Wilhelm von Schoen (diplomat)

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Wilhelm von Schoen
Jean-Baptiste Bienvenu-Martin , Philippe Berthelot and Wilhelm von Schoen

Wilhelm Eduard Freiherr von Schoen (born June 3, 1851 in Worms , † April 24, 1933 in Berchtesgaden ) was a German diplomat . He was best known as the German ambassador in Paris at the beginning of the First World War and as State Secretary in the Foreign Office .

family

Schoen was the youngest son of the factory owner and President of the Worms Chamber of Commerce , Johann August Schoen (1821– September 1856), and his wife, Maria Barbara, née Heyl (1819–1865), daughter of Cornelius Heyl . His two older brothers were Cornelius Julius (born March 16, 1848 in Worms; † August 7, 1894) and Friedrich Wilhelm (1849–1941). After the early death of her father, the mother married her brother-in-law, the painter Friedrich Wilhelm Schoen , who also became Wilhelm Eduard's stepfather. The family moved to Berchtesgaden.

In 1885 Wilhelm Eduard married Bertha Freiin de Groote, daughter of the Belgian ambassador Charles de Groote. The marriage resulted in two children, one of them the diplomat Wilhelm Albrecht von Schoen .

Live and act

Schoen first went through a military career as a dragoon officer before he joined the Foreign Service of the German Empire in 1877. In the course of his diplomatic career he held positions as counselor at the diplomatic mission of the German government in Paris (1888-1894) and as German envoy in Copenhagen (1900-1905). In addition, von Schoen acted as councilor to the Prince of Saxe-Coburg , Alfred . On March 31, 1905, von Schoen accompanied Kaiser Wilhelm II during his so-called “landing” in the Moroccan port city of Tangier , which finally culminated in the First Moroccan Crisis .

In 1905 von Schoen - just a few months after St. Petersburg's Bloody Sunday (9 January July / 22 January 1905 greg. ), Which was the starting point for the Russian Revolution of 1905 - was sent to St. Petersburg as the German ambassador . This was followed by a three-year term as State Secretary of the Foreign Office in Berlin (October 1907 to June 1910), where he succeeded Heinrich Leonhard von Tschirschky and Bögendorff , and finally was appointed German Ambassador for France in Paris . In this important post, which he held for almost four years, von Schoen experienced the beginning of the First World War in July 1914 , which was the occasion for his and his colleagues to return to Germany. On August 3, 1914, Schoen presented Germany's declaration of war to France.

In 1885 he was admitted to the Hessian nobility, in 1909 Schoen was made a baron . For his participation in the Franco-German Morocco Agreement of February 9, 1909, he received the Grand Cross of the French Legion of Honor.

Publications

  • Nationalism in the life of the Third Republic , Berlin 1920. (co-author)
  • Experiences: Contributions to recent political history , Stuttgart 1921 ( archive.org )
  • The Memoirs of an Ambassador. A Contribution to the Political History of Modern Times , London 1922,
  • Mémoires (1900–1914) , Paris 1922.
  • Germany and the question of guilt , Berlin 1924.
  • Little guide through the Berchtesgadener Land , Berchtesgaden 1925.
  • The German Declaration of War on France: The Question of Telegram Mutilations. Premier Poincaré versus Ambassador von Schoen , USA 1927.

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
  • Fritz Reuter: Friedrich Wilhelm von Schön. A biographical sketch . In: Stadtverwaltung Worms: Municipal play and festival house. Festschrift for the inauguration of the rebuilt house on November 6, 1966 . Worms 1966, pp. 31-43.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See: Gerold Bönnen : The Heyl family and their work and the like: Leonhard Heyl II. , P. 320. Both in: The industrial family of Heyl in Worms. Public and private work between the bourgeoisie and the nobility . Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 2010, ISBN 978-3-88462-304-6
  2. ^ A b Fritz Reuter: Friedrich Wilhelm von Schön. A biographical sketch . In: Stadtverwaltung Worms: Municipal play and festival house. Festschrift for the inauguration of the rebuilt house on November 6, 1966 . Worms 1966, p. 31.
  3. ^ Memories  - Internet Archive
  4. ↑ full text
  5. ^ Wilhelm II .: Events and Figures 1878–1908. Publishing house KF Koehler, Leipzig / Berlin 1922, p. 107
personal data
SURNAME Schoen, Wilhelm von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schoen, Wilhelm Eduard Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1851
PLACE OF BIRTH Worms
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 1933
Place of death Berchtesgaden