Nevile Henderson
Sir Nevile Meyrick Henderson KCMG (born June 10, 1882 in Sedgwick Park near Horsham , † December 30, 1942 in London ) was British Ambassador to Germany from 1937 to 1939 .
He entered the diplomatic service in 1905 and was envoy to France from 1928 to 1929 and to Belgrade from 1929 to 1935 . In 1935 he became ambassador in Buenos Aires and in 1937 in Berlin. There he actively supported the British appeasement policy towards the German Reich. Henderson was convinced that Adolf Hitler was controllable and could be moved to peace and cooperation with the western states.
In 1938 he moved Arthur Neville Chamberlain to the Munich Agreement . In February 1939 he informed the Foreign Office in London:
“If we handle him [Hitler] right, my belief is that he will become gradually more pacific. But if we treat him as a pariah or mad dog we shall turn him finally and irrevocably into one. "
“If we treat him [Hitler] right, I believe he will gradually become more peaceful. But if we treat him as a leper or a madman, we will finally and irrevocably turn him into one. "
When he was informed on the morning of August 31, 1939 that Hitler would give the order to attack Poland if the Polish government had not agreed to the sending of a negotiator to Berlin by 12 noon, he tried in vain through two envoys through his Polish colleague Józef Lipski persuaded Poland to give in at the last minute. After the German attack on September 3, 1939, at nine o'clock, he had to present the German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop with a British ultimatum, limited to eleven o'clock, which announced that Britain would enter the war.
On his return to London he had asked for a new assignment as ambassador, for which he was suitable based on his experience. The State Department announced that there was no such post. Henderson also wrote the book Failure of Mission: Berlin 1937-1939 , which appeared in 1940. In it he still found words of praise for the leadership of Germany, including Hermann Göring . Another work, Water under the Bridges , appeared posthumously in 1945, in German in 1949.
“After being received by Hitler shortly before the outbreak of war, Henderson declared that he did not know what to think of 'this Führer'. All of Europe was trembling in anticipation of war, but Hitler only complained to him about how tired he was of all politics and that he wanted to return to painting as soon as possible. "
In 1942, Henderson died of cancer at the age of only 60.
Fonts
- Henderson, N. (1941). Failure of a Mission: Berlin 1937-1939 . London: Readers Union.
- Henderson, N. (1945). Water under the bridges . London: Hodder & Stoughton.
literature
- Manchester, W. (1988). Winston Churchill: Alone against Hitler. Munich: C. Bertelsmann.
Web links
- Newspaper article about Nevile Henderson in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Henderson, Nevile |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Henderson, Nevile Meyrick (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British ambassador to Germany (1937–1939) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 10, 1882 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sedgwick Park at Horsham |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 30, 1942 |
| Place of death | London |