Joachim von Ribbentrop is one of the key figures who made history during the Second World War. This man is best known as the German Foreign Minister and one of those close to Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler during the Fuhrer's years in power. This article is devoted to key events in the life of the Reich Minister, from his birth on April 30, 1893, to his death sentence during the Nuremberg Trials in October 1946. In order to have a clearer idea of Ribbentrop's personality, it is necessary to trace and analyze in turn the most important, sometimes fateful moments of his life.
Childhood
Von Ribbentrop, whose biography is presented below, was born in the small German fortress town of Wesel. His parents were considered educated, we althy people, they could boast of a noble origin.
Mother, unfortunately, died back in 1902 from an illness, so both sons were brought up in strictness and discipline by father Richard Ulrich Friedrich Joachim Ribbentrop, prime lieutenant of an artillery regiment. Young Joachim wasprovided 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 spoke both English and French, improved them in college. From his mother, Ribbentrop Jr. inherited a love of music: playing the violin became an integral part of his life.
Youth and first career steps
As a teenager, he managed to live for several years in Switzerland, England, America (New York), Canada due to profitable parental acquaintances. Joachim settled in the latter, as favorable conditions were created there for building a career. During his stay in Montreal, he managed to try himself in banking and as a transport controller. However, having moved to Ottawa at the invitation, Ribbentrop wanted to open his own business, wisely invest the inherited capital in the business.
Activities during World War I
In 1914, not wanting to remain aloof from hostilities, Ribbentrop leaves Canada and is sent to serve in a front-line cavalry regiment. He fights on both the Eastern and Western fronts. In 1918, already a senior lieutenant, he was awarded the Iron Cross for military merit and wounds. For he alth reasons, he is transferred to Turkey as an adjutant of the authorized military ministry, from where Ribbentrop reports on the combat readiness of this country. When the war was finally lost by Germany, he consciously resigns, feeling his helplessness in counteringTreaty of Versailles. It can be admitted, however, that von Ribbentrop's years of service were not in vain: 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, undergoing economic devastation, it was impossible to make a reliable fortune, so Ribbentrop decides to return to Canada, Ottawa, where his old friends remained. In just a year, he manages to get a job in a cotton import company and close a number of successful deals that allowed him to quickly get rich and establish new significant acquaintances.
1919-20s he later recalled with special warmth, because at that time his relationship began with his future wife Annelise Henkel, who bore him five children. The most famous of them will be one of the sons in the future - Rudolf Ribbentrop, who is described at the end of the article.
The marriage was actually happy, and also very profitable, as Anneliese's father offered his son-in-law the position of 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 company for the sale of imported alcohol, Schoenberg and Ribbentrop. The firm began to bring considerable income, allowing its owner to join the high society of Berlin.
In the second half of the 1920s, Ribbentrop restores communication withReich Chancellor Franz von Papen. In parallel with this, he, being confident in his strength and influence, sets the task of changing the policy of his native country, which has been weakening over the years.
Meeting Adolf Hitler and joining 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 uncertain policy and the rapid change of Reich Chancellors, was unable to resist both the influence of Western countries and the spread of Bolshevism, he gave his sympathy to the National Socialists.
It was after meeting Hitler and his plans for Germany that von Ribbentrop joins both his party and the ranks of the SS, becoming Standartenführer, and begins 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 offered his own villa in Dahlem. In addition, business ties with we althy people in Germany were also useful to him: Joachim von Ribbentrop skillfully convinced them of the need to financially help the nationalists. Thus, it can be recognized that Hitler received enormous material and spiritual support from the newly minted National Socialist. For this, Hitler, having seized unlimited power, appointed him his foreign policy adviser.
First diplomatic successes
The Fuhrer did not accidentally entrust Ribbentrop with many important assignments, as he understood thatthis person is different from the rest of the diplomatic corps. His adviser was fluent in English and French, had an idea about the mentality, politics of England and France. Hitler often consulted Ribbentrop about relations with these countries and sent him to London and Paris on various missions, for example, those related to disarmament. And if the negotiations with France failed, then from the UK he brought Hitler an agreement in 1935, which fixed the required ratio of the English and German fleets of 100:35, and the chances for the development of friendly relations between the countries.
A separate point is the creation of the so-called Ribbentrop Bureau, whose goals were to train professional diplomatic personnel for the formation of 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 people from the SS. Later, all employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on his orders, will be included in these security units.
Another merit of von Ribbentrop was the conclusion in 1936-37 of the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan and Italy to jointly contain communist influence from the East. The union of these countries remained until the very end of the Second World War and to 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 successorvon Neurath. His relationship with his colleagues from that moment deteriorated. Firstly, he did not tolerate excessive independence in matters of foreign policy, which was abused by the same Reichsführer SS Himmler or the department of Reichsleiter Rosenberg. Constantly between them a lot of disagreements arose regarding Freemasons, churches, Scandinavian countries, Jews, etc.
Secondly, many reproached the new minister for currying favor with Hitler, for being unable to defend his own proposals. Ribbentrop himself (the memoirs recorded by him in 1946 confirm this) partly admitted this, explaining that the Fuhrer was such a strong and charismatic figure that even the most persistent and recalcitrant people easily obeyed him, being afraid to rebuke him. However, he justified himself by the fact that Hitler was inclined to make spontaneous decisions, and not only von Ribbentrop was unable to convince him.
Pre-war activities
In his new position, the Reich Foreign Minister had several tasks: Austria, Memel, the Sudetenland and Danzig. Ribbentrop fully supported the Fuhrer in his desire to annex Austria and the Sudeten Germans to the Reich, so he put maximum effort into this: he arranged meetings with the Austrian ambassador, negotiated with the British Prime Minister Chamberlain, and participated in the preparation of the Munich Agreement. Not without aggression, later he would be charged with mistreating the Jewish population, because he, like Hitler, wanted to exterminate him. As for Poland, in his memoirs, von Ribbentrop claims that he did not know about the preparations for a war with her.and used all his diplomatic talents to peacefully resolve disputed issues. However, the facts say the opposite, because, due to his position, he could not help but foresee a military clash with the Poles.
Relations with the USSR on the eve of the war
It was Joachim von Ribbentrop who initiated the restoration of ties and negotiations between the two countries, for a long time convincing 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, and also appear more confidently before Western countries. After numerous requests for negotiations, Stalin agreed to a meeting with the German plenipotentiary. Despite his anti-communist views, the Fuhrer sent Ribbentrop on a mission to the USSR, because he personally drew up the German-Russian non-aggression pact and was serious about signing it.
Career climax - Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement of August 23, 1939
This event went down in history along with many controversies that accompany it to this day. In fact, it is not easy to explain how a successful non-aggression pact, in which both sides 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 politics; on the contrary, the countries established, if not friendship (due to the preservation of different worldview ideologies), but a mutually beneficial relationship. As he writes in hisIn the memoirs of the German Foreign Minister, their foreign affairs agency had a poor idea of the Soviet Union, and they saw Stalin as a mystical figure. Ribbentrop did not expect such a quick and warm reception, which was given to him, and the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, and the leader of the Soviet Union himself turned out to be surprisingly accommodating and compromise politicians. Thus, Germany and the USSR approved mutual neutrality in the event that either side entered the war and renounced external aggression against each other.
Among other things, the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was signed, dividing Eastern Europe and the B altic states into spheres of interest. The USSR took control of most of the B altic countries, Finland, Bessarabia, and Lithuania and western Poland retreated to Germany. Later, on September 28, the dividing line between them was adjusted after the German-Polish war 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, machine samples, etc.
Ribbentrop in the early 1940s
With the beginning of the war against the USSR, more and more disagreements arose between Hitler and the Foreign Ministry, which led to the fact that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, together with his department, were literally isolated from conducting policy in the East. Von Ribbentrop loses his influence at this time, more and more often his position diverges from that of the Fuhrer. This leads to the fact that by 1945 he himself removes the powers of the minister. After defeatGermany, he hides with his family in Hamburg, where he is arrested.
Nuremberg trials
October 16, 1946, the execution of sentenced German leaders who were found guilty of crimes against peace and various violations of a military nature took place. Ribbentrop was to be punished by hanging for his illegal activities. His grave was not preserved, as the ashes were scattered.
Successors
After his death, Annelise Henkel's wife 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 the 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 surrendering to the Americans. In 2015, he published the book My Father Joachim von Ribbentrop. “Never against Russia!”” and even made a presentation of it in Russia. It is quite difficult for children and grandchildren to have the surname of their father and grandfather, but they carry it with dignity in modern society. For example, Ribbentrop's grandson Dominik, working as a safe seller, studies in depth historical documents from the war, considers himself obliged to know the whole truth about that period.
