Viktor to Wied

Viktor Prinz zu Wied (left) with his wife Gisela visits the German consul in Helsingborg, Ivar P: son Henning, and his wife in 1935.

Viktor Prinz zu Wied around 1900

Viktor Prinz zu Wied , full name: Wilhelm Friedrich Adolph Hermann Viktor Prinz zu Wied , (* 7. December 1877 in Neuwied , † 1. March 1946 in Moosburg ) was in the Nazi era German Ambassador in Sweden and member of the German Princely House of Wied with a focus on what is now Rhineland-Palatinate .

Family and politics

Viktor Prinz zu Wied was the son of the general and politician Prince Wilhelm zu Wied (1845–1907) and Marie of Orange-Nassau, Princess of the Netherlands (1841–1910). An older brother was Prince Wilhelm zu Wied , who was Prince of Albania for a short period (7 March to 5 September 1914) . His aunt Elisabeth zu Wied was Queen of Romania .

To Wied's contact with the Swedish royal family was twofold: his mother was the youngest sister of Luise von Oranien-Nassau (wife of the Swedish King Karl XV. ) And his grandmother, Princess Marie von Nassau-Weilburg (1825-1902), was an older one Half-sister of Sophia von Nassau (wife of the Swedish King Oskar II ).

Zu Wied trained as a soldier and joined the diplomatic service of the German Empire in 1905. He was deployed in the embassy in Stockholm from 1919 and in Budapest from 1922. In 1923 he was put into temporary retirement. One year before the handover to the National Socialists , he joined the NSDAP on January 1, 1932 .

From December 15, 1933, he was reactivated and appointed envoy of the German Reich in Sweden. He held this post until 1943, when he was replaced by Hans Thomsen .

In 1944, Prince zu Wied received an endowment of 250,000 Reichsmarks from Adolf Hitler .

Marriage and descendants

From the marriage with Gisela Klementine Christophora Karola, Countess zu Solms-Wildenfels (* December 30, 1891, † August 20, 1976) had two children:

• Marie Elisabeth Charlotte Sophie Anna Pauline Luise Solveig (March 14, 1913 - March 30, 1985)
• Benigna -Viktoria Ingeborg Anna Wilhelmine (born July 23, 1918 - † January 16, 1972)

literature

• Johannes Hürter (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. Vol. 5. T – Z, supplements. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 5: Bernd Isphording, Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger: Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2014, ISBN 978-3-506-71844-0 , p. 271 f.
• Herrmann AL Degener (Red.): Who is it? - Contemporary Lexicon. Leipzig 1905

Web links

• Quarterly issues for contemporary history , October 1974 (PDF file; 5.7 MB)
• The story of the zu Wied family ( memento from November 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gerd R. Ueberschär , Winfried Vogel : Serving and earning. Hitler's gifts to his elites. Frankfurt 1999, ISBN 3-10-086002-0

predecessor	Office	successor
Hellmuth Lucius von Stödten (1869–1935)	Envoy of the German Reich in Stockholm 1919–1922	Frederic von Rosenberg
Frederic von Rosenberg	Envoy of the German Reich in Stockholm 1933–1943	Hans Thomsen