Arthur Zimmermann (diplomat)

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Arthur Zimmermann

Arthur Zimmermann (born October 5, 1864 in Marggrabowa , East Prussia , † June 6, 1940 in Berlin ) was a German diplomat. In 1916/17 he headed the Foreign Office as State Secretary .

Life

Zimmermann attended the Royal Lyck High School and the Kneiphöfsche Gymnasium in Königsberg . He studied law at the Albertus University in Königsberg and the University of Leipzig . He became a member of the Corps Masovia (1884) and the Corps Lusatia Leipzig (1885). After the first state examination in 1887, traineeship training in East Prussia and the second state examination in 1892, he was first a court assessor at the Koenigsberg Regional Court, then in 1893 an assessor in the foreign service. As Vice Consul in Shanghai , Canton and Tientsin , he proved himself in the Boxer Rebellion in 1901 . In 1902 he became Legation Councilor in the Foreign Office , in 1903 Real Legation Councilor and Lecturing Council in the Legal Department, then in the Political Department. 1907 go Legation councilor with the rank of councilors second class, 1910 conductor of the political department and 1911 undersecretary of state. From 1913 to 1916 he worked in the Foreign Office under State Secretary Gottlieb von Jagow . During the July crisis during the Hoyos Mission, Zimmermann was involved in the decision to support Austria-Hungary in the war against the Kingdom of Serbia . When Jagow resigned in protest against the unrestricted submarine warfare in mid-1916 , Zimmermann succeeded him as State Secretary in the Foreign Office on November 22, 1916. At this post he was the first non-aristocrat to come out of the consular service. He was considered a supporter of the Supreme Army Command and proposed a peace offer to the Triple Entente in December 1916 , which they rejected.

Dispatch

Zimmermann dispatch

In January 1917 he wrote the Zimmermann dispatch , in which he proposed an alliance with Mexico and the Japanese Empire in order to be able to attack the United States from the south in the event of a war . Mexico was promised German support to regain the territories that had been lost to the United States in the 19th century. But the telegram to the German embassy in Mexico City was deciphered by the British secret service and forwarded to the USA. It embarrassed Germany diplomatically and contributed to the United States' entry into the war on April 6, 1917 on the side of the Entente . For reasons that are still unclear, Zimmermann subsequently publicly confirmed the authenticity of the document, which is why he was released from the government on August 6, 1917.

corps

For two decades Zimmermann was the spiritual center of the Berlin-based Masurians and Lusatians . The funeral speech in the Berlin-Wilmersdorf crematorium was given by Ernst Felsch, Senate President at the Prussian Higher Administrative Court.

Honors

According to a handwritten list in the Political Archives of the Foreign Office, Zimmermann was awarded the following medals:

literature

  • Paul Lindenberg : It was worth living. Memories. Vorhut-Verlag, Berlin 1941, pp. 268-274
  • Martin Nassua: "Joint warfare, mutual peace agreement". The Zimmermann telegram dated 13 January 1917 and the US entry into the first World War . Frankfurt am Main et al. 1992, ISBN 3-631-44752-3 ( European university publications series 3: 520)
  • Barbara W. Tuchman : The Zimmermann Telegram . Macmillan, New York NY 1958 (German: Die Zimmermann-Depesche. Bergisch Gladbach 1982, ISBN 3-404-65039-5 )
  • Johannes Hürter (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. 5. T – Z, supplements. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 5: Bernd Isphording, Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger: Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2014, ISBN 978-3-506-71844-0 , p. 377 f.

Web links

Commons : Arthur Zimmermann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1930, 89/792; 93/630
  2. ^ Ernst Felsch, Kösener Corpslisten 1960, 3/656
  3. ^ Egbert white, Hans Lipp, Helmut white: Active in the monarchy. Leipzig Corps students 1807–1918. CVs of the Leipziger Lausitzer. Commemorative publication for the 210th Corps Lusatia Foundation Festival, Leipzig 2017 . Verlagdruckerei Schmidt, Neustadt ad Aisch 2017. ISBN 978-3-96049-017-3 , No. 711, pp. 360/361.
  4. ↑ Because of the reference to Lindenberg, the undated list must have been created after 1941. The judges i. R. Hermann Wilhelm Kuhr (Frankfurt am Main) and Egbert Weiß
  5. ^ Conclusion of the German-Japanese trade agreement
  6. ↑ on the occasion of the merits for the erection and inauguration of the monument in Shanghai for the officers and men who sank in the gunboat "Iltis" in July 1896
  7. ^ Irrigation treaty with Turkey
  8. ↑ Order of Solomon
  9. ↑ Understanding about railway constructions in China
  10. ↑ Commemorative medal ( Memento of the original from January 23, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / turkish-militaria.com
personal data
SURNAME Carpenter, Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German consular officer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH October 5, 1864
PLACE OF BIRTH Marggrabowa , East Prussia
DATE OF DEATH June 6, 1940
Place of death Berlin