The predatory Ribbentrop battalion. Hitler's Confidant

Joachim von Ribbentrop

Joachim von Ribbentrop(April 30, 1893 - October 16, 1946) - Minister of Foreign Affairs Nazi Germany, Hitler's foreign policy adviser.

He studied in Kassel and Metz, then worked in England, the USA and Canada. knew French very well and German languages. With the outbreak of World War I, Ribbentrop returned to Germany and volunteered for a hussar regiment. He participated in the battles Eastern Front, was wounded, awarded the Iron Cross, 1st Class, and rose to the rank of Oberleutnant. In 1915, Ribbentrop was sent to work in the German military mission in Turkey. After the end of World War I, he took up commercial activities. By 1925 Ribbentrop was already a successful businessman. Industrialists, politicians, journalists and cultural figures willingly visited his luxurious Berlin mansion. Since 1930, Hitler, Goering, Himmler and other Nazi leaders have become frequent guests in the Ribbentrop house. Ribbentrop played exclusively important role in bringing the Nazis to power. Negotiations were held in his house on the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor between the leaders of the NSDAP on the one hand and representatives of President Hindenburg and the right-wing bourgeois parties on the other.

May 1, 1932 Ribbentrop joined the NSDAP and received the title of SS Standartenführer. Hitler put him at the head of a specially created foreign policy body of the NSDAP - the so-called. "Bureau Ribbentrop", designed to operate in parallel with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The bureau was gradually filled with people from the SS, and Ribbentrop himself, who was close friends with Himmler, soon received high rank SS Obergruppenführer (general). In the autumn of 1934, the Fuhrer instructed Ribbentrop to pave the way for close German-Japanese cooperation, while assigning him the rank of "Commissioner for Foreign Policy at the headquarters of Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess" and "Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Third Reich." He was instructed to negotiate and sign the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935. On August 11, 1936, Ribbentrop was appointed German Ambassador to Great Britain, and on February 4, 1938, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Third Reich. On August 23, 1939, Ribbentrop went to Moscow, where he signed the 1939 Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the USSR with Soviet Foreign Minister V. Molotov.

June 14, 1945 Ribbentrop was arrested by the British occupation authorities and appeared before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. The court found him guilty on all 4 counts, including conspiracy to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity, and sentenced him to death penalty. He was hanged on the morning of October 16, 1946. Tags:

Meaning of RIBBENTROP, JOCHIM VON in the Encyclopedia of the Third Reich

Ribbentrop, Joachim Von

(Ribbentrop), (1893-1946), Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany, Hitler's foreign policy adviser. Born April 30, 1893 in Wessel in the family of an officer. He studied in Kassel and Metz, then worked in England, the USA and Canada as a commercial representative of a small export-import wine trade enterprise. This gave him a certain outlook, life experience and excellent knowledge of French and English which the Fuhrer later highly appreciated in him. With the outbreak of World War I, Ribbentrop returned to Germany and volunteered for a hussar regiment. He participated in the battles on the Eastern Front, was wounded, was awarded the Iron Cross of the 1st degree and rose to the rank of Oberleutnant. In 1915, Ribbentrop was sent to work in the German military mission in Turkey. After the end of the 1st World War, he engaged in commercial activities. Marriage with the daughter of the largest German champagne producer Otto Henkel opened up wide prospects for him. By 1925 Ribbentrop was already a successful businessman. Industrialists, politicians, journalists and cultural figures willingly visited his luxurious Berlin mansion. Since 1930, Hitler, Goering, Himmler and other Nazi leaders have become frequent guests in the Ribbentrop house. Ribbentrop played an extremely important role in bringing the Nazis to power. Negotiations were held in his house on the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor between the leaders of the NSDAP on the one hand and representatives of President Hindenburg and the right-wing bourgeois parties on the other.

May 1, 1932 Ribbentrop joined the NSDAP and received the title of SS Standartenführer. Although the vain and arrogant Ribbentrop irritated many Nazi leaders, Hitler, who favored him, put him at the head of a specially created foreign policy body of the NSDAP - the so-called. "Ribbentrop, Bureau", designed to operate in parallel with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The bureau was gradually filled with people from the SS, and Ribbentrop himself, who was close friends with Himmler, soon received the high rank of SS Obergruppenführer (general). In the autumn of 1934, the Fuhrer instructed Ribbentrop to pave the way for close German-Japanese cooperation, conferring on him the rank of "plenipotentiary for foreign affairs at the headquarters of Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess" and "Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Third Reich." He was instructed to negotiate and sign the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935. On August 11, 1936, Ribbentrop was appointed German Ambassador to Great Britain, and on February 4, 1938, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Third Reich. Since that time, he played an important role in the implementation of Hitler's aggressive plans. On August 23, 1939, Ribbentrop went to Moscow, where he signed the 1939 Non-Aggression Treaty between Germany and the USSR with Soviet Foreign Minister V. Molotov, which essentially predetermined the start of World War II. There was not a single action in the preparation and promotion of which, by means of diplomacy, Ribbentrop would not take part. The Anschluss of Austria, the occupation of Czechoslovakia, the attack on Poland, the occupation of Denmark and Norway, Belgium and Holland, the defeat of France, the attack on Yugoslavia and Greece, the forging of aggressive blocs, the economic robbery of the occupied countries - the measure of Ribbentrop's personal responsibility for all these crimes was enormous. A gloomy role was played by the department headed by him in the extermination of Jews in the territories of the countries occupied by Germany. In particular, in the spring of 1943, Ribbentrop insistently demanded that the Hungarian regent Horthy "complete" the anti-Jewish measures in Hungary. "The Jews must be exterminated or sent to concentration camps - there is no other option," Ribbentrop emphasized. Concerning the fate of the British and American pilots shot down in the skies of Germany, Ribbentrop categorically insisted that all of them be lynched on the spot. Von Ribbentrop, Chamberlain and Hitler during the Munich Conference

In April 1945, Ribbentrop managed to escape. He went to Hamburg, where, under the noses of the British military commandant's office, he rented a room in an unremarkable house. However, on June 14, 1945, he was arrested by the British occupation authorities and brought before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. While in prison, Ribbentrop declared: "Appear in this cell Hitler and tell me" act! "I, like everyone I know, still would have acted." The court found Ribbentrop guilty on all 4 counts, including conspiracy to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity, and sentenced him to death. He was hanged on the morning of October 16, 1946.

Encyclopedia of the Third Reich. 2012

Joachim von Ribbentrop
(1893-1946)

Joachim von Ribbentrop(German Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop, April 30, 1893, Wesel - October 16, 1946, Nuremberg) - German Foreign Minister (1938-1945), Adolf Hitler's adviser on foreign policy.
Born in the city of Wesel in Rhenish Prussia in the family of officer Richard Ulrich Friedrich Joachim Ribbentrop. In 1910, Ribbentrop moved to Canada, where he set up a company to import wine from Germany. During the First World War, he returned to Germany to take part in the hostilities: in the fall of 1914 he joined the 125th Hussars. In the war, Ribbentrop rose to the rank of senior lieutenant and was awarded Iron Cross. Served in the East, and then on Western front. In 1918 Ribbentrop was sent to Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) as an officer of the General Staff.
He met Hitler and Himmler at the end of 1932, when he provided him with his villa for secret negotiations with von Papen. Himmler impressed Ribbentrop with his refined manners at the table so much that he soon joined the NSDAP, and later the SS. On May 30, 1933, Ribbentrop was awarded the title of SS Standartenführer, and Himmler became a frequent visitor to his villa.
On the instructions of Hitler, with the active assistance of Himmler, who helped with funds and personnel, he created a bureau called the Ribbentrop Service, whose task was to spy on unreliable diplomats.
In February 1938 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. On this occasion, as an exception, he received the Order of the German Eagle. Immediately after the appointment, he achieved the admission of all employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the SS. He himself often appeared at work in the uniform of an SS Gruppenfuehrer. Ribbentrop took only SS men as adjutants, and sent his son to serve in the SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler.
But after a while, relations between Ribbentrop and Himmler deteriorated. The reason for this was the gross interference of Himmler and his subordinates (primarily Heydrich) in the affairs of the foreign affairs department, and they acted very amateurishly. And Ribbentrop was already furious when he noticed one of his subordinates in SS uniform.
The strife intensified even more after Ribbentrop caught the SD officers, who worked in the embassies as police attachés, of using diplomatic mail channels to send denunciations against embassy employees.
In November 1939, Ribbentrop sharply opposed Heydrich's plan to steal two British scouts However, Hitler defended the SD so fiercely that Ribbentrop had to give in: "Yes, yes, my Führer, I was of the same opinion right away, but it's just a disaster with these bureaucrats and lawyers in the Foreign Office: they are too slow-witted."
It was only in January 1941, after the SD attempted to overthrow the Romanian dictator Antonescu, that they managed to find a government against Himmler. On January 22, when the situation became critical, Antonescu sent an inquiry to the German embassy to find out if he still enjoyed Hitler's confidence. Ribbentrop immediately replied: "Yes, Antonescu must act as he considers necessary and expedient. The Fuhrer advises him to deal with the legionnaires in the same way as he once treated the Ryoma putschists."
Antonescu defeated the putschists and began to pursue them. But then the SD intervened, hiding the leadership of the Iron Guard and secretly taking it abroad.
Upon learning of this, Ribbentrop immediately reported to Hitler, presenting what had happened as a monstrous conspiracy by the SD against the official foreign policy Third Reich. After all, the representative of the SD in Romania was the instigator of the putsch, and the head of the Romanian group of Germans, Andreas Schmidt, appointed to this position by the head of the center for work with the Volksdeutsche, SS Obergruppenführer Lorenz, sheltered the putschists. Ribbentrop also did not forget to mention that Schmidt is the son-in-law of Gottlob Berger, head of the SS Main Office. Thus, Hitler got the impression that the top leadership of the SS was involved in the conspiracy.
Taking advantage of the Fuhrer's anger, Ribbentrop began to act. He appointed a new envoy to Romania, who immediately sent a police attache to Germany, who spent several months on his return in the dungeons of the Gestapo. Ribbentrop also began to demand from Heydrich to stop interfering in the affairs of the foreign affairs department. On August 9, 1941, an agreement was reached that the official correspondence of the police attaches went through the ambassador.
And in the future, Ribbentrop tried to hurt Himmler for any reason. So, having learned about Himmler's intention to visit Italy, he said that the visits of the top leadership are carried out only in agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Representatives of the SA who survived the Night of the Long Knives were appointed ambassadors in the countries of South-Eastern Europe. And SS Gruppenfuehrer Werner Best, who switched to diplomatic service from the SD, Ribbentrop said that now Best obeys only him, and not Himmler.
Joachim von Ribbentrop was executed by hanging on October 16, 1946 by the Nuremberg Tribunal.
Last words Ribbentrop on the scaffold were: "God, be merciful to my soul. My last wish is that Germany regain its unity, so that mutual understanding between East and West leads to peace on Earth."
(From Wikipedia)

Gustav HILGER
(1886-1965)

Gustav Hilger was born in 1886 in Moscow into the family of a German manufacturer and was fluent in Russian from childhood. Having become a career diplomat, from 1923 until June 1941 he was first an employee and then an adviser to the German Embassy in the USSR. Like his boss, Ambassador Count Werner von der Schulenburg, was not an active and convinced Nazi and was a supporter of peaceful good-neighborly relations between Germany and Soviet Union. During the war he served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; in 1948-1951 lived in the USA, and in 1953-1956. was an adviser to the Adenauer government of the Federal Republic of Germany on "Eastern issues".
(From the book "I was present at this")

» radio station "Echo of Moscow".

“You know, baby, who starts wars? - Hitler once ranted, referring to one of his young admirers. — Military? Politicians? No. Wars are started by mediocre economists. It is they who lead the country to a crisis and give it to mediocre diplomats, and those to the military. If the military is mediocre, the country will perish. But if the military is talented, then there is a chance to correct the mistakes of economists and diplomats.”

In this chain: economists - diplomats - the military, Hitler clearly considered the middle link superfluous. This "middle link" in the Third Reich was Ribbentrop's department. In other words, Nazi diplomacy simply did not exist. This is how it is considered.

Yes, and the very personality of the minister is everywhere portrayed as somehow dull: a sort of cold type with a smile on duty, who is always being chased to sign something. Perhaps the deliberate vulgarization of Ribbentrop's personality was intended to hush up for as long as possible the fact how triumphal, brilliant, victorious Nazi diplomacy of the 1930s was.

Facts? Everything is in front of you: the Rhine, Austria, the Sudetenland, Munich, Moscow. For these well-known "achievements" laurels were distributed to everyone: the military with their weapons, Goebbels with his propaganda, of course, Hitler, who puffed out his cheeks. Ribbentrop alone seems to have nothing to do with it. But let us remember his first appearance in the diplomatic world.

In 1935, at a conference in London, Ribbentrop showed aerobatics

1935 Britain sends a note of protest over Germany's illegal military buildup. Hitler is puzzled and scared - you need to send someone to the island to explain. However, not a single serious diplomat of von Neurath's ministry takes up this matter.

Ribbentrop was then just something like a foreign policy adviser to Hess. They send him. He returns to Berlin with the signed Anglo-German naval agreement, the essence of which is the recognition of Germany's equal status with other countries. By the way, it was that same fatal concession, the first in a series, after which the surrender of everyone and everything began, which led the world to disaster. You can even say this: on July 18, 1935, the Second World War kicked off.

Ribbentrop in London showed aerobatics. As they said, he poured water, then threw a stone, namely: many hours of incessant chatter brought British diplomats to exhaustion, and then gave a tough, uninterpretable wording, and stood on it to the end. The last argument of the British about the protests of France was simply thrown away, promising to "stop on the way" to Paris and negotiate. Went in and agreed. The technology was there. In a word, he returned to Berlin in triumph, and then Europe shrugged its shoulders for a long time: and how did it all suddenly become so?

We remind you - 1935: Germany has not scared anyone yet, it recognizes all borders, and Hitler is downright in peace-loving convulsions.

And here is the famous episode when, having already become ambassador, Ribbentrop at a reception at Buckingham Palace welcomed English king in a Nazi way, with a raised hand and a shout of "Heil Hitler!". Everywhere this scene is given for some reason as an example of the absurdity and tactlessness of the ambassador, while the Germans were then delighted with it, and Europe - in a dejected thoughtfulness, which became a psychological bridge to the policy of wringing out her hands.

The second conventional wisdom about Ribbentrop is that he always thought and spoke only as Hitler ordered him to. Another example: at the end of April 1941, when the entire inner circle is voluptuously counting the days until the start of the blitzkrieg, Ribbentrop hands over a memorandum to Hitler. We read: “... I have no doubt that our troops will victoriously reach Moscow and beyond. But I am far from convinced that we will be able to use what we can capture, because of the ability of the Slavs to passive resistance, well known to me.

He further insists that the war with Russia will not be short under any circumstances, it will be very long. Hitler was so angry at this that, in fact, he put an end to his minister. And Ribbentrop broke down internally, although he will still make attempts to object, to warn, and so on.

Ribbentrop was convinced that the war with Russia would be long

At the trial, he will name his behavior internal resistance, while he will repeat that he has always remained loyal to the Fuhrer. In general, against the background of other leaders, flexible and dodgy leading their lines of defense, he will look stupid. On the eve of his execution, Ribbentrop wrote this: tragic fate Germany has always had to stop the advancing East at the cost of its own blood ... Adolf Hitler was convinced to the very end that intervention in the conflict between East and West was fatal mistake Western powers, an intervention directed against a people who defended world culture.

How many politicians over the years have repeated these words without reference to the author, Joachim von Ribbentrop.

Religion renunciation of Catholicism [d]

Ulrich Friedrich Willy Joachim von Ribbentrop(German Ulrich Friedrich Willy Joachim von Ribbentrop, April 30 (1893-04-30 ) , Wesel - October 16, Nuremberg) - German Foreign Minister (1938-1945), adviser to Adolf Hitler on foreign policy.

Biography

Ribbentrop in the Reichstag

Neuville Chamberlain at Munich Airport with Reich Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. September 1938

Stalin and Ribbentrop in August 1939 in the Kremlin

Childhood, education, upbringing

Activities before World War I

In 1910, Joachim and Lothar traveled to Canada. The mother left her sons an inheritance and Joachim went into business - deliveries of German wine to Canada. In Canada, his kidney was removed: "he became infected through the milk of a cow with tuberculosis."

World War I

Commercial activity after World War I

In 1919, Ribbentrop left the service. Opened his own company for the production of wines and liquors. In the middle of 1919 in Berlin, through a client relationship, he met Otto Henkel, the owner of Henkell & Co, a major wine producer. On July 5, 1920, in Wiesbaden, Joachim married Otto Henkel's daughter, Anna Elisabeth (Annelis) Henkel (born 1896). Father-in-law introduced him to his circle of friends - wealthy wine producers. These connections and entrepreneurial skills helped Joachim develop a beverage business in the mid-1920s that became one of the largest in Germany. In 1923 he built an elegant villa in Berlin with a tennis court and a swimming pool. Hosted cocktail parties in the villa. The color of Berlin society was invited to the meetings - nobles, financiers, industrialists. Including rich Jews. Ribbentrop met collectors of art and valuables.

Noble origin

The Ribbentrop family did not belong to the nobility, but had distant family ties with some aristocratic and even royal houses that Joachim admired as a child. On May 15, 1925, Ribbentrop was adopted by a distant relative, Gertrude von Ribbentrop (1863-1943), whose father, Karl Ribbentrop, received the nobility in 1884 and subsequently adopted the surname "von Ribbentrop". As a result, Joachim Ribbentrop got the opportunity to use the noble prefix "fon" to the surname, as well as use the von Ribbentrop family coat of arms, in response to the contract, he undertook to pay a pension to Gertrude von Ribbentrop for 15 years. It was later claimed that Ribbentrop received the nobility for his services in the First World War. In 1933, Ribbentrop stated in an SS questionnaire that he had been accepted into the nobility to protect his family's aristocratic line from extinction, but without mentioning the year of Karl Ribbentrop's merit. After some time, Ribbentrop wanted to join an exclusive club in Berlin whose members were mostly nobles. Despite the intercession of his friends von Helldorf and von Papen, his application was rejected. Later, when Ribbentrop took over as Foreign Minister in 1938, he tried to send the responsible diplomat Friedrich von Lleres and Vilkau to concentration camp [ ] .

Political career

In the summer of 1932, Joachim von Ribbentrop was actively involved in politics. Through the mediation of Wolf-Heinrich von Helldorf, he was invited to visit Hitler at Berchtesgaden. Ribbentrop tried to persuade the latter to enter into negotiations with Hindenburg and Papen in order to secure the chancellorship. In January 1933, he provided Hitler with his villa for secret negotiations with von Papen.

Meetings in our house were kept in the deepest secrecy, which was important for the successful outcome of the formation of the government.

In 1932, the balance of power in Europe looked like this: in the center of Europe there was an absolute power vacuum that arose due to the complete disarmament of Germany. The impotence of the "German Reich" created a kind of "temptation", which Lenin formulated as follows: "Who owns Berlin, he also owns Europe." The Charter of the League of Nations obligated each member to have the minimum armament necessary for national security. The solution of the "armament issue" was of vital importance for the Reich, creating a "European counterbalance" to Stalin's expansion, as well as a deterrent to the predatory interests of Jozef Pilsudski. In the "Weimar times", Piłsudski repeatedly turned to France with a request for insurance in the planned attack on Germany: in 1923, the French Marshal Foch was in Warsaw and negotiated with Piłsudski about the so-called "Foch Plan" - the operation of the Polish armed forces against Upper Silesia, Pomerania and East Prussia. In 1933, Piłsudski again "probed" Paris on the issue of a possible military action against the Reich. Considering the threats, it was necessary to find a way through negotiations to achieve equality: to disarm the states with a high military potential, to rearm the states with a low one, or to go for a combination of both methods. Hitler entrusted the decision to this critical issue Joachim von Ribbentrop. The latter's first official position was called "Special Commissioner for Disarmament Affairs".

By order of Hitler with the active assistance of Himmler, who helped with money and personnel [ ], created the organization "Ribbentrop Apparatus", one of whose tasks was to spy on unreliable diplomats [ ] . The main mission of the "Ribbentrop Apparatus" was to solve the problem of armaments according to the formula "German equality" - to prepare the international community for the opinion on the need for a limited rearmament of Germany. For this purpose, the "German-English" and "German-French" societies were founded. The societies included powerful people. So, Sir Robert Gilbert Vansitart was a member of the "German-English" society. Ribbentrop tried to reach an agreement allowing the rearmament of Germany under international control. However, every time this initiative met with opposition from France. On March 17, 1934, the French government rejected the British offer of compromise. Hitler took advantage of the stubbornness of France for his militaristic purposes. He decided that Germany this moment is free from all obligations in relation to Treaty of Versailles and can arm himself at his own discretion, without restriction or control, relying on the enthusiastic approval of his people.

At the end of May 1935, an invitation was received to send a commissioner to negotiate on naval armaments to London. Hitler appointed Ribbentrop "ambassador-at-large" and sent him to London. He hoped "the voluntary restriction of German naval armaments set the stage for a long-term agreement with the UK on a joint policy. The result of the activities of Joachim von Ribbentrop was the conclusion on June 18, 1935 of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement.

In the summer of 1936, Ribbentrop suggested to Hitler that he "stay out of Spanish affairs" because he had to be wary of complications in relations with England. Ribbentrop noted that the French bourgeoisie is a reliable guarantee against the Bolshevization of the country. However, Hitler had a different opinion. He claimed:

If (Stalin) really succeeds in creating a communist Spain, then in the current situation in France, the Bolshevization of this country as well is only a matter of a short time, and then Germany can “reel in the fishing rods”

Joachim von Ribbentrop wrote that it was difficult to make decisive arguments against Hitler's ideological principles.

In August 1936, Joachim von Ribbentrop was appointed ambassador to London. Ribbentrop himself suggested to Hitler that he be appointed ambassador in order to continue "the broadly conceived attempt to enter into serious negotiations with the British for an alliance in European politics." Ribbentrop in his letter to W. Hassel ( to the German ambassador in Rome) wrote that "I see one of the main tasks of our diplomacy in London in enlightening the British about the real danger of Bolshevism." Before leaving, Ribbentrop met with British Deputy Foreign Secretary R. Vansitart at the Kaiserhof Hotel in Berlin. He tried to understand the position of R. Vansitart regarding the union of Germany and England. Ribbentrop recalled:

I had the feeling that from the very beginning I was turning my speeches to the wall. Vancitart listened to everything calmly, but remained reserved and evaded any attempt by me to call for a frank exchange of opinions.

R. Vansitart has long harbored unshakable prejudices against Germany and the Germans. Ribbentrop was familiar with A. Crow, the ideological inspirer of British diplomats, including R. Vansitart. On the eve of the First World War, he called on the World to unite to protect against the German "nightmare": the intention to establish hegemony in Europe, dominance at sea and create a German India in Asia Minor.

On October 26, 1936, an agreement was signed between Germany and Fascist Italy. Ribbentrop noted that the rapprochement of National Socialism with fascism was inevitable, as a counterbalance to Bolshevism. He tried to convince that cooperation with Italy did not jeopardize the negotiation process with England. In a confidential correspondence, Ribbentrop wrote:

paramount importance in every foreign policy step is given to the opposition of fascism and National Socialism, on the one hand, and Bolshevism, on the other

The main thing for England is inviolability british empire. The rearmament of Germany had already unbalanced the "balance of power" in English understanding. At the turn of 1937-1938, Hitler faced a problem: having unilaterally decided on a pro-Western (anti-Soviet) course, he realized that England did not want rapprochement. He "sat between two chairs". Only one thing remained - strengthening the German position by building up weapons. On February 4, 1938, in Berlin, Hitler appointed Joachim von Ribbentrop as Reich Foreign Minister. Before his appointment, Hitler said:

Germany, thanks to the creation of the Wehrmacht and the occupation of the Rhineland, won for itself new position. It has re-entered the circle of equal nations, and now it is time to start solving certain problems with the help of a strong Wehrmacht, by no means through its involvement, but only thanks to its presence. A country that is not strong also militarily cannot pursue any foreign policy at all. We have seen enough of this over the past years to our heart's content. Now our aspiration should be to establish clear relations with our neighbors.

Hitler named four main problems for Ribbentrop: Austria and the Sudetenland, Memel and the Danzig Corridor.

In March 1938, Ribbentrop paid a farewell visit to London. The events of the Anschluss (the incorporation of Austria into Germany) took him by surprise:

an example of Hitler's style of work, which always left behind final decision and sometimes receiving him at such a moment that even in his immediate environment no one expected

Hitler believed that he was "obliged to respond to unexpected developments - as in this case to the declared intention Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg with a plebiscite to perpetuate the division of Austria and Germany.

In October 1938, Karl Schnurre, head of the eastern department of the economy of the German Foreign Ministry, was in intensive negotiations with the head of the Soviet trade mission, Skossyrev, about a new loan agreement for 200 mil Reichsmarks for a period of 6 years with the condition of supplying strategic raw materials for 3/4 of the agreed amount. Since the time of Rapallo, trade relations have not stopped. German firms provided loans to the USSR under the guarantees of the Reich. In turn, the USSR, as a customer, placed the allocated funds in Germany.

The total value of Soviet orders placed in Germany in 1931 reached a record 919.2 million Reichsmarks. If several important German engineering firms, especially in the field of equipment manufacturing, weathered the depression and Hitler managed to get them back to work in his post-1933 quest for rearmament, it was solely due to Soviet orders that kept these firms afloat. So, for example, in the first half of 1932, the USSR purchased 50 percent of iron and steel exported by Germany, 60 percent of all earth-moving equipment and dynamos, 70 percent of all metal-working machines, 80 percent of cranes and sheet metal, 90 percent of all steam and gas turbines. and steam press-forging machines.

At the end of December 1938, a new German-Soviet trade agreement (annual extension of deals) was signed in Berlin. Taking into account the agreements, Ribbentrop instructed Schnurre in mid-January 1939 from Warsaw, without attracting attention, to go to Moscow for negotiations with Mikoyan on supplies. The meeting in Moscow was scheduled for January 31, 1939. At the same time, in Warsaw, Ribbentrop was discussing with Beck, the Polish Foreign Minister, the question of Danzig, the Danzig Corridor, and Poland's position towards the USSR. However, due to information leaks (publications in the Daily Mail), negotiations with Mikoyan were suspended. Ribbentrop was shocked: he took the publication of the "large German delegation to Moscow" as a means of disrupting the negotiations in Warsaw. Ribbentrop's repeated attempt to negotiate with the Polish side was also unsuccessful. On March 21, 1939, Beck was again invited for negotiations. However, he did not go to Berlin, but to London, where he received a promise of guarantees, which prompted him to officially reject the German proposals and begin mobilization. Polish army. The failure of the German-Polish negotiations proved the impossibility of creating an "Eastern European anti-Bolshevik bloc under German leadership." Ribbentrop realized that German politics had to find " new concept". On the way back from Warsaw he stated:

Now, if we do not want to be completely surrounded, there is only one way out: to unite with Russia

On September 27, 1939, von Ribbentrop arrived in the Soviet capital for the second time. He was greeted by a number of high-ranking officials and commanders of the Red Army, as well as a guard of honor. Negotiations with Stalin and Molotov took place late in the evening. Negotiations continued the next day and ended on the morning of September 29, 1939 with the signing