Werner von Schmieden

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Karl August Günther Werner von Schmieden (born December 13, 1892 in Leipzig , † June 10, 1979 in Baden-Baden ) was a German diplomat .

family

Werner forging of the came from the Oberlausitz derived nobility of forging .

His father was the later Royal Saxon Lieutenant General August von Schmieden (1860–1939), his mother Ida nee. Freiin von Berg (1869–1962). His grandparents were Maximilian August von Schmieden (son of Carl Gottlob August von Schmieden and Martha Caroline née von Germar , sister of Kurt Ewald von Germar ) and Bertha Mathilde née. von Germar (daughter of Kurt Ewald von Germar and Bertha Georgette née Countess von Wallwitz.) His brother was Hans Wolf von Schmieden (1894–1914, died in Flanders ) his sister was Elsbeth von Koeller née. von Schmieden (1903-2000).

Life

From Easter 1903 von Schmieden attended the König-Albert-Gymnasium in his hometown and studied law at the universities of Lausanne , Munich and Leipzig . In 1915 he completed his legal traineeship. In 1916, after he had written his dissertation, von Schmieden was awarded a Dr. jur. PhD. The publication of an article he wrote in the same year under the title The personal position of the country's inhabitants in the armed forces under modern international law , which was to appear in the legal journal Archive of Public Law , was generally forbidden by the chief censorship office of the war press office in Berlin, since the " inclusion and discussion of stage regulations in German specialist journals are not permitted ".

He was then called up for military service. During the First World War he was in the Royal Saxon Uhlan Regiment No. 18 and as a rider with the staff of the 105th Reserve Infantry Brigade ( 53rd Reserve Division (3rd Royal Saxon) ), in 1916 as a deputy sergeant and legal assistant at the court of the General Governments deployed in Lodz . In 1917 he was released from military service as a trainee lawyer for the district chief of the Warsaw-Land district.

In 1920 he was called up as an attaché in the Foreign Service and placed in Department IV, the communications department of the Foreign Office . In 1924 he was taken on as a probationary legation secretary in the Foreign Service and from then on worked in Department II of the Foreign Office, the Department for Trade, Transport, Consular Affairs, Constitutional Law, Civil Law, Art and Science, and the private affairs of Germans abroad and the objects that concerned the judiciary, police and postal system, emigration, shipping matters, border matters and settlements with foreign states, etc.

In 1925 he became a counselor tenured and was starting from 1926 member of the delegation for the German-French trade treaty in Paris. From 1927 to 1932 he was also a member of the Department for Intellectual Cooperation in the Secretariat of the League of Nations in Geneva. In this capacity he was assigned to the International Commission to Investigate Trafficking in Women and Children in Asia from 1930 to 1932. In 1932 he was promoted to Legation Councilor and in 1934 he moved to Department II of the Foreign Office and 1936–1945 to the Foreign Policy Department of the Foreign Office. In 1937 he was promoted to Lecturing Legation Councilor (Counselor). In 1938/1939 he was suspended from office because his opinion on a meaningful German East Asia policy did not match that of the Reich Foreign Minister. In 1942 Werner von Schmieden became deputy to the representative for propaganda in Ribbentrop's personal staff , Karl Megerle .

On July 20, 1944, Werner von Schmieden was on the verge of the assassination attempt in the " Wolfsschanze " headquarters . Here he was informed by his friend and colleague Hasso von Etzdorf , liaison officer of the Foreign Office in the General Staff of the Field Army on 19 July at noon on behalf of the Quartermaster General, General Eduard Wagner , that the eventual occurrence could be expected within the next 24 hours. Werner von Schmieden was initiated into the plans for the conspiracy against Hitler in the spring of 1941, before the Balkan campaign. After the failed assassination attempt, he informed Etzdorf.

“It is primarily due to the fact that the head of our group, General Wagner, voluntarily passed away on the Sunday after the assassination after an initial superficial interrogation by Kaltenbrunner, after carefully arranging his affairs, that of the hardly any confidante belonging to his circle was caught. "

After the war from October 1945 he was a defense attorney in case no. 11 (Foreign Office) at the Allied war crimes trial in Nuremberg. The defense lawyers successfully demanded inspection of all incriminating documents and a search of the files for exonerating material. Werner von Schmieden was granted permission to visit the Berlin Document Center of the US military government in the Berlin Telefunkenhaus . He made an initial inventory of the files of the Foreign Office.

From 1946 to 1950 he worked as a freelance journalist. He worked for the German Protestant Church and the World Council of Churches, especially in refugee work. After 1950 he worked in the Council of Europe in Strasbourg , in 1951 as head of the refugee department and from 1952 to 1957 as director of the study and research department.

Honors

Werner von Schmieden was the recipient of the Great Federal Cross of Merit with a Star and the Saxon St. Heinrichs Nadel .

Fonts (selection)

  • The origin of the hare-flinging eagle as a symbol of power . In: Ernst Thomas Reimbold (Ed.): Symbolon . Symbol Research Yearbook. New series, volume 1. Society for Scientific Symbol Research e. V. Cologne, Wienand Verlag, 1972, pp. 79-84.
  • A family history travel letter from St. Petersburg, 1969, (private print)
  • Florence around 1700. Baden-Baden [Werderstr. 10]: W. von Schmieden, 1968, [private print]
  • About the origins of our family. [Baden-Baden, Werderstr. 10: self-published], 1963
  • The life data of Günther Heinrich Freiherr von Berg (1765–1843) and his sons Edmund and Carl . Self-published, Möckmühl 1963
  • The personal position of the country's inhabitants in the armed forces according to modern international law. Borna-Leipzig, 1916

literature

  • Biographical manual of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. Volume 4: p . Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service, edited by: Bernd Isphording, Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger. Schöningh, Paderborn u. a. 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-71843-3
  • Genealogical Handbook of the Nobility Volume XII 2001
  • Eckart Conze , Norbert Frei , Peter Hayes, Moshe Zimmermann : The Office and the Past. German diplomats in the Third Reich and in the Federal Republic. Karl Blessing Verlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-89667-430-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The father of Major General August von Schmieden, residing in Niederlößnitz b. Dresden, Winzerstraße 43, noted. (Online research under the keyword Werner von Schmieden on the archive website )
  2. ↑ König Albert-Gymnasium (Royal High School until 1900) in Leipzig: Student album 1880-1904 / 05 . Friedrich Grober, Leipzig 1905
  3. ↑ Peter Longerich : Propagandists in War. The press department of the Foreign Office under Ribbentrop. Oldenbourg, Munich 1987, p. 63.
  4. ↑ Werner von Schmieden: In the headquarters, on the verge of the attack , July 20, 1944 - records.
  5. ↑ https://www.zeit.de/1948/16/suendflut-der-dokumente
personal data
SURNAME Schmieden, Werner von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH December 13, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH June 10, 1979
Place of death Baden-Baden