Rolf Friedemann Pauls (26 August 1915 – 4 May 2002) was a German

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

. He was the first ambassador of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

to Israel, from 1965 to 1968, and was

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 1968 to 1973.

Life

Rolf Friedemann Pauls was born in 1915 in Eckartsberga the son of a Protestant clergyman. He graduated from the

Naumburg Domgymnasium Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. ...

in 1934. He was a career officer in the infantry of the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

. Due to a serious injury, suffered as a company commander in Russia, he lost his left arm. Before he received a General Staff Officer Course, in 1942, he was the military attaché in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. In 1944, he was on the staff of the

363rd Volksgrenadier Division The 363rd Volksgrenadier Division (german: 363. Volksgrenadier-Division) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. The division was formed in September 1944 to replace the 363rd Infa ...

. In December 1944, Paul was awarded the

Knight's Cross Knight's Cross (German language ''Ritterkreuz'') refers to a distinguishing grade or level of various orders that often denotes bravery and leadership on the battlefield. Most frequently the term Knight's Cross is used to refer to the Knight's Cr ...

. According to a later report of General

Hans Speidel Hans Speidel (28 October 1897 – 28 November 1984) was a German general, who was one of the major military leaders of West Germany during the early Cold War. The first full General in West Germany, he was a principal founder of the ''Bundeswehr' ...

, Rolf Friedemann Pauls was in the plans to assassinate Hitler on 20 July 1944, and was only on the basis of silence by others that he escaped arrest. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1946, he studied law, graduating with a doctorate on the political system of the Bonn Basic Law in 1949. Before Pauls began to act as a diplomat in the Foreign Service, he worked at the Federal Chancellery, at the junction of the Allied High Commission as a personal assistant to

Walter Hallstein Walter Hallstein (17 November 1901 – 29 March 1982) was a German academic, diplomat and statesman who was the first President of the European Commission, President of the European Commission, Commission of the European Economic Community ...

, State Secretary and Vice Consul in Luxembourg. He was married twice and had two sons.

Ambassador

In establishing diplomatic relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Israel (only about 20 years after the

Shoah The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ar ...

) of parts of Israeli society, and his inauguration on 19 August 1965, was accompanied by violent counter-demonstrations. In addition to that of Pauls because of his past as an officer of the armed forces of Nazi Germany in World War II, where he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...

, and as deputy military attaché at the German Embassy in Turkey, also during the period of National Socialism of the Israeli public appeared inappropriate for this office. But his three-year tenure as the first Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Israel was generally judged as successful. Pauls was also Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United States from 1968 to 1973, the People's Republic of China from 1973 to 1976, and to NATO from 1976 to 1980. From 1956 to 1960 he served as Counsellor in the United States, and from 1960 to 1963 he was Deputy Head of Mission in Greece. From 1963 to 1965, he was a department manager at the headquarters in Bonn.

Works

*''Die atlantische Allianz: Zukunftsaufgaben, Möglichkeiten, Gefährdungen'' J.P.Bachem, 1982, *''Rettet uns die Rüstungspolitik?'' Edition Interfrom, 1982, *''Deutschlands Standort in der Welt: Beobachtungen eines Botschafters'', Seewald Verlag, 1984,

References

External links

* "Rolf Friedemann Pauls", ''German wikipedia'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Pauls, Rolf Friedemann 1915 births 2002 deaths Ambassadors of Germany to the United States Ambassadors of West Germany to Israel Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross Ambassadors of Germany to China People from Eckartsberga People from the Province of Saxony Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Permanent Representatives of West Germany to NATO Members of the 20 July plot German Army officers of World War II Military personnel from Saxony-Anhalt