Herbert von Dirksen

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Herbert von Dirksen (April 2, 1882 in Berlin - December 19, 1955 in Munich) was the last German Ambassador to Britain before World War Two. Dirksen was born to a recently ennobled family.

In 1905, he graduated with a Referendar (junior barrister) legal degree and in 1907, he went on a tour around the world. After working as assistant judge, in 1910 Dirksen went on a four month trip to Rhodesia, South Africa and German East Africa. During World War One, Dirksen served in the German Army as a lieutenant and won the Iron Cross, Second Class. After the war, he joined the German Foreign Office.

Between 1923-25, Dirksen served as German Consul in the Free City of Danzig. In 1928, in a major promotion, Dirksen became the Ministerial Director of the East Division of the Foreign Office. Later, that same year, he was appointed German Ambassador to the Soviet Union. In May 1933, Dirksen had a meeting with Adolf Hitler in which he advised the Führer that he was allowing relations with the Soviet Union to decline to a unacceptable extent[1]. Much to Dirksen's disappointment, Hitler informed that he wished for an anti-Soviet understanding with Poland, which Dirksen protested implied recognition of the German-Polish border[2]. In October 1933, he became the German Ambassador to Japan. Shortly after his arrival in Tokyo, Dirksen become involved with the efforts of a shady German businessman, Nazi Party member and friend of Hermann Göring named Ferdinand Heye to become Special Trade Commissioner in Manchukuo[3]. Dirksen's backing for Heye's schemes plus his advocacy of German recognition of Manchukuo brought him into conflict with his superior, the Foreign Minister Baron Konstantin von Neurath, who preferred better relations with China then with Japan[4]. In early 1934, Dirksen himself come into conflict with Heye over the latter's attempts to secure all German trade in Manchuria into his hands[5]. The dispute were finally settled in February 1935 when Heye was finally disallowed by Hitler[6]. In 1938-39, he was German Ambassador at the Court of St. James.

Dirksen despised his superior, Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop as "an unwholesome, half-comical figure"[7].

Preceded by
TBD		 German Ambassador to Japan
1933-1938		 Succeeded by
Eugen Ott

[edit] See also

[edit] Endnotes

  1. ^ The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany Diplomatic Revolution in Europe 1933-36, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970, page 65.
  2. ^ The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany Diplomatic Revolution in Europe 1933-36, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970, page 66.
  3. ^ The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany Diplomatic Revolution in Europe 1933-36, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970, page 127.
  4. ^ The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany Diplomatic Revolution in Europe 1933-36, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970, page 128.
  5. ^ The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany Diplomatic Revolution in Europe 1933-36, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970, page 130.
  6. ^ The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany Diplomatic Revolution in Europe 1933-36, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970, page 131.
  7. ^ Snyder, Louis "Encyclopedia of the Third Reich" New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976 page 68.

[edit] References

  • Dirksen, Herbert von "Moscow Tokyo London: Twenty Years of German Foreign Policy" Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1952.
  • Snyder, Louis "Encyclopedia of the Third Reich" New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976.
  • Schorske, Carl "Two German Ambassadors: Dirksen and Schulenburg" pages 477-511 from The Diplomats 1919-1939 edited by Gordon A. Craig and Felix Gilbert, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1953.
  • Mund, Gerald "Herbert von Dirksen (1882-1955). Ein deutscher Diplomat in Kaiserreich, Weimarer Republik und Drittem Reich. Eine Biografie." Berlin: dissertation.de - Verlag im Internet, 2003.
  • Mund, Gerald: "Ostasien im Spiegel der deutschen Diplomatie. Die privatdienstliche Korrespondenz des Diplomaten Herbert von Dirksen von 1933 bis 1938." Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart, 2006 (= Historische Mitteilungen der Ranke-Gesellschaft, Beiheft 63).
  • Weinberg, Gerhard The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany Diplomatic Revolution in Europe 1933-36, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970, ISBN 226-88509-7.
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