Carl August Clodius

Clodius (1942)

Carl August Clodius (born February 9, 1897 in Bremen ; † January 15, 1952 in the Soviet Union ) was a German diplomat and economist .

Life

After studying technology , Clodius began his diplomatic career in January 1921 as an employee in the Foreign Trade Office of the Foreign Office ; from December 1926 he was legation secretary . In May 1927 Clodius was transferred to the German embassy in Paris , and in December 1928 he was appointed Legation Councilor. In this function, Clodius worked in Vienna in 1931 and in Sofia between 1932 and 1934 . On May 1, 1933, he joined the NSDAP . In June 1936, Clodius became a lecturer in the Legation Council and in November 1938 he was appointed first class envoy and ministerial director and deputy head of the trade policy department of the Foreign Office. In November 1943 he was appointed Ministerial Director .

Clodius was the special representative for the conduct of trade negotiations and, as an economic expert, was involved in the conclusion of important economic agreements between the National Socialist German Empire and Switzerland and the countries of Southeast Europe , where he supported the activities of the Central European Economic Day .

When Clodius was conducting business negotiations with the Romanian government in Bucharest in May 1944 , he in fact also took over the duties of the German ambassador there, Manfred Freiherr von Killinger , who had failed to develop a trusting relationship with the Romanian government.

post war period

After Romania left the common front with the German Reich in August 1944, Clodius and his wife were taken prisoner by the Soviets on September 4th . However, the two were separated from each other soon afterwards, so that there is still no reliable data on his post-war fate. According to Soviet information, he is said to have worked as an economic expert for the Southeast European region in the Soviet Union and to have played a major role in the reconstruction of the USSR and its economy.

According to official German documents, Clodius is said to have died in prison in 1952. His wife returned from the Soviet Union in 1955 on an Austrian return home transport .

literature

Maria Keipert (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 1: Johannes Hürter : A – F. Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2000, ISBN 3-506-71840-1 .
Carl Clodius , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 05/1950 from January 23, 1950, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)
Carl August Clodius in the online version of the Reich Chancellery Edition Files. Weimar Republic

Web links

CC: Guiding principles for the economic reorganization of Europe August 1943 File from the Nuremberg Trials
Nazi leftovers - The name Clodius was enough in: Der Spiegel from September 11, 1948

Individual evidence

↑ Martin Meier, Stefan Frech, Thomas Gees, Blaise Kropf: Swiss Foreign Economic Policy 1930–1948. Structures - Negotiations - Functions , 2002 ISBN 978-3-0340-0610-1 [1]
^ Tilo Frhr. von Wilmowsky: In retrospect, I would like to say ... On the threshold of the 150th anniversary of Krupp. Stalling, Oldenburg 1961, p. 193.

personal data
SURNAME	Clodius, Carl August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German diplomat and economist
DATE OF BIRTH	February 9, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH	Bremen
DATE OF DEATH	January 15, 1952
Place of death	Soviet Union

[1] Martin Meier, Stefan Frech, Thomas Gees, Blaise Kropf: Swiss Foreign Economic Policy 1930–1948. Structures - Negotiations - Functions , 2002 ISBN 978-3-0340-0610-1 [1]

[2] Tilo Frhr. von Wilmowsky: In retrospect, I would like to say ... On the threshold of the 150th anniversary of Krupp. Stalling, Oldenburg 1961, p. 193.