Hitler's Diplomat: The Life and Times of Joachim von Ribbentrop - Hardcover

John Weitz

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395621526 ISBN 13: 9780395621523

Publisher: Ticknor & Fields, 1992

Synopsis

This first full-length English-language biography of Joachim von Ribbentrop, Adolf Hitler's notorious foreign minister, is also an authoritative account of the social and political workings of Nazi Germany. The result of a lifetime of research and firsthand experience, the book combines narrative history of the highest order and intimate familiarity with the people, events, and social currents that animated Hitler's regime.
A well-to-do social climber who made and married money, von Ribbentrop was among the few in Hitler's circle with a claim to social prominence. As ambassador to England, von Ribbentrop quickly worked his way up to head the Foreign Ministry, along the way negotiating the British Naval Agreement, the Anti-Comintern Pact, and the Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. Frustrated during the war, when diplomacy was rendered virtually obsolete, von Ribbentrop never forsook his Fuhrer even at Nurnberg, where he was tried and hanged as a senior war criminal.
With a provocative foreword by Tom Wolfe that draws disturbing comparisons between the Berlin of the 1930s and American society of the 1980s, Hitler's Diplomat is not only the riveting story of one of Hitler's closest collaborators, it also provides a window onto a side of Nazi Germany that is as fascinating as it is troubling: the men and women of culture and means who gave themselves to Hitler and his war machine.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

What can a celebrated fashion designer tell you about the history of Germany's Third Reich? You'd be surprised. Weitz (Friends in High Places, 1982, etc.) grew up in Berlin's haut monde, fled the Nazis with his family in 1938, and returned as an OSS spy five years later. He hasn't forgotten much, and succeeds in putting a personal spin on his account of Hitler's foreign minister. Ribbentrop (1893-1946) was a go-getter from the start, a bright boy of modest means and boundless ambition who ended up with the Nazis largely because they made him the best offer. The son of an army officer, he started a wine-exporting business as a young man and joined the army in 1914. After the war, he threw himself into the social whirl of Berlin, cultivating the friendship of the high and mighty. One of his biggest catches was Franz von Papen, who became chancellor under the von Hindenburg government. In 1932, von Papen asked Ribbentrop to meet with Hitler to convince him to form a coalition government. Hitler refused--but converted Ribbentrop to National Socialism in the process. Among the Nazis, Ribbentrop was an anomaly--most of the Nazi leadership was of proletarian or lower-middle-class stock--and he was constantly at pains to demonstrate his loyalty. This led to many diplomatic fiascos (such as that when Ribbentrop, after presenting his credentials to the king of England, gave a Nazi salute) and ultimately cost him his life at Nuremberg. Weitz succeeds brilliantly in describing the atmosphere of the period and the social background of the events that defined the age. His portrayal of the Nazi hierarchy is remarkable in that he sees most of its members as spineless toadies without any ideology of their own--and Ribbentrop as an exemplar of the type. The Faustian elements of opportunism have rarely been so well defined. A splendid and horrifying romp through the culverts of modern history. (Sixteen pages of b&w photographs--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Library Journal:

A popular rather than a scholarly biography, based on secondary works and a smattering of memoir literature, this account follows von Ribbentrop's early life as a Berlin social climber, his relatively late adherence to the National Socialist party after meeting Hitler in 1932, and his subsequent career as the party's special diplomatic envoy, ambassador to England in 1936, and, finally, foreign minister from 1938 to 1945. Although written with a certain verve and sprinkled with occasionally interesting anecdotes, the biography provides little analysis of von Ribbentrop's influence on German diplomacy or Nazi policies. The author, a prominent clothing designer who has written several novels (e.g., Friends in High Places , LJ 10/1/82), loses sight of his subject for pages while he expatiates on Berlin smart society in the 1920s and British fascism in the 1930s. Too often Weitz speculates on his subject's attitudes or positions without finding reliable sources to confirm these speculations. The result is biography as accumulated anecdote, a light read on a heavy subject.
- James B. Street, Santa Cruz P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ticknor & Fields
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0395621526
• ISBN 13: 9780395621523
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 376