Vollrath von Maltzan

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

von Wartenberg und Penzlin (22 December 1899 – 22 December 1967) was West German ambassador to France from 1955 to 1958.

Biography

Vollrath von Maltzan belonged to a long line of German nobility from

Western Pomerania Historical Western Pomerania, also called Cispomerania, Fore Pomerania, Front Pomerania or Hither Pomerania (german: Vorpommern), is the western extremity of the historic region of Pomerania forming the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, Weste ...

and

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin ...

. His father left the Imperial German Army with the rank of captain, to manage his property in

Odratzheim Odratzheim (; ; gsw-FR, Oderze) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also * Communes of the Bas-Rhin department The following is a list of the 514 communes of the Bas-Rhin department of France ...

Lower Alsace Lower Alsace (northern Alsace) was a landgraviate of the Holy Roman Empire held ''ex officio'' by the Bishop of Strasbourg. Prior to is acquisition by the bishopric, it was held by the counts of Hüneburg. In 1174 Count Gottfried of Hüneburg w ...

. His mother, Hermine née Rosenfeld, came from a middle-class background in

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 ...

. Vollrath von Maltzan went to school in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, which then belonged to Germany. He served as an army officer in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and then studied law at

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

He was granted a doctorate in 1922 and became an ''

Assessor An assessor may be: * ''Assessor'' (fish), a genus of fishes * Assessor (law), the assistant to a judge or magistrate * Assessor (Oxford), a senior officer of the University of Oxford * Assessor (property), an expert who calculates the value of pr ...

'' in Berlin. In 1925 he joined the German Foreign Office, where his father Adolf Georg Baron von Maltzan, a former ambassador, was head of the Oriental Department. He attained the rank of consul in 1927 and was immediately appointed Secretary to the minister, Gustav Stresemann, the joint architect of the Franco-German

rapprochement In international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word ''rapprocher'' ("to bring together"), is a re-establishment of cordial relations between two countries. This may be done due to a mutual enemy, as was the case with Germ ...

together with Aristide Briand. He was responsible for relations with the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. In 1928–29, he was the German representative in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, and from the end of 1929 to the end of 1933 he was the German representative in Paris. He then worked at the Department of Economic Affairs at the Foreign Office until 1938, when he lost the position as his mother was Jewish. From 1942 to 1945, Maltzan was responsible for the commercial section of

IG Farben Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG (), commonly known as IG Farben (German for 'IG Dyestuffs'), was a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate (company), conglomerate. Formed in 1925 from a merger of six chemical companies—BASF, ...

. After the

Second World War 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 ...

, von Maltzan 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 Erica Pappritz. Both said that they had rejected

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

. von Maltzan had been a member of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

. After the war, he headed the Foreign Trade Division of the Frankfurt Economic Administration. He later headed the Foreign Trade Division of the West German Economics Ministry before being loaned, and, in 1953 transferred permanently, to the Foreign Office. On 26 June 1952, he was commissioned by Walter Hallstein to prepare a

report A report is a document that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and purpose. Although summaries of reports may be delivered orally, complete reports are almost always in the form of written documents. Usage In ...

on problems at the Foreign Office. His report of 16 July 1952 detailed a number of problems, requiring reorganization and considerably higher staffing levels. He ended his career as ambassador to Paris from 1955 to late 1958. Maltzan was a Francophile and spoke good French.

Publications

Vollrath von Maltzan wrote: *''Die Niessbrauch in Aktien'' (1923) (" Equitable interests in shares") *''Die Industrie im Kampf um dem Weltmarkt'' (1954) ("Industry in the struggle for the world market")

References

Sources

External links

* 1899 births 1967 deaths

Vollrath The Vollrath Company is an American company based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin that manufactures stainless steel and aluminum equipment and smallwares (utensils etc.), and deep draw stainless steel items, for commercial and institutional foodserv ...

Ambassadors of Germany to France Barons of Germany Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany {{Europe-diplomat-stub