Wilhelm von Radowitz

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Wilhelm von Radowitz (born March 6, 1875 in Berlin ; † September 25, 1939 there ) was a German diplomat and head of the Reich Chancellery at the end of the First World War .

Erhard Deutelmoser , Max von Baden and Wilhelm von Radowitz on their way to the Reichstag (1918)

Life

His father was the diplomat Joseph Maria von Radowitz (1839-1912), his grandfather the Prussian politician Joseph von Radowitz (1797-1853).

Radowitz studied law . In 1903 he entered the diplomatic service. He was initially an attaché in Madrid . He was then acting second secretary of the embassy in Beijing . Further stations were Washington (1906) and Mexico (1908). In 1909 he was a laborer in the Foreign Office . In 1910 Radowitz was Legation Councilor in Copenhagen . A year later he was first secretary in Tokyo and in 1913 in Paris . In 1914 Radowitz was appointed lecturer in the political department of the Foreign Office. He was also head of the press department for the General Government of Belgium . In 1915 he was appointed Secret Legation Councilor. In 1916 Radowitz was counselor and chargé d'affaires of the German embassy in Constantinople . In 1917 he returned to the Foreign Office.

From November 1917 to October 17, 1918 he was Undersecretary of State in the Reich Chancellery and at the same time Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. During the upheaval that went hand in hand with the parliamentarization of the Reich , an internal debate began as to whether the competences of the Reich Chancellery should be expanded in the direction of a real management staff of the Reich Chancellor or limited to a pure secretariat of the Chancellor. Radowitz pleaded for the tasks to be limited to the technical mediation between the Reich Chancellor and the heads of department. These ideas failed at the latest with the growing tasks of the office after the November Revolution . After the revolution, Radowitz worked as a lawyer. Around 1922 he was administrator of the German consulate general in Memel area . He also wrote the first draft of the parliamentary decree of September 30, 1918, which in turn led to the law amending the Imperial Constitution of October 28, 1918.

His first marriage was in 1910 with Battista von Radowitz, b. Countess von Matuschka, baroness of Toppolczan and Spaetgen (born June 25, 1892, † December 19, 1936); Second marriage in 1938 to Anastasia Countess Grote (* February 23, 1905, † November 11, 1967).

His final resting place is in the south-west cemetery Stahnsdorf .

literature

  • Wilhelm Kosch: The Catholic Germany, Vol. 2, Augsburg 1937, p. 484.
  • Heinrich Potthoff: The parliamentarization decree of September 30, 1918. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 20 (1972), no. 3, p. 319–332 digitized (PDF; 772 KB).
  • Minutes of the Prussian State Ministry, Vol. 10, p. 426 Digitized version (PDF; 2.9 MB)
  • Maria Keipert (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 3: Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger: L – R. Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2008, ISBN 978-3-506-71842-6 , pp. 555f

Web links

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