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549:(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
819:"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,
582:, 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
644:
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,
636:
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
768:, 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.
645:
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
564:"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".
775:
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
602:"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".
1140:
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
683:
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.
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1315:
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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
831:. They all knew that if they succeeded in exonerating Weizsäcker, they would have rehabilitated the national conservative, aristocratic and bourgeois upper class."
1330:
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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
661:
679:
Weizsäcker continued to present the
Vatican with anticommunist slogans, and he both threatened a separate Soviet-German peace and requested from Monsignore
676:, Weizsäcker was clearly opposed to Hitler's plan to occupy the Vatican during which Weizsäcker feared the Pope being shot "fleeing while avoiding arrest".
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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".
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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
1006:
788:. Weizsäcker subsequently published his memoirs, written in prison, in which he portrayed himself as a supporter of the German Resistance.
771:
In 1949, Weizsäcker was found guilty of crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and sentenced to 7 years in prison.
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687:
Like several other German officials, Weizsäcker attempted to negotiate the survival of some segment of the government and to avoid the
1265:
545:: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), which he did in 1938, and he was also awarded an honorary rank in the
374:(25 May 1882 – 4 August 1951) was a German naval officer, diplomat and politician. He served as State Secretary at the
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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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to overthrow the regime. The divergent aims between these two factions produced considerable tension. The historian
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that Weizsäcker first claimed to be an anti-Nazi working with all his heart and might to overthrow the Nazi regime.
912:
Müller, Klaus-Jürgen, "The Structure and Nature of the National Conservative Opposition in Germany up to 1940", in
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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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761:, as a crime against humanity. Weizsäcker, with the assistance of his son, the future
719:. He did not return to Germany until 1946. Weizsäcker was arrested on 25 July 1947 in
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1092:"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".
858:"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
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Weizsäcker's supporters claimed that he had been closely associated with the
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Pius XII and the Second World War: According to the Archives of the Vatican
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660:"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
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later said. In those messages to Berlin, Weizsäcker purposely painted
1031:, Rororo Taschenbuch 591, Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1963, p. 168.
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727:, also known as the Wilhelmstrasse Trial, after the location of the
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People convicted by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals
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The Nemesis of Power: The German Army in Politics, 1918–1945
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in Berlin. The Ministries Trial was one of 12 trials conducted by
556:
On 19 August 1938, Weizsäcker wrote in a memo to Foreign Minister
800:
796:
Weizsäcker died of a stroke on August 4, 1951, at the age of 69.
1316:
German people convicted of the international crime of aggression
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Weizsäcker never sent his memo to Ribbentrop. Together with the
711:
After the end of the war, Weizsäcker initially remained in the
591:
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515:
443:
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590:, which wanted to use the crisis as an excuse for executing a
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from August 1918. From June 1919 to April 1920, he served as
988:, London: Allen Lane, 2008, repr. New York: Penguin, 2009,
750:
and a moderate force at the Foreign Office during the war.
523:
519:
949:, tr. Lawrence J. Johnson, New York: Paulist Press, 1999,
887:, 2nd ed. repr. London: Macmillan, 1967, pp. 416–17.
715:
with his wife, as a guest of the Pope and a member of the
827:, a young journalist who sharply criticized the trial in
1158:. 1977. "Weizsäcker, the Vatican and the Jews of Rome".
753:
Weizsäcker was charged with active cooperation with the
537:
He was encouraged by his superior to join the ruling
469:(both classes) and was the next year was promoted to
1023:
von Kessel, Albrecht, "Der Papst und die Juden", in
386:
from 1943 to 1945. He was a member of the prominent
924:, pp. 133–78, pp. 162–63, 166–67.
446:. In 1916, he served as Flag Lieutenant to Admiral
1311:German people convicted of crimes against humanity
478:He was a member of the Naval Staff led by Admiral
1071:
1242:
1076:. Oxford University Press. pp. 120 to 136.
1331:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class
1326:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class
1193:Newspaper clippings about Ernst von Weizsäcker
378:of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1943, and as its
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461:. In 1917, during the latter portion of the
703:Ernst von Weizsäcker (right) with his son
418:(the equivalent of prime minister) of the
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539:National Socialist German Workers' Party
442:to become an officer, serving mainly in
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1276:People from the Kingdom of Württemberg
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390:, and the father of German President
916:, ed. H.W. Koch, London: Macmillan,
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99:Gustav Adolf Steengracht von Moyland
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649:, Weizsäcker shared the opinion of
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1223:German Ambassador to the Holy See
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1271:Military personnel from Stuttgart
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1160:Journal of Ecclesiastical History
1042:Actes et Documents du Saint Siège
1266:Holocaust perpetrators in France
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438:In 1900, Weizsäcker joined the
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406:Weizsäcker was born in 1882 in
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394:and physicist and philosopher
1:
1306:Nazis convicted of war crimes
1171:The Journal of Modern History
1130:(in German). October 19, 1950
807:assessed the belief that the
514:in 1924 and was stationed in
502:in 1920. He was appointed as
401:
396:Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
1346:20th-century German nobility
1097:The New York Review of Books
733:Nuremberg Military Tribunals
723:and was put on trial in the
598:stated in a 2010 interview:
7:
1296:Diplomats in the Nazi Party
1197:20th Century Press Archives
657:was a "devilish campaign".
631:Cardinal Secretary of State
606:Weizsäcker was promoted to
450:aboard the German flagship
21:Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker
16:German diplomat (1882–1951)
10:
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1341:Nobility in the Nazi Party
1072:Gerald Steinacher (2021).
914:Aspects of the Third Reich
755:deportation of French Jews
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510:in 1921, as Councillor in
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1040:"Notes de Mgr. Tardini",
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811:had no involvement with
412:Karl Hugo von Weizsäcker
150:Wolfgang Jaenicke (1954)
87:Hans Georg von Mackensen
19:Not to be confused with
975:Blet, pp. 219–24.
883:Wheeler-Bennett, John,
689:unconditional surrender
428:Württembergish monarchy
1351:Richard von Weizsäcker
1336:Nazi Party politicians
1124:"Ernst von Weizsäcker"
986:The Third Reich at War
966:Blet, pp. 89–90.
833:
766:Richard von Weizsäcker
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641:, later Pope Paul VI.
604:
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558:Joachim von Ribbentrop
500:German Foreign Service
498:Weizsäcker joined the
420:Kingdom of Württemberg
392:Richard von Weizsäcker
174:Kingdom of Württemberg
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809:German Foreign Office
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629:When received by the
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306:Years of service
1090:(January 16, 1992).
1074:Humanitarians at War
856:(October 27, 2010).
821:Carl Heinrich Becker
782:US High Commissioner
748:anti-Nazi resistance
620:Battle of Stalingrad
610:on 30 January 1942.
454:Friedrich der Grosse
440:Imperial German Navy
309:1900–1920, 1938–1945
279:Imperial German Navy
662:Albrecht von Kessel
626:from 1943 to 1945.
588:Hans Bernd Gisevius
414:, who would become
984:Richard J. Evans,
823:, and another was
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416:minister president
54:Secretary of State
1286:Weizsäcker family
1239:
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1232:Wolfgang Jaenicke
1229:Succeeded by
1209:Diplomatic posts
1181:Weizsäcker family
994:978-1-59420-206-3
955:978-0-8091-0503-8
922:978-0-333-35272-4
773:Winston Churchill
707:at post war trial
494:Diplomatic career
459:Battle of Jutland
388:Weizsäcker family
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681:Domenico Tardini
647:Richard J. Evans
608:SS-Brigadeführer
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1132:. Retrieved
1127:
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1108:December 18,
1106:. Retrieved
1095:
1082:
1073:
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1024:
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985:
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861:
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818:
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795:
770:
752:
745:
741:Soviet Union
713:Vatican City
710:
686:
678:
659:
643:
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437:
434:Naval career
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328:Battles/wars
291:Reichsmarine
259:Nazi Germany
198:West Germany
189:(1951-08-04)
146:Succeeded by
123:
115:Nazi Germany
113:
94:Succeeded by
71:
63:Nazi Germany
61:
1256:1951 deaths
1251:1882 births
1134:January 29,
1102:Reichenberg
863:Der Spiegel
580:Ludwig Beck
528:Thomas Mann
457:during the
353:(2nd class)
348:(1st class)
204:Nationality
167:25 May 1882
134:Preceded by
82:Preceded by
1245:Categories
1226:1943-1945
869:2011-07-07
803:historian
674:Karl Wolff
584:Hans Oster
512:Copenhagen
467:Iron Cross
402:Early life
380:Ambassador
351:Iron Cross
346:Iron Cross
223:Allegiance
106:Ambassador
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1044:, p. 505.
996:, p. 475.
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778:Landsberg
759:Auschwitz
721:Nuremberg
670:Waffen SS
653:that the
488:The Hague
452:SMS
408:Stuttgart
170:Stuttgart
128:1943–1945
124:In office
76:1938–1943
72:In office
1128:die Zeit
829:Die Zeit
672:General
624:Holy See
424:Freiherr
384:Holy See
370:Freiherr
265:Service/
110:Holy See
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543:German
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194:Lindau
30:Ernst
836:Notes
551:trial
508:Basel
1136:2015
1110:2012
990:ISBN
951:ISBN
918:ISBN
586:and
524:Bern
520:Oslo
314:Rank
184:Died
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