Pierre de Margerie

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Bruno François Marie Pierre Jacquin de Margerie (born October 6, 1861 in Nancy , † 1942 ) was a French diplomat. Most recently he was ambassador to Berlin from 1922 to 1931 .

Pierre de Margerie in diplomatic uniform with his wife in Berlin in 1928
Max Liebermann and Pierre de Margerie at an exhibition opening at the Akademie der Künste

Life

He was the son of a Catholic professor of philosophy and dean at Lille University. He himself was the father of Roland de Margerie , who was ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany after the Second World War .

He entered the French diplomatic service in 1883. After various subordinate posts he was envoy in Bangkok , then Beijing 1909–1912. He then worked at the Foreign Ministry in Paris, from 1914 as Directeur des Affaires politiques et commerciales . Thus he took an important position in the ministry during the First World War . In 1918 he suffered a breakdown and when he returned to the Ministry after months of absence he was ousted from his post by a competitor. He did not become secretary of the peace negotiations in Versailles . Instead he became ambassador to Brussels in 1919 .

In 1922 he moved to Berlin. He held the post of ambassador to Germany until August 1931. He tried to act as a mediator between Paris and the Reich government. He was skeptical of the confrontation policy of the government of Raymond Poincaré with the height of the occupation of the Ruhr in 1923, but had to carry out the instructions from Paris. He played an important role in the rapprochement between France and Germany, especially in the intellectual and cultural field. He was friends with various German authors and encouraged encounters with French art and culture. During his time, the embassy in Berlin was redesigned. Domestic political interests were decisive for his replacement. In addition, in the years of crisis in 1931, he seemed too old and too frozen in routine. Chancellor Heinrich Brüning, on the other hand, tried to keep Margerie because he considered him a reliable partner.

From 1930 he had a liaison with the photographer  Frieda Riess . In 1932 she gave up her studio in Berlin and followed de Margerie, who had returned to Paris as a pensioner . The relationship lasted until his death in 1942.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dominique Bourel: Berlin and the European West: The Fall-Paris Berlin. In: Berlin in modern times. Berlin, 1990 p. 253
  2. ^ Annette Messemer: Andre Francois-Poncet and Germany. In: VfZ Heft 4 1991 p. 517
  3. ^ Marion Beckers, Elisabeth Moortgat (Ed.): The Riess. Photographic studio and salon 1918–1932 in Berlin. = The Riess. Photographic studio and salon in Berlin 1918–1932. Das Verborgene Museum , Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-8030-3326-0 , p. 199

literature

  • Bernard Auffray: Pierre de Margerie (1861–1942) et la vie politique de son temps. Paris, 1976
  • Henning Köhler: Review: Bernard Auffray: Pierre de Margerie In: Francia 6/1978 p. 883f.

Web links

Commons : Pierre de Margerie  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Margerie, Pierre de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Margerie, Bruno François Marie Pierre Jacquin de (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH October 6, 1861
PLACE OF BIRTH Nancy
DATE OF DEATH 1942