Albrecht von Kessel
Albrecht von Kessel (born November 6, 1902 in Ober-Glauche , † April 15, 1976 in Bad Godesberg ) was a German diplomat.
Life
Albrecht von Kessel was the son of the manor owner Kurt von Kessel and his wife Theodora, born von Bethmann-Hollweg, a cousin of Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg . After the war, his brother Friedrich von Kessel was Agriculture Minister in Lower Saxony and party chairman of the GB / BHE .
Von Kessel attended the convent school in Roßleben and studied law in Munich and Breslau. After the legal traineeship in 1926, he was drafted into the diplomatic service in 1927. In 1939 he was deployed in occupied Czechoslovakia in Prague , and from 1941 to 1943 in the consulate in Geneva . He helped the German opposition to Hitler keep in touch with the free world. He did not belonged to the Kreisau Circle on (see. Books by Peter Steinbach and Harald Vocke) . Before the failure of the assassination attempt of July 20, 1944, he had been a delegation counselor to the Holy See and had been interned in the Vatican with Ambassador Ernst von Weizsäcker since the occupation of Rome on June 4, 1944 , which saved him from persecution by the Nazis. He never got over the loss of friends and schoolmates from the Roßleben monastery school they attended together. The question of why he of all people got away has never let go of him.
After the Second World War he returned to the diplomatic service of the Federal Republic of Germany , resigned in opposition to the Hallstein Doctrine and is considered to be a pioneer of Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik . After leaving the diplomatic service, he published a. a. in the world and in time . A memorial plaque in today's Głuchów Górny ( Ober-Glauche ) commemorates him.
Honors
- 1968: Large Cross of Merit with Star of the Federal Republic of Germany
Fonts
- Peter Steinbach (Ed.): Albrecht von Kessel. Hidden seeds. Records from the resistance 1933–1945. Ullstein, Berlin et al. 1992, ISBN 3-550-07209-0 .
- The quiet good. 2nd Edition. Bergstadtverlag Korn, Würzburg 2004, ISBN 3-87057-254-X .
- Against Hitler and for another Germany. As a diplomat in war and post-war. Life memories. Edited by Ulrich Schlie . With the collaboration of Stephanie Salzmann, with a foreword by Richard von Weizsäcker . Böhlau-Verlag, Vienna et al. 2008, ISBN 978-3-205-77465-5 .
literature
- Wolf-Bernd Althoff: We are warned against outsiders. In: Deutsche Tagespost. 1959, no.110.
- Maria Keipert (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 2: Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger: G – K. Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2005, ISBN 3-506-71841-X .
- Harald Vocke : Albrecht von Kessel. As a diplomat for reconciliation with Eastern Europe. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2001, ISBN 3-451-20248-4 .
- Jobst etiquette : the ambassador and the pope. Weizsäcker and Pius XII. The German Vatican Embassy 1943-1945. Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-8300-3467-4 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Albrecht von Kessel in the catalog of the German National Library
- Short biography of the German Resistance Memorial Center
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kessel, Albrecht von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German diplomat and opponent of National Socialism |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 6, 1902 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ober-Glauche |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 15, 1976 |
| Place of death | bad Godesberg |