Karl Heinrich Knappstein (15 April 1906 – 6 May 1989) was a German journalist, diplomat, and
German Ambassador to the United States
Germany and the United States have had diplomatic relations since German unification in 1871. Prior to that, the only German states holding diplomatic relations with the U.S. were the Kingdom of Prussia, since 1835, and the three Hanseatic citie ...
, from 1962 to 1968.
Life
Knappstein was born in
Bochum
Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...
in 1906.
He studied law, economics and sociology at the universities of Cologne, Bonn, Berlin, Geneva and Cincinnati (Ohio). From 1937 to 1943, he was editor of the ''Frankfurter Zeitung'', from 1945 to 1948, he served as Assistant Secretary in the Hesse Ministry for political liberation, and from 1948 to 1950, he was chief press officer of the Board of Directors of United Economic Area.
From 1950 to 1951, he worked at the West German Consulate General in New York, in 1951 he was appointed consul general in Chicago. In 1956, he was
ambassador in Madrid (Spain), from 1958 to 1960 he was Deputy Secretary of State at the Foreign Office, and from 1960 to 1962 he was an observer of the Federal Republic to the United Nations.
He was involved in discussions on the
Berlin crisis, and on the
multilateral nuclear force, with respect to the
Élysée Treaty signed by
Konrad Adenauer and
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
.
He died in
Bad Homburg
Bad Homburg vor der Höhe () is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's offic ...
in 1989.
References
External links
*
"Karl Heinrich Knappstein", ''German wikipedia''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knappstein, Karl Heinrich
1906 births
1989 deaths
People from Bochum
Ambassadors of Germany to the United States
German male journalists
Ambassadors of Germany to Spain
German male writers
20th-century German journalists