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560:(SS). In 1938, Weizsäcker was opposed to the general trend in German foreign policy of attacking Czechoslovakia for fear that it might cause a general war that Germany would lose. He had no moral objections to the idea of destroying Czechoslovakia, only the timing of the attack. Weizsäcker had some contacts with members of the German opposition, but during his interrogations after the war, he never claimed to be a member of the resistance. It was only after he was brought to
252:
307:
711:
830:"The legend stems from individuals associated with the Weizsäcker defense. Former diplomats, such as the brothers Erich and Theo Kordt, played a key role in the effort, as did other members of the traditional upper class, which Weizsäcker represented. One of them was his defense lawyer, Hellmut Becker, the son of the Prussian culture minister,
593:, Weizsäcker was a leader of the antiwar group in the German government, which was determined to avoid a war in 1938 that it felt Germany would lose. The group was not necessarily committed to the overthrow of the regime but was loosely allied to another more radical group, the "anti-Nazi" faction centred on Colonel
655:
Weizsäcker's record at the
Vatican was mixed. In Berlin, he had refused to accept a papal note protesting against the treatment of occupied Poland. During the German occupation of Rome, Weizsäcker did almost nothing to stop the deportation of Jews, albeit he helped individuals to avoid persecution,
647:
on 6 January 1944, Weizsäcker stated, "If
Germany as a bulwark against communism should fall, all of Europe will become communist". To this, Maglione replied, "What a misfortune, that Germany with its antireligious policies has stirred up such concerns". Similar representations were repeated by
779:, who appeared as his assistant defence counsel (Richard was a law student during the trial), claimed that he had no knowledge of the purpose for which Auschwitz had been designed and believed that Jewish prisoners would face less danger if they were deported to the East.
656:
and helped to free Rome from all German military bases in an effort to discourage Allied bombing of the city. He also advised the
Foreign Office that drafting Jews for labour camps inside Italy would be less likely to draw a papal protest than deporting them. According to
575:"I again opposed the whole theory of (an attack on Czechoslovakia) and observed that we should have to wait political developments until the English lose interest in the Czech matter and would tolerate our action, before we could tackle the affair without risk".
786:
called his sentence a "deadly error". The same year, the sentence was reduced to 5 years, after his conviction for crimes against peace was overturned. In
October 1950, after 3 years and 3 months of detention, he obtained an early release from prison in
613:"An overthrow of Hitler was out of the question. The group wanted to avoid a major war and the potential catastrophic consequences for Germany. Their goal wasn't to get rid of the dictator but, as they saw it, to bring him to his senses".
1311:
1326:
1151:
This is the first case in which a convicted at
Nuremberg obtained his early release not by "good behavior" but after an in-depth examination of his case by the Legislative Affairs Office of the US High
694:
the immediate mounting of a papal peace initiative to end the war in the West so that
Germany could finish communism in the East. Tardini saw that as a transparent effort to obtain a military solution.
1321:
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1331:
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and raised to personal nobility in 1897, and to Paula von Meibom. In 1911, he married
Marianne von Graevenitz, who belonged to the old nobility. In 1916 he became a
1301:
842:. They all knew that if they succeeded in exonerating Weizsäcker, they would have rehabilitated the national conservative, aristocratic and bourgeois upper class."
633:
in 1943 and the changing German war fortunes, and following his own request, Weizsäcker resigned as State
Secretary and was appointed German Ambassador to the
690:
Weizsäcker continued to present the
Vatican with anticommunist slogans, and he both threatened a separate Soviet-German peace and requested from Monsignore
687:, Weizsäcker was clearly opposed to Hitler's plan to occupy the Vatican during which Weizsäcker feared the Pope being shot "fleeing while avoiding arrest".
1281:
1276:
702:
of
Germany, but his efforts failed in bringing up the subject of "a German transition government, and the likelihood of his being a member of it".
541:
of his German citizenship. He became Director of the Policy Department at the Foreign Office in 1937 and the following year he was appointed as
1316:
1017:
1356:
1004:
965:
932:
1306:
1211:
799:. Weizsäcker subsequently published his memoirs, written in prison, in which he portrayed himself as a supporter of the German Resistance.
782:
In 1949, Weizsäcker was found guilty of crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and sentenced to 7 years in prison.
109:
1351:
52:
698:
Like several other German officials, Weizsäcker attempted to negotiate the survival of some segment of the government and to avoid the
1361:
556:: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), which he did in 1938, and he was also awarded an honorary rank in the
385:(25 May 1882 – 4 August 1951) was a German naval officer, diplomat and politician. He served as State Secretary at the
679:
as mild, diplomatic, indecisive and pro-German to help the Pope and to avoid anti-German sentiment in Italy. Like the commanding
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406:
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437:(Baron), as his father and his family were raised to the inheritable nobility, less than two years before the fall of the
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to overthrow the regime. The divergent aims between these two factions produced considerable tension. The historian
564:
that Weizsäcker first claimed to be an anti-Nazi working with all his heart and might to overthrow the Nazi regime.
923:
Müller, Klaus-Jürgen, "The Structure and Nature of the National Conservative Opposition in Germany up to 1940", in
776:
715:
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545:("State Secretary") -- the second ranking official after the Foreign Minister in the German Foreign Office.
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in the American occupation zone. The American military tribunals started before and finished during the
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Summa iniuria, oder, Durfte der Papst schweigen? Hochhuths "Stellvertreter" in der öffentlichen Kritik
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from 1927. He became head of the department for disarmament in 1928 and was appointed as envoy to
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486:(corvette captain) (equivalent to the British and American rank of lieutenant commander).
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772:, as a crime against humanity. Weizsäcker, with the assistance of his son, the future
730:. He did not return to Germany until 1946. Weizsäcker was arrested on 25 July 1947 in
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1103:"Letter to the Editors: The Heisenberg Case: An Exchange, reply by Jeremy Bernstein"
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in 1933. In 1936, as ambassador to Bern, Weizsäcker played a key role in stripping
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Hill, Leonidas. 1967. "The Vatican Embassy of Ernst von Weizsäcker, 1943-1945".
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869:"Hitler's Diplomats Historian Calls Wartime Ministry A 'Criminal Organization'"
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after a new examination of his case by the Legislative Affairs Office of the
757:
Weizsäcker's supporters claimed that he had been closely associated with the
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680:
498:
418:
180:
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Pius XII and the Second World War: According to the Archives of the Vatican
671:"His messages and documents to Berlin were nothing but lies," his coworker
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confrontation with the Soviets and proceeded without participation of the
634:
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380:
120:
42:
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later said. In those messages to Berlin, Weizsäcker purposely painted
1042:, Rororo Taschenbuch 591, Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1963, p. 168.
602:
581:
526:
454:
204:
738:, also known as the Wilhelmstrasse Trial, after the location of the
1312:
People convicted by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals
896:
The Nemesis of Power: The German Army in Politics, 1918–1945
742:
in Berlin. The Ministries Trial was one of 12 trials conducted by
709:
567:
On 19 August 1938, Weizsäcker wrote in a memo to Foreign Minister
518:
807:
Weizsäcker died of a stroke on August 4, 1951, at the age of 69.
1327:
German people convicted of the international crime of aggression
579:
Weizsäcker never sent his memo to Ribbentrop. Together with the
534:
530:
722:
After the end of the war, Weizsäcker initially remained in the
601:, which wanted to use the crisis as an excuse for executing a
493:
from August 1918. From June 1919 to April 1920, he served as
999:, London: Allen Lane, 2008, repr. New York: Penguin, 2009,
761:
and a moderate force at the Foreign Office during the war.
960:, tr. Lawrence J. Johnson, New York: Paulist Press, 1999,
898:, 2nd ed. repr. London: Macmillan, 1967, pp. 416–17.
726:
with his wife, as a guest of the Pope and a member of the
838:, a young journalist who sharply criticized the trial in
1169:. 1977. "Weizsäcker, the Vatican and the Jews of Rome".
764:
Weizsäcker was charged with active cooperation with the
548:
He was encouraged by his superior to join the ruling
480:(both classes) and was the next year was promoted to
1034:
von Kessel, Albrecht, "Der Papst und die Juden", in
397:
from 1943 to 1945. He was a member of the prominent
935:, pp. 133–78, pp. 162–63, 166–67.
457:. In 1916, he served as Flag Lieutenant to Admiral
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1322:German people convicted of crimes against humanity
489:He was a member of the Naval Staff led by Admiral
1087:. Oxford University Press. pp. 120 to 136.
1342:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class
1337:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class
1204:Newspaper clippings about Ernst von Weizsäcker
389:of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1943, and as its
1332:Imperial German Navy personnel of World War I
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472:. In 1917, during the latter portion of the
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714:Ernst von Weizsäcker (right) with his son
429:(the equivalent of prime minister) of the
51:
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952:
950:
859:
857:
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550:National Socialist German Workers' Party
453:to become an officer, serving mainly in
851:
589:, and the Army Chief of Staff, General
1302:Ambassadors of Germany to the Holy See
1287:People from the Kingdom of Württemberg
401:, and the father of German President
7:
927:, ed. H.W. Koch, London: Macmillan,
110:Gustav Adolf Steengracht von Moyland
660:, Weizsäcker shared the opinion of
1234:German Ambassador to the Holy See
25:
1282:Military personnel from Stuttgart
1171:Journal of Ecclesiastical History
1053:Actes et Documents du Saint Siège
1277:Holocaust perpetrators in France
1099:Heisenberg, Professor Dr. Martin
305:
294:
282:
262:
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629:After the German defeat in the
449:In 1900, Weizsäcker joined the
417:Weizsäcker was born in 1882 in
405:and physicist and philosopher
1:
1317:Nazis convicted of war crimes
1182:The Journal of Modern History
1141:(in German). October 19, 1950
818:assessed the belief that the
525:in 1924 and was stationed in
513:in 1920. He was appointed as
407:Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
1357:20th-century German nobility
1108:The New York Review of Books
744:Nuremberg Military Tribunals
734:and was put on trial in the
609:stated in a 2010 interview:
1307:Diplomats in the Nazi Party
1208:20th Century Press Archives
668:was a "devilish campaign".
642:Cardinal Secretary of State
617:Weizsäcker was promoted to
461:aboard the German flagship
32:Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker
27:German diplomat (1882–1951)
1378:
1352:Nobility in the Nazi Party
1083:Gerald Steinacher (2021).
925:Aspects of the Third Reich
766:deportation of French Jews
521:in 1921, as Councillor in
29:
1239:
1232:
1224:
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1051:"Notes de Mgr. Tardini",
650:Giovanni Battista Montini
648:Weizsäcker to Monsignore
625:Ambassador to the Vatican
372:
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228:
224:
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132:
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59:
50:
914:Wheeler-Bennett, p. 417.
822:had no involvement with
423:Karl Hugo von Weizsäcker
161:Wolfgang Jaenicke (1954)
98:Hans Georg von Mackensen
30:Not to be confused with
986:Blet, pp. 219–24.
894:Wheeler-Bennett, John,
700:unconditional surrender
439:Württembergish monarchy
1362:Richard von Weizsäcker
1347:Nazi Party politicians
1135:"Ernst von Weizsäcker"
997:The Third Reich at War
977:Blet, pp. 89–90.
844:
777:Richard von Weizsäcker
719:
652:, later Pope Paul VI.
615:
577:
569:Joachim von Ribbentrop
511:German Foreign Service
509:Weizsäcker joined the
431:Kingdom of Württemberg
403:Richard von Weizsäcker
185:Kingdom of Württemberg
836:Marion Gräfin Dönhoff
828:
820:German Foreign Office
740:German Foreign Office
713:
640:When received by the
611:
573:
317:Years of service
1101:(January 16, 1992).
1085:Humanitarians at War
867:(October 27, 2010).
832:Carl Heinrich Becker
793:US High Commissioner
759:anti-Nazi resistance
631:Battle of Stalingrad
621:on 30 January 1942.
465:Friedrich der Grosse
451:Imperial German Navy
320:1900–1920, 1938–1945
290:Imperial German Navy
18:Ernst von Weizsacker
673:Albrecht von Kessel
637:from 1943 to 1945.
599:Hans Bernd Gisevius
425:, who would become
995:Richard J. Evans,
834:, and another was
720:
662:Ulrich von Hassell
427:minister president
65:Secretary of State
1297:Weizsäcker family
1250:
1249:
1243:Wolfgang Jaenicke
1240:Succeeded by
1220:Diplomatic posts
1192:Weizsäcker family
1005:978-1-59420-206-3
966:978-0-8091-0503-8
933:978-0-333-35272-4
784:Winston Churchill
718:at post war trial
505:Diplomatic career
470:Battle of Jutland
399:Weizsäcker family
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16:(Redirected from
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1292:SS-Brigadeführer
1228:Diego von Bergen
1225:Preceded by
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803:Death and legacy
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736:Ministries Trial
728:diplomatic corps
692:Domenico Tardini
658:Richard J. Evans
619:SS-Brigadeführer
483:Korvettenkapitän
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1138:
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1117:. Retrieved
1106:
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752:Soviet Union
724:Vatican City
721:
697:
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654:
639:
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416:
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270:Nazi Germany
209:West Germany
200:(1951-08-04)
157:Succeeded by
134:
126:Nazi Germany
124:
105:Succeeded by
82:
74:Nazi Germany
72:
1267:1951 deaths
1262:1882 births
1145:January 29,
1113:Reichenberg
874:Der Spiegel
591:Ludwig Beck
539:Thomas Mann
468:during the
364:(2nd class)
359:(1st class)
215:Nationality
178:25 May 1882
145:Preceded by
93:Preceded by
1256:Categories
1237:1943-1945
880:2011-07-07
814:historian
685:Karl Wolff
595:Hans Oster
523:Copenhagen
478:Iron Cross
413:Early life
391:Ambassador
362:Iron Cross
357:Iron Cross
234:Allegiance
117:Ambassador
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681:Waffen SS
664:that the
499:The Hague
463:SMS
419:Stuttgart
181:Stuttgart
139:1943–1945
135:In office
87:1938–1943
83:In office
1139:die Zeit
840:Die Zeit
683:General
635:Holy See
435:Freiherr
395:Holy See
381:Freiherr
276:Service/
121:Holy See
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847:Notes
562:trial
519:Basel
1147:2015
1121:2012
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962:ISBN
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597:and
535:Bern
531:Oslo
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