cavalry front regiment. It fights on both the Eastern and the Western Front. In 1918, already a senior lieutenant, he was noted for military merits and injuries with the Iron Cross. Due to his health condition, he is being transferred to Turkey as an adjutant of the authorized war ministry, from where Ribbentrop reports on the combat readiness of this country. When the war was finally lost by Germany, he deliberately resigned, feeling helpless in opposing the Treaty of Versailles. It can be acknowledged, however, that the years of service did not go to waste with von Ribbentrop: it was at the front that he acquired fateful acquaintances with prominent political figures such as Franz von Papen and Paul von Hindenburg.
From business to politics
In post-war Europe, especially in the Weimar Republic, which was undergoing economic devastation, it was impossible to make a reliable fortune, so Ribbentrop decides to return to Canada, Ottawa, where his old friends remained. Literally in a year, he manages to get a job in a cotton import company and conduct a number of successful transactions that made it possible to quickly get rich and make new significant acquaintances.
He recalled the 1919-20s in the future with particular warmth, because at that time his relationship with his future wife Annelies Henkel, who bore him five children, began. The most famous of them will be in the future one of the sons - Rudolf Ribbentrop, which is described at the end of the article.
The marriage union was actually happy, and also very profitable, since Father Annelise offered his son-in-law a place as a co-owner of his own branch company in Berlin, engaged in the purchase and delivery of wines from abroad. This business helped Joachim von Ribbentrop by 1924 to open his own Schönberg & Ribbentrop import alcohol trading company. The company began to generate considerable income, allowing its owner to join the high society of Berlin.
In the second half of the 1920s, Ribbentrop restored communication with Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen. In parallel with this, being confident in his strength and influence, he sets the task of changing the policies of his native country, which has weakened over the years.
Acquaintance with Adolf Hitler and entry into the NSDAP
Von Ribbentrop negatively perceived the Treaty of Versailles, which, in his opinion, ruined and oppressed the Weimar Republic. Realizing that the then government, with its vague policies and the rapid change of Reich Chancellors, is not able to resist both the influence of Western countries and the spread of Bolshevism, he gives his sympathy to the National Socialists.
It was after meeting Hitler and his plans for Germany that von Ribbentrop joined both his party and the ranks of the SS, becoming a standartenfuhrer, and began to promote the future Fuhrer to the post of Reich Chancellor instead of Paul von Hindenburg. To do this, he organized numerous negotiations between the current and potential leaders of the country, and for their meetings he proposed his own villa in Dahlem. In addition, business contacts with wealthy people of Germany were useful to him: their Joachim von Ribbentrop skillfully convinced them of the need to financially help the nationalists. Thus, it can be recognized that Hitler was provided with enormous material and spiritual support from the newly-minted National Socialist. For this, Hitler, having seized unlimited power, appointed him his adviser on foreign policy.
First diplomatic success
It was no coincidence that the Führer trusted Ribbentrop with many important tasks, as he understood that this person was different from the rest of the diplomatic corps. His adviser was fluent in English and French, had an idea of ​​the mentality, politics of England and France. Hitler often consulted about relations with these countries precisely with Ribbentrop and sent him to London and Paris with various missions, for example, related to disarmament. And if negotiations with France failed, then from Great Britain he brought Hitler in 1935 an agreement that secured the necessary ratio of the English and German fleets of 100: 35, and the chances of developing friendly relations between the countries.
A separate point cannot be ignored is the creation of the so-called Ribbentrop Bureau, whose goals were to train professional diplomatic personnel to form a new cabinet, as well as to develop foreign policy strategies and plans for Germany. Ribbentrop personally headed it, so it is not surprising that among the future diplomats there were many immigrants from the SS. Later, all employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be included in these security groups by his order.
Another merit of von Ribbentrop was the conclusion in 1936-37 of the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan and Italy to jointly deter communist influence from the East. The alliance of these countries persisted until the end of World War II and, until the last, tried to prevent communism in any of its manifestations.
New Imperial Foreign Minister
In 1938, Ribbentrop received the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, becoming the successor of von Neurath. His relations with colleagues from this moment deteriorated. Firstly, he did not tolerate excessive independence in matters of foreign policy, which was abused by the same Reichsfuhrer SS Himmler or the Office of the Reichsleiter Rosenberg. Constantly a lot of disagreements arose between them concerning Masons, churches, Scandinavian countries, Jews, etc.
Secondly, many reproached the new minister for fawning on Hitler, the inability to defend their own proposals. Ribbentrop himself (the memoirs recorded by him in 1946 confirm this) partially acknowledged this, explaining that the FĂĽhrer was such a strong and charismatic figure that even the most persistent and rebellious people easily obeyed him, afraid to rebuke. Nevertheless, he justified himself by the fact that Hitler was inclined to make spontaneous decisions, and not only von Ribbentrop was not able to convince him.
Pre-war activities
In the new post, the imperial minister of foreign affairs had several tasks: Austria, Memel, the Sudetenland and Danzig. Ribbentrop fully supported the Fuhrer in an effort to annex Austria and the Sudeten Germans to the Reich, so he put his maximum effort into it: arranged meetings with the Austrian ambassador, negotiated with the British Prime Minister Chamberlain, participated in the preparation of the Munich Agreement. Not without aggression, later he was charged with ill-treatment of the Jewish population, because he, like Hitler, wished for his extermination. As for Poland, in his memoirs, von Ribbentrop claims that he did not know about the preparation of a war with her and used all his diplomatic talents to peacefully resolve disputed issues. However, the facts say the opposite, because he, in view of his position, could not have foreseen a military clash with the Poles.
Relations with the USSR on the eve of the war
The initiator of the restoration of ties and negotiations between the two countries was precisely Joachim von Ribbentrop, who had long convinced Hitler of the need to establish contacts with the Soviet Union. In his opinion, this would make it possible to achieve Russian neutrality in the event of a war with Poland, conclude a profitable economic deal, as well as more confidently appear before Western countries. After numerous requests for negotiations, Stalin agreed to a meeting with the German plenipotentiary. Despite the anti-communist views, the Fuhrer sent Ribbentrop with a mission to the USSR, because he personally drafted the German-Russian non-aggression pact and was seriously set to sign it.
The culmination of a career - Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement of August 23, 1939
This event went down in history along with the many disputes that accompany it to this day. In fact, it is not easy to explain how a successful non-aggression pact in which both parties were interested turned into a large-scale bloody war. However, in 1939, neither Germany nor the USSR planned any military interventions in each other’s policies; on the contrary, friendship was not established between the countries (due to the preservation of different ideological ideologies), but a mutually beneficial relationship. As the German Foreign Minister writes in his memoirs, their foreign policy department had a poor idea of ​​the Soviet Union, and Stalin also saw them as a mystical figure. Ribbentrop did not expect such a quick and warm welcome, which was given to him, and the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov and the leader of the Soviet Union themselves were surprisingly accommodating and compromise politicians. Thus, Germany and the USSR approved mutual neutrality if either side entered the war and refused external aggression against each other.
Among other things, a secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed, dividing Eastern Europe and the Baltic into areas of interest. The USSR took control of most of the Baltic countries, Finland, Bessarabia, and Lithuania and western Poland retreated to Germany. Later, on September 28, the dividing line between them after the German-Polish war was adjusted and enshrined in the Treaty of Friendship and Borders. An economic exchange was also established: the Soviet Union supplied the Germans with the necessary raw materials, and in return received information about their technical developments, samples of machines, etc.
Ribbentrop in the early 1940s
With the outbreak of the war against the USSR, more disagreements arose between Hitler and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which led to the fact that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, together with his department, were literally isolated from pursuing policies in the East. Von Ribbentrop loses his influence at this time, more often his position diverges from the position of the Fuhrer. This leads to the fact that by 1945 he would relieve himself of the powers of the minister. After the defeat of Germany, he and his family hide in Hamburg, where he is arrested.
Nuremberg trials
On October 16, 1946, the execution of the sentenced German figures who were found guilty of crimes against peace and various military violations took place. Ribbentrop was to be punished by hanging for his illegal activities. His grave was not preserved, since the dust was scattered.
Successors of the genus
After his death, wife Annelise Henkel published her husband’s memoirs in 1953, editing and supplementing them with the necessary information. If we talk about children, the most famous son of Ribbentrop Rudolph. He, becoming a member of the SS standard, took part in wars with Poland and France. He is a veteran of the war against the USSR, fought in the north of the Soviet Union and near Kharkov before being surrendered to the Americans. In 2015, he published the book My Father Joachim von Ribbentrop. “Never against Russia!” ”And even made her presentation in Russia. It is not easy for children and grandchildren to have the surname of their father and grandfather, but they dignifiedly wear it in modern society. For example, the grandson of Ribbentrop, Dominic, working as a seller of safes, studies in depth the historical documents of the war, considers himself obligated to know the whole truth about that period.