Count Gebhardt von Moltke (28 June 1938 – 6 January 2019) was a German diplomat and ambassador.
Early life
He descended from the German noble family
Moltke
The House of Moltke is the name of an old German noble family. The family was originally from Mecklenburg, but apart from Germany, some of the family branches also resided throughout Scandinavia. Members of the family have been noted as pigfarme ...
. His father was the landowner and ambassador
Count Hans-Adolf von Moltke (1884–1943) on the
Wernersdorf estate where he was born. His mother was Countess Davida Yorck von Wartenburg (1900–1989), the daughter of Count Heinrich Yorck von Wartenburg.
Education
In 1958, Moltke began his studies of law and national economics at the
Ruprecht-Karls University of
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
. He graduated in 1963 after studying in
Grenoble
lat, Gratianopolis
, commune status = Prefecture and commune
, image = Panorama grenoble.png
, image size =
, caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, as well as
Freiburg im Breisgau
Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...
and took his first state examination in the same year.
Diplomatic career
Between 1963 and 1967 Moltke took an internship and finally took his second
state examination
The ("state examination" or "exam by state"; pl.: ''Staatsexamina'') is a German government licensing examination that future physicians, dentists, teachers, pharmacists, food chemists, psychotherapists and jurists (i.e., lawyers, judges, p ...
. In 1968, he came into the higher echelons of the Foreign Service, where Gebhardt vom Moltke proceeded to work in the First Office of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...
in Bonn.
From 1971 until 1977 Moltke worked in the Department of the German
Ambassador
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...
in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
and
Yaoundé
Yaoundé (; , ) is the capital of Cameroon and, with a population of more than 2.8 million, the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region of the nation at an elevation of about 750 metres (2,50 ...
. He then returned to the Foreign Office, where he was active in the Personnel Department. Between 1982 and 1986, he worked in the Political Department of the Embassy in Washington, after which he took over the leadership of the USA's Department at the Foreign Office.
In 1991 Gebhardt von Moltke became Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs at
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
in Brussels. In 1997, he was named as the
German ambassador in London
The Embassy of Germany in London is the diplomatic mission of Germany in the United Kingdom. The embassy is located at Belgrave Square, in Belgravia. It occupies three of the original terraced houses in Belgrave Square and a late 20th-century ex ...
,
an office which he held until 1999 when he was appointed as Permanent Representative of Germany to the
North Atlantic Council
The North Atlantic Council (NAC) is the principal political decision-making body of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), consisting of permanent representatives of its member countries. It was established by Article 9 of the North A ...
of NATO. In 2003 Moltke retired from the diplomatic service and became the new chairman of the
German-British Society, which is a partner in the prestigious
Königswinter Conference.
Death
Gebhardt von Moltke was awarded an honorary
LLD by
Birmingham University
, mottoeng = Through efforts to heights
, established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
in 2000.
References
1938 births
2019 deaths
Gebhardt Gebhardt is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Deborah Gebhardt, basketball coach and scientist
* Dixie Cornell Gebhardt (1866–1955), American designer of the state flag of Iowa
* Eric "Red Mouth" Gebhardt, American ...
Ambassadors of Germany to the United Kingdom
People from Wrocław County
People from the Province of Silesia
Permanent Representatives of Germany to NATO
Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
{{Germany-diplomat-stub