Everything about Friedrich Werner Von Der Schulenburg totally explained
Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg (
20 November 1875 –
10 November 1944) began his
diplomatic career even before the
First World War, serving as
consul and
ambassador in several countries. From
1908 to
1910, he was married to Elisabeth von Sobbe (1875-1955), with whom he'd one daughter.
Diplomatic career
Schulenberg was born in
Kemberg,
Saxony-Anhalt, As Count Bernhard von der Schulenburg's son, Friedrich-Werner studied
law in
Lausanne,
Munich and Berlin after a one-year stint in the military. In
1901, he joined the
Foreign Office's consular service as a junior lawyer (
Assessor). By
1903, he was already the
vice-consul at Germany's
consulate general in
Barcelona, and in the years that followed, he also found himself working at consulates in
Lviv,
Prague,
Warsaw and
Tbilisi. With the outbreak of the First World War in
1914, von der Schulenburg returned to the military, and after the
First Battle of the Marne was promoted to captain in October 1914 and put in charge of an
artillery battery. In
1915, he went as German liaison officer to the
Ottoman Army on the
Armenian Front. In
1916, he took over leadership of the
Georgian Legion in the struggle with
Russia, until its collapse in
1917. During his time in the military, he received the
Iron Cross and also some high
Turkish honours. After the German Empire's collapse, he was captured by the
British and interned on the Turkish island of Prinkipo (now called
Büyük Ada), returning to Germany only in
1919. Von der Schulenburg returned to the Foreign Office Service and became consul in
Beirut.
Noble estate
In the
1930s, von der Schulenburg acquired the
Burg Falkenberg, a castle in the
Upper Palatinate. He had it converted and renovated to serve as a
retirement home. This monumental work was undertaken between
1936 and
1939.
Resistance activities
After the First World War, von der Schulenburg got his diplomatic career going again, becoming, among other things, an
envoy to
Tehran and
Bucharest. In
1934, he was appointed German ambassador to the
Soviet Union. Von der Schulenburg favoured an agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union, and was instrumental in bringing about the August
1939 German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. After
Soviet invasion of Poland, despite
state of war between Germany and Poland, he used his position as the senior ambassador in Moscow to allow Polish diplomats to leave Soviet Union, when Soviets tried to arrest them. To the last, he tried to thwart the German attack on the Soviet Union in June
1941 through means such as hinting at the country's military strength and the unassailability of its industrial reserves.
After the aggression began on
22 June 1941, von der Schulenburg was interned for a few weeks, and transferred to the Soviet-Turkish border. Thereafter, von der Schulenburg was assigned leader of the Russia Committee, a Foreign Office post with no political influence that neutralized him. Later he'd make his influence felt in the military opposition, to reach a quick peace agreement in the east. He was ready and willing to negotiate even with
Stalin in the plotters' names. In the plans for the overthrow, Friedrich-Werner von der Schulenburg was tentatively foreseen as the new foreign minister.
After the failure of the
attempt on Hitler's life on
20 July 1944, he was arrested, and charged as a 69-year-old with
high treason. On
23 October 1944, the
Volksgerichtshof sentenced him to death. He was hanged on
10 November 1944 at
Plötzensee Prison in Berlin.
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