Quoted By:
Who died today:
1946 – Joachim von Ribbentrop, German lieutenant
He played a key role in brokering the Pact of Steel (an alliance with Fascist Italy) and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (the Nazi–Soviet non-aggression pact).
He was appointed Ambassador to the Court Of St James's (for the United Kingdom of Great Britain).
He convinced Hitler that he had King Edward VIII's support and that civil war would soon break out in Britain between the supporters of the king and those of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin.
Göring warned Hitler that Ribbentrop was a "stupid ass". Hitler dismissed Göring's concerns: "ut after all, he knows quite a lot of important people in England." This remark led Göring to reply "Mein Führer, that may be right, but the bad thing is, they know him."
The American historian Gordon A. Craig once observed that of all the voluminous memoir literature of the diplomatic scene of 1930s Europe, there are only two positive references to Ribbentrop. British historian/television producer Laurence Rees noted that "No other Nazi was so hated by his colleagues".
Ribbentrop had come to hate Britain with all the "fury of a woman scorned". Italian Foreign Minister, Count Galeazzo Ciano, noted in his diary, the Anti-Comintern Pact was "anti-Communist in theory, but in fact unmistakably anti-British."
As the war went on, Ribbentrop's influence waned. On 23 April 1945, Ribbentrop attempted to meet with Hitler, but was rejected with the explanation the Führer had more important things to do.