Erica Pappritz (25 June 1893 – 4 February 1972) was a German diplomat and

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. She co-wrote two books on social etiquette, ''Buch der Etikette'' ("The Book of Etiquette") and ''Etikette neu'' ("New Etiquette").

Personal life

Pappritz's father was a '' Rittmeister'' in the German Army. Her name was often incorrectly translated as "Freifrau von" ("Dame of"), in reference to German poet Marie Luise Kaschnitz. In 1972, she died in Bonn of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

Career

In 1919, Pappritz joined the Federal Foreign Office, working in the foreign trade office. She supervised the Diplomatic Corps during the Nuremberg Rallies. In 1943, Pappritz became a

. On her 50th birthday, she was given the salary of a first-grade Legation Council member. In 1944, she was transferred to

Karpacz Karpacz (German: ''Krummhübel'') is a spa town and ski resort in Jelenia Góra County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland, and one of the most important centres for mountain hiking and skiing, including ski jumping. Its population ...

, after her office was converted into an armaments factory. After the Second World War, Pappritz was made to attend a

denazification Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remov ...

board meeting along with Vollrath von Maltzan. Both said that they had rejected Nazism. Pappritz had been a member of the Nazi Party. Pappritz settled in

Eichenau Eichenau is a municipality in the district of Fürstenfeldbruck, in Bavaria, Germany. It is 20 km west of Munich (centre). Eichenau was officially named in 1907 as a separate settlement to the community of Alling. Its location is due to ...

, Bavaria, and in 1949, she was asked to take the Bavarian State Chancellery to Bonn. In 1950, she agreed the etiquette during a disagreement between Cologne and Bonn over the seating arrangements at an event to celebrate 1900 years since the founding of Cologne. In 1956, Pappritz and Karlheinz Graudenz wrote the book ''Buch der Etikette'' (''The Book of Etiquette''). At the time, she was working as the Legation Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Protocol to the Foreign Office in Bonn. The book had a focus on increasing civility in post-Nazi Germany, focusing on politeness and a respect for human rights. The book includes sections on correct odour and on how Bonn diplomats liked to carry umbrellas. At the time, the book was criticised for promoting snobbery. ''

Stockholms-Tidningen ''Stockholms-Tidningen'' (Swedish: ''The Stockholm Times'') was a Swedish-language morning newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden, between 1889 and 1984 with an interruption from 1966 to 1981. It was one of the major dailies in the country tog ...

'' journalist said: "One does not know whether one should laugh or cry over this etiquette bible certified by the West German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1957." Pappritz made some corrections to the original book, and the third edition was published in 1957. In 1967, Pappritz and Graudenz wrote another book, ''Etikette neu'' (''New Etiquette''). The book became available at the German Bundestag in 2007. Pappritz retired from public office in 1958, after which she occasionally lectured on tourism, advertising, and social etiquette.

Books

*Graudenz, Karlheinz, Pappritz, Erica, ''Buch der Etikette'' (1956) *Graudenz, Karlheinz, Pappritz, Erica, ''Etikette neu'' (1967)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pappritz, Erica 1893 births 1972 deaths 20th-century German diplomats 20th-century German women writers 20th-century German writers Nazi Party members