Friedrich-Werner Erdmann Matthias Johann Bernhard Erich Graf[1] von der Schulenburg (20 November 1875 – 10 November 1944) was a German diplomat who served as the last German ambassador to the Soviet Union before Operation Barbarossa, the German attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, during World War II. He began his diplomatic career before World War I, serving as consul and ambassador in several countries.
After a prolonged conflict with the Nazi regime, he turned against the main Nazi Party and joined the conspiracy against Adolf Hitler. After the failed 20 July plot in 1944 to assassinate Hitler, Schulenburg was accused of being a co-conspirator and five months later executed.
He was a Knight of Justice of the Order of St John, which was regarded with disfavour by the Nazis.[2]
Diplomatic career
Inscription on the ancient statue at the entrance of Persepolis. Envoy F.W. GRAF SCHULENBURG. 1926*1930*1931
Schulenburg served as the German ambassador to Iran from 1922 until 1931, when his visit to the ancient monuments at Persepolis resulted in his name being engraved at the Gate of All Nations. He joined the Nazi Party in 1934. From 1931 to 1934, he served as the German ambassador to Romania before he was posted to Moscow as the last German envoy to the Soviet Union before the invasion of that country by Germany in 1941.
Noble estate
Burg Falkenberg today
In the 1930s, Schulenburg acquired the Burg Falkenberg, a castle in the Upper Palatinate. He had it converted and renovated to serve as a home for his retirement. This monumental work was undertaken between 1936 and 1939.
Resistance activities
After the First World War, Schulenburg got his diplomatic career going again, becoming, among other things, an envoy to Tehran and Bucharest. In 1934, he was appointed German ambassador to the Soviet Union. Schulenburg favoured an agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union, and was instrumental in bringing about the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of August 1939. After the Soviet invasion of Poland, despite the state of war between Germany and Poland, he used his position as the most senior ambassador in Moscow to allow Polish diplomats (including ambassador Wacław Grzybowski) to leave the Soviet Union, when the Soviets tried to arrest them.
Schulenburg was kept in the dark about Germany's planned invasion of the Soviet Union. He knew for certain that the invasion would take place only a few hours before it was launched, when Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop cabled him a message to read to Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov justifying the invasion. He, however, got suspicions of what his government was planning to do in the spring of 1941. To the last, he tried to thwart any talk of invasion by such means as hinting at the Soviet Union's military strength and the unassailability of its industrial reserves. He is quoted as having said to Molotov on the morning of the attack: "For the last six years I've personally tried to do everything I could to encourage friendship between the Soviet Union and Germany. But you can't stand in the way of destiny."[4] A few weeks before the invasion, Schulenburg tried to warn the Soviet Ambassador to Germany Vladimir Dekanozov of his suspicions, but Dekanozov dismissed the evidence of military preparations as false British propaganda.[5]
After the German invasion began on 22 June 1941, Schulenburg was interned by the Soviets for a few weeks and was transferred to the Soviet-Turkish border for repatriation. Thereafter, Schulenburg was assigned as leader of the Russia Committee, a Foreign Office post with no political influence, to neutralize him.
He later joined the conspiracy to overthrow Hitler in the hope of reaching a quick peace agreement in the east. He was ready and willing to negotiate even with Joseph Stalin on behalf of the plotters. Had they been successful in overthrowing Hitler, Schulenburg would have been a high-ranking official in the Foreign Office; some sources had him listed as foreign minister.
After the failure of the attempt on Hitler's life on 20 July 1944, Schulenburg was arrested and charged with high treason. On 23 October 1944, the Volksgerichtshof ("People's Court") sentenced him to death, and he was hanged on 10 November 1944 at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin.
Marriage
He married from 1908 to 1910 Elisabeth von Sobbe (Burg bei Magdeburg, 1875–1955), and had a daughter:
Christa-Wernfriedis Hanna Margarete Engelberta Gräfin von der Schulenburg (1908–1993), married to Max Wolfgang, Freiherr von Lindenfels (1908–1982)
^Regarding personal names: Until 1919, Graf was a title, translated as 'Count', not a first or middle name. The female form is Gräfin. In Germany, it has formed part of family names since 1919.
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.
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