Wipert from Blücher

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General Axel Erik Heinrichs (left) welcomes Ambassador Wipert von Blücher in Helsinki. Photo taken in 1942

Wipert von Blücher (born July 14, 1883 in Schwerin , † January 18, 1963 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen ) was a German diplomat who was in the diplomatic service of the German Reich until 1944 and from 1949 a publicist.

Live and act

Wipert von Blücher was born on July 14, 1883, the son of the Mecklenburg Finance Minister Ulrich-Vicco von Blücher (1853-1936) and Ebba von Blücher (1862-1935), née von Blücher, in Schwerin. He attended elementary school in Schwerin and in 1893 switched to the Friderico-Francisceum grammar school. With the completion of the Upper Tertia he went back to Schwerin and passed his Abitur here in 1900. In the same year he turned to law studies in Heidelberg , Berlin , Munich and Rostock . In Heidelberg he became a member of the Corps Vandalia Heidelberg in 1902 . His state law exams took place in 1906 and 1910.

Wipert von Blücher joined the diplomatic service of the Foreign Office in Berlin in 1911 and was sent to Morocco as Vice Consul in 1913 . He took part in the First World War as a reserve officer. In 1916 he was briefly in Persia on a diplomatic assignment. His reinstatement in the Foreign Office in 1918 was followed by the appointment of Legation Councilor and "permanent laborer" in 1920. His understanding of foreign policy at this time was shaped by his first experiences with traditional late Wilhelmine diplomacy. With regard to developments after the collapse of imperial Germany, he had deep reservations about Weimar democracy and a pronounced anti-republican ethos. In the spring of 1922, Wipert von Blücher worked as a young civil servant in the Foreign Office in bringing about the Rapallo Treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union. Further stations were 1922 Legation in Stockholm and 1926 Embassy in Buenos Aires , Argentina . From October 1929 to 1931 he worked again in the Foreign Office in Berlin. During these years he succeeded in building a respected position with his superiors and colleagues, which was mainly shaped by his clear stance and his foreign policy credo of being committed to the reason of state in the traditional sense. Through individual executives of the Foreign Office such as Rudolf Nadolny (1873-1953), the later Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs Constantin von Neurath (1873-1956), the later State Secretary of the Foreign Office Ernst von Weizsäcker (1882-1951), with whom he had been since 1922 connected by a close personal relationship, he received appropriate protection. This was of particular importance because of the specific conditions of the stay abroad, which repeatedly lasted for several years, through his work at the individual embassies.

In 1931 Wipert von Blücher was appointed envoy in Tehran . Here he replaced Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg (1875-1944), who was transferred to Bucharest. The time the business was handed over in Tehran was overshadowed by an incident that severely strained relations between Germany and Iran. On the day before his arrival in Iran, an article by Leo Matthias about Reza Shah Pahlavi was published in the Münchner Illustrierte Presse , entitled “The Emperor Without Origin” and containing “verifiably false information”. This article was a "grave slander of a foreign sovereign". The Iranian envoy in Berlin was immediately recalled and the Iranian embassy closed for an indefinite period. In return, von Blücher was allowed to wait several weeks for his accreditation. Despite intensive efforts, he did not succeed in significantly improving the tense relationship between Germany and Iran. In 1935, von Blücher was finally recalled from Tehran and transferred to Helsinki .

Serious political changes had taken place in Germany while he was still in Tehran. On January 30, 1933, the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Reich Chancellor marked an extreme turning point. The Weimar Republic was followed by a system of injustice, whose destructive policies swept away the rule of law and constitutional state that had existed since 1918. For Wipert von Blücher, who worked over 3,500 km from Berlin and perceived many of the changes that had occurred in a rather "filtered" way, this was not a tangible break with the previous presidential dictatorships. He had a little suspicion and initially moved in slightly "reluctant loyalty" to the new leadership in Germany. But immediately after the seizure of power, Wipert von Blücher was exposed to severe criticism from individual National Socialists or from Nazi party cells. In Helsinki in 1935 he replaced the envoy Dr. Hans Büsing (1880-1941) leaves. But there, too, denunciations were made against him by Nazi-oriented Germans abroad. The basic tenor was that he was an "unworldly" diplomat of the old school who lacked any understanding of the national socialist reorganization that had begun in Germany. In contrast, however, Wipert von Blücher succeeded in establishing a foreign policy position with Finland that almost served as a model. He further expanded bilateral church relations and the networks to conservative forces in political and military areas, stabilized artistic and cultural relations, but also directed his activities to limit the influence of the NSDAP and its organizations on the Finnish population. That was a clear difference to the prescribed foreign policy. Von Blücher was nevertheless able to stay in office thanks to the backing of individual managers at the headquarters in Berlin. These advocates were above all the Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs Constantin von Neurath himself and the later State Secretary Ernst von Weizsäcker . Notwithstanding the registered complaints, he was appointed envoy 1st class in 1938.

But after Joachim von Ribbentrop (1893 - 1945) took over the office of Reich Minister in February 1938, there were several attempts by him to recall von Blücher from Helsinki. Here, too, Ernst von Weizsäcker stood up for him. But he also knew Werner von Grundherr zu Altenthann und Weiherhaus (1888 - 1962), who was a foreign minister for Scandinavia , by his side. What united the actions of all three diplomats was the "silent agreement" to slow down the Nazi ideologization and radicalization of German foreign policy in their areas of responsibility. But there were two other diplomats whose views and attitudes towards the Nazi regime were in high agreement with those of Wipert von Blüchers. On the one hand there was Ulrich von Hassell (1881 - 1944). The two had a friendship that lasted almost two decades. Shortly after he was recalled as ambassador in Rome, two intensive talks took place, which resulted in clear rapprochements in the position of having to prepare for the fall of the Hitler regime. Wipert von Blücher also enjoyed a long-standing friendship and agreement with the ambassador in Moscow, Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg (1875-1944). Both had worked together at the headquarters of the Foreign Office for a while, Wipert von Blücher took over the embassy in Tehran as the successor to Schulenburg, and especially during the difficult phase of the winter war of 1939/1940, intensive coordination took place between them, as this created the relationship between Germany , Finland and the Soviet Union was existentially burdened. All three diplomats were united by the attitude of counteracting Nazi-oriented ideologization and war-oriented German foreign policy. With regard to the "Nazi Jewish policy", von Blücher even went one step further. He intervened several times against individual decisions from Berlin concerning the Jewish population in Finland. In doing so, he cloaked his clear stance on this question on the grounds that "German policy towards Jews internally alienates us from the Finnish people". A clear difference in the attitude of Wipert von Blücher to both diplomats, however, was his attitude to plans for a violent coup. A "diplomat", according to his opinion, can "only enter into a conspiracy when he has his whole people as co-conspirators". A "murder of tyrants" did not correspond to his Christian values ​​and was not acceptable in his attitude to the oath he had taken and his acquired notions of obedience. On the night of July 22nd, 1944, when the first news of the failed assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler reached the Helsinki embassy, ​​he felt compelled to send a message of loyalty to the Führer headquarters. Of course, even during his stay in Helsinki, the increasing pressure of persecution from the Gestapo and the security service did not go unnoticed. And especially in the last years of his missionary work, he suffered from severe conflicts of conscience "whether I could continue my service". Wipert von Blücher remained in the office of Germany's ambassador until September 2, 1944, the day Finland broke off diplomatic relations with Germany.

On June 15, 1918, he married Gudrun Freiin von Thiele-Winckler (1895 - 1967) in Schwerin. The marriage resulted in 3 children, the son Lüder (1919-1993), the daughter Ortrun (1920-1977) and the son Gebhard-Hubert (1924-2008).

Until his death, von Blücher published various books in which he described his experiences during his years of service.

Works

  • 1960: Retired. Self-published, Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
  • 1958: At the edge of world history: Morocco, Sweden, Argentina. Limes Verlag, Wiesbaden.
  • 1958: Finland and the Soviet Union. In: Eastern Europe. 8, (1958), pp. 185-186.
  • 1954: Finland's request for German help in 1918. Mannerheim's memoirs corrected. In: Foreign Policy . Journal for international questions 5 (1954), pp. 462-464 (issue 7).
  • 1953: Paths and aberrations of diplomacy. Limes Verlag, Wiesbaden.
  • 1952: Mannerheim's role in World War II. In: Eastern Europe. 2 (1952), pp. 300-302.
  • 1951: The ways to Rapallo: memories of a man from the second link. Limes Verlag, Wiesbaden.
  • 1951: envoy between dictatorship and democracy. Memories from the years 1935–1944. Limes Verlag, Wiesbaden.
    • published in Finland in 1950 in Swedish and Finnish.
  • 1949: turning point in Iran. Experiences and observations. Koehler and Voigtländer, Biberach an der Riss.

literature

  • Michael Jonas : NS Diplomacy and Alliance Policy 1935–1944. Wipert von Blücher, the Third Reich and Finland. Schöningh, Paderborn 2011, ISBN 978-3-506-76928-2 .
  • Maria Keipert (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 1: Johannes Hürter : A – F. Schöningh, Paderborn u. a. 2000, ISBN 3-506-71840-1 , p. 181 f.
  • Compiled by Ulrich von Blücher, revised by Lebrecht von Blücher: History of the von Blücher family 1870–1914. Verlag Blücher, Merzhausen 2005, ISBN 3-934249-08-6 .
  • Lebrecht von Blücher: The story of the von Blücher family 1914–2003. Verlag Blücher, Merzhausen 2003, ISBN 3-934249-01-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dr. Kühne, program of the Bad Doberan grammar school (1893–1904) in: Files of the Lower Saxony State and University Library
  2. ↑ See the entry of Wipert von Blücher's matriculation in the Rostock matriculation portal
  3. ^ Kösener corps lists 1910 , 122 , 789.
  4. ↑ Michael Jonas, Wintering in the "Auffangstellung" - Wipert von Blücher and the conservative resistance in: Schulte / Wala (ed.) Resistance and Foreign Office - Diplomats against Hitler, Siedler Verlag Munich 2013, pp. 118 ff.
  5. ↑ Wipert v. Blücher: Germany's way to Rapallo , Limes Verlag , Wiesbaden 1951, p. 153 ff.
  6. ↑ Wipert von Blücher: Turning point in Iran. Experiences and observations. Koehler and Voigtländer, Biberach an der Riss, 1949, p. 165.
  7. ↑ Michael Jonas, Wintering in the "Auffangstellung" - Wipert von Blücher and the conservative resistance in: Schulte / Wala (ed.) Resistance and Foreign Office - Diplomats against Hitler, Siedler Verlag Munich 2013, p. 118 f.
  8. ↑ Michael Jonas, Wintering in the "Auffangstellung" - Wipert von Blücher and the conservative resistance in: Schulte / Wala (ed.) Resistance and Foreign Office - Diplomats against Hitler, Siedler Verlag Munich 2013, p. 118 f.
  9. ↑ Weizsäcker Papers 1933–1950 ed. by Leonidas E. Hill Propylaea Verlag 1996
  10. ↑ Blücher's defense of May 22, 1947; Affidavit Ilse von Hassell dated May 8, 1946 with handwritten additions by Blücher - Blücher's verdict chamber files in: Schulte / Wala (ed.) Resistance and Foreign Office - Diplomats against Hitler, Siedler Verlag Munich 2013, p. 122 f.
  11. ↑ Michael Jonas "The German Jewish policy alienates us ..." Wipert von Blücher, the Nazi Jewish policy and Finland in the Second World War in: Nordeuropaforum, Zeitschrift für Politik, Wirtschaft und Kultur, issue 2, 2004
  12. ^ Wipert von Blücher, Paths and Irrwege der Diplomatie, Limes Verlag Wiesbaden, 1953, pp. 168ff.
  13. ↑ Blücher to Führer Headquarters, July 20, 1944 in: Schulte / Wala (ed.) Resistance and Foreign Office - Diplomats against Hitler, Siedler Verlag Munich 2013, p. 124f
  14. ^ Spruchkammerakte Blücher StA Munich (quotation) Zwehl to Lüder Blücher dated May 7, 1946 in: Schulte / Wala (ed.) Resistance and Foreign Office - Diplomats against Hitler, Siedler Verlag Munich 2013, p. 128f
personal data
SURNAME Blücher, Wipert by
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH July 14, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Schwerin
DATE OF DEATH January 18, 1963
Place of death Garmisch-Partenkirchen