Joaquim Von Ribbentrop

Joaquim von Ribbentrop joined the Nazi party in 1932. He was the Reich’s Ambassador to London from August 1936 and replaced von Neurath as Minister of Foreign Affairs on 4 February 1938. He held this position until the collapse of the Nazi regime.

Ribbentrop was accused of having participated in the plans of aggression against Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938. Ribbentrop was also accused of playing an especially significant role in the diplomatic activity which paved the way for the attack on Poland.

He was alleged to have taken part in diplomatic activity aimed at justifying the attacks against Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands. He was also accused of encouraging the attacks against Greece, Yugoslavia and the USSR.

With respect to war crimes and crimes against humanity, Ribbentrop, being hierarchically superior to the German representatives in Denmark and Vichy France, was accused of being responsible for the policies put into operation during the occupation of these countries. In addition he is said to have coerced the Italians into installing particularly brutal occupation regimes in Greece and Yugoslavia.

Ribbentrop also faced criminal responsibility for taking an active part in the implementation of the “final solution”. In September 1942 for example, he was reported to have encouraged German diplomats in function in the various occupied countries to speed up the deportation of Jews to the East. As a result, in June 1942 the German representative to the Vichy regime ordered Laval to deport some 50’000 Jews. Ribbentrop was said to have shared with the Italian authorities his concern over the slowness of the deportation of Jews from the occupied French zone. In April 1943 Ribbentrop reportedly participated in a conference between Hitler and the Hungarian leader Horty, during which Horty was informed that the Jews had to be exterminated or sent to concentration camps.

Joaquim von Ribbentrop was arrested in June 1945.