Franz-Rudolf von Weiss

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Franz-Rudolf von Weiss , officially François-Rodolphe de Weiss , (born July 18, 1885 in Lausanne , † December 22, 1960 in La Tour-de-Peilz ) was a Swiss diplomat .

Life

From 1920, von Weiss worked as a clerk at the Swiss consulate in Cologne and was promoted to titular consul general until 1949 . Especially during the National Socialist regime , Weiss observed the political changes in Germany precisely and in great detail, which he described in reports to the Swiss Embassy in Berlin and via the Swiss Consul in Stuttgart by diplomatic mail to the Swiss Foreign Ministry in Bern two to three times a week. But the Swiss envoy in Berlin, Hans Frölicher , pursued a policy of preliminary work and dismissed Weiss' reports as exaggerated or dramatic. In Bern, the armament of the German neighbor was observed with great concern.

Weiss relied on diverse contacts to a number of acquaintances and friends from various circles of the Cologne population, among whom were Cardinal Joseph Frings , but also supporters of the Nazis such as the banker Baron Kurt von Schröder or the Godesberg hotelier Dreesen. His committed reports describe the city when Hitler visited , the changing mood in the population, the supply situation during the war and the military situation as a result of the bombing and the capture of the city by the Americans and British. From the consulate in Cologne, Weiss photographed how the city gradually became a field of rubble. He reported on the November 1938 pogrom night in Cologne, which caused the SA men involved to appear late for work at their authorities the next day, and on the increasing harassment of Jews . As early as December 1940, he reported on the murder of the sick and disabled in the “euthanasia” program ( Action T4 ) and wondered why old people and children were being deported to labor camps. In June 1942 he even had information that the deportations to the concentration camps in the east ended with the extermination. Weiss even provided photos of people who had suffocated in the deportation trains. He was also familiar with the role of Adolf Eichmann in the " Final Solution ".

His friendship with the mayor of Cologne , Konrad Adenauer , who had been deposed by the Nazis, was of particular importance. After the consulate in Cologne's Overstolzenstrasse was completely burned out after a bomb attack - Consul Weiss reported to Bern that no consulate employee had been harmed, the cash register, seals, files and accounting could be saved - the consul looked for a new domicile, which he temporarily moved to Rheinhotel Dreesen in Bad Godesberg until he moved to Villa Merkens in Rhöndorf because of a bomb attack on the right bank of the Rhine , where Adenauer also lived. Consul Weiss exposed himself in a way that was unusual for a diplomat through his regular dealings with Adenauer, who was suspiciously observed by the Nazis and who was temporarily arrested. When Americans and Wehrmacht soldiers shot each other across the Rhine near Königswinter , Bad Honnef and Rhöndorf in the last days of the war , Weiss, armed with a Swiss flag and a Swiss steel helmet, attempted to mediate between Lieutenant General Richard Schimpf and the American commanders, which ended with the handover of Bad Godesberg , for which he was also recognized by the Americans and is honored today on a plaque at Godesberg Town Hall. In Godesberg, Weiss and his consulate were housed in the home of the entrepreneur Hans Ringsdorff ( Rolandstrasse 67 ) from March 1945 .

Weiss brokered Adenauer's contact with Charles de Gaulle through his General Billotte in Bad Ems , with whom Adenauer temporarily discussed a separate Rhenish state. From 1946 the Swiss donation reached Germany, of which Cologne - thanks to Weiss - received a significant share through the activities of the children's aid of the Swiss Red Cross . When Adenauer finally became the first German Chancellor, Weiss hoped to be appointed thanks to his good relations with the first Swiss Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, but the Swiss Foreign Ministry decided differently and finally dismissed Weiss. Weiss then wrote his memoirs. The memorial plaque on the town hall in Bonn-Bad Godesberg and the General Konsul-von-Weiss-Strasse in Königswinter remember the diplomat today.

literature

  • Markus Schmitz, Bernd Haunfelder : Humanity and Diplomacy. Switzerland in Cologne 1940–1949. Münster 2001, ISBN 3-402-05385-3 .
  • Markus Schmitz: West Germany and Switzerland after the war. The reorganization of bilateral relations 1945–1952. Verlag NZZ, Zurich 2003, ISBN 3-03823-037-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Swiss Federal Archives, Bern, E2300 # 082, 4-13 Political Reports of the Cologne Consulate 1930-1949 (1942: E2300 # 1000/716 # 380 *, Cologne, Consular Report, Volume 6), p. 179: “ ... Am Monday the 13th ds. Mts., As I have already reported, another transport of Jews left the city of Cologne to be taken to the East. This time it was all about old men and women up to 90 years of age who had been collected the day before in one of the remaining rooms of the local exhibition building. As I was told by an eyewitness, the 40 Jews destined for this transport were locked in a goods wagon with no seats, in which there were only 3 buckets, and the car rolled off at 9.15 p.m. after it had been sealed. The destination was kept secret. From my informant, who represents the German authority on this Jewish question, it is assumed that this transport has since been gassed, since no news of its whereabouts has arrived in Cologne since then ... "
  2. Irmgard Wolf: Courageous Godesbergers risk head and neck. In: General-Anzeiger , March 8, 2005 (accessed January 16, 2013)
  3. Helmut Vogt : Entrepreneurs in National Socialism. The example of Hans Ringsdorff. In: Godesberger Heimatblätter. Annual issue of the Association for Homeland Care and Local History Bad Godesberg eV , Issue 50/2012, ISSN  0436-1024 , pp. 171–192 (here: pp. 188/189).