Oswald von Hoyningen-Huene

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Oswald Theodor Baron von Hoyningen-Huene (born July 29, 1885 in Clarens , Switzerland; † August 26, 1963 in Basel ) was a German diplomat.

Live and act

Early years (1885 to 1925)

Hoyningen-Huene came from an ancient noble family from the Baltic States . His father was Alfred Baron von Hoyningen-Huene , his mother Mary Almeria Colley.

He studied law at the Universities of Lausanne, Freiburg im Breisgau, Bonn, Leipzig and Berlin. He graduated in 1911 with the graduation to the Dr. jur. at the University of Göttingen . From 1914 to 1918 he took part in the First World War as a volunteer nurse in Belgium and Bulgaria. During this time he passed the Grand State Examination in Berlin in 1917.

After the war, Hoyningen-Huene worked as a lawyer. In 1921 he became a public prosecutor and in 1922 he entered the diplomatic service. In 1922 he was deployed in Stockholm and in 1924 in Belgrade. From 1924 to 1934 he worked in the office of the Reich President.

On April 17, 1925, Hoyningen-Huene married Gudrun von Borsig, the daughter of Conrad von Borsig, the brother of the industrialist Ernst von Borsig .

Worked in the Reichspräsidentialpalais (1925 to 1934)

In 1925 Hoyningen-Huene was appointed representative of the Foreign Office to the Reich President. In this capacity he stayed in the immediate vicinity of the Reich President Paul von Hindenburg for the next nine years and had an office next to the office of the head of state. As the Foreign Policy Adjutant of the Reich President, Hoyningen-Huene, initially with the rank of Legation Councilor and later with the rank of Ministerial Director , reported to Hindenburg daily on foreign policy events and developments. He also took on a kind of anteroom function for all German and foreign diplomats who came to Hindenburg: He first received them in his office, prepared them for their meeting with the president, took them to the head of state's office, introduced them to him and supported them the President, if necessary, by giving him additional information during his talks with the diplomats as a “whisperer”. After Hindenburg's death in early August 1934, Hoyningen-Huene had the artist Thorak remove a death mask for the late Reich President.

German envoy to Portugal (1934 to 1944)

On August 14, 1934, Hoyningen-Huene was appointed the new German envoy (equivalent to an ambassador in today's parlance ) in Portugal by Adolf Hitler , who succeeded Hindenburg as head of state . The appointment had already been made by Hindenburg. In Portugal, where he lived in the German embassy in Lisbon , Hoyningen-Huene remained active as envoy until 1944. A British author describes him for this time as a " career diplomat of the von Papen school" .

During his time in Portugal, Hoyningen-Huene became close friends with Salazar and President Carmona . He was also in contact with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Otto Wolff . He also acted as a middleman for the German defense chief Wilhelm Canaris in Lisbon . Erich Schröder was the SD leader in the embassy.

In July 1943 Hoyningen-Huene presented the Portuguese head of state Carmona with a gift from Hitler, which consisted of a hand-signed picture of the dictator and original documents from the so-called Peninsula War . Hoyningen-Huene's good relationship with Salazar could not prevent Salazar from allowing the Allies in October 1943 to set up sea ​​bases in the Azores .

Post-war period (1945 to 1963)

On September 1, 1939, he joined the NSDAP . As a result of the "aftermath" of July 20, 1944, Hoyningen-Huene was recalled from his post as German envoy in Portugal. This was followed by internment in Konstanz until 1948, later in Langenstein Castle with Count Douglas, initially by the German government, then by the Americans. On October 11, 1945, an interrogation by American officers took place in Wiesbaden. In August 1947 he was interrogated by Robert Kempner . Hoyningen-Huene claimed that he was not involved in the kidnapping of Berthold Jacobs from Lisbon, but rather moved the action to 1945 and shifted the responsibility to his successor Gustav Adolph von Halem and the embassy in Madrid. He also denied contact with the German agent in the USA, George Sylvester Viereck .

The denazification recognized him as "not charged". Then Hoyningen-Huene returned to Estoril , Portugal, as a private citizen for the period 1948 to 1963 .

In 1952 the Portuguese government suggested reactivating Hoyningen-Huene as German envoy / ambassador for Portugal. Salazar was so keen to reinstall his old friend that he took "four steps in Bonn as well as in London, Washington and Paris" to get the old ambassador to be reinstated. However, the Bonn government refused to allow the former ambassador of National Socialist Germany to return to his old post as ambassador of the Federal Republic. Hoyningen-Huene was buried in Hamburg-Ohlsdorf.

His estate is stored in the political archive of the Federal Foreign Office.

Fonts

  • The regulation of reduced sanity in the German, Austrian and Swiss preliminary draft , Borno-Leipzig, 1911. (Dissertation)

literature

  • 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 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Herrmann AL Degener: Degeners Who's it? 1935. X edition. A collection of around 18,000 biographies with information about origin, family, curriculum vitae, publications and works, favorite occupation, membership in societies, address and other notices of general interest. Resolution of approx. 5000 pseudonyms. Berlin: Verlag Hermann Degener, 1935, article "Oswald Hoyningen-Huene", pp. 724-25
  2. ↑ Luis Trenker: Everything went well. Stories from My Life , 1974, p. 317.
  3. ^ Charles Higham: Wallis. Secret Lives of the Duchess of Windsor , 1988, p. 248. There it is further described as “polished” (roughly: as if peeled from the egg) and “ingenious” (smart).
  4. ↑ Der Spiegel 12/1952, p. 3. There it says that he was “well suffered” with Salazar. Der Spiegel 52/1953, p. 3 even speaks of the fact that Hoyningen-Huene has “a special relationship of trust” with Salazar.
  5. ↑ Charles Highman: The Duchess of Windsor. The Secret Life , 1988, p. 284.
  6. ^ Peter Danylow / Ulrich S. Soénius: Otto Wolff. A company between business and politics , 2005, p. 398.
  7. ↑ Michael Mueller: Canaris. Hitler's chief of defense , 2006, p. 406.
  8. ↑ Bargain Bases in Times Magazine, October 25, 1943.
  9. ↑ Der Spiegel 52/1953, p. 3.
  10. ↑ Der Spiegel 12/1952, p. 3.
personal data
SURNAME Hoyningen-Huene, Oswald von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hoyningen-Huene, Oswald Theodor von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH July 29, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Clarens VD , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH August 26, 1963
Place of death Basel