Ribbentrop, Joachim von

Ribbentrop, Joachim von (yō`aäkhĭm fən rĭb`əntrôp), 1893–1946, German foreign minister (1938–45). After World War I he became a wealthy champagne merchant. He joined the National Socialist party in 1932 and impressed Adolf Hitler with his knowledge of foreign languages and countries; he soon became Hitler's foreign policy expert and set up his own office on foreign affairs, which often superseded the foreign office. At the same time, he was German ambassador at large (1935–36) and ambassador to Great Britain (1936–38), returning a violent Anglophobe. In 1938 he succeeded Constantin Neurath as foreign minister. He was influential in the formation of the Rome-Berlin Axis (1936), in the conclusion of the Russo-German nonaggression pact of Aug., 1939, and in planning the attack on Poland that set off World War II. As foreign minister, he was subservient to Hitler. He was dismissed by Admiral Karl Doenitz after Hitler's death. At the war crimes trials at Nuremberg he was convicted as a war criminal and hanged.

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Ribbentrop, Joachim von

(born April 30, 1893, Wesel, Ger.—died Oct. 16, 1946, Nürnberg) German diplomat and foreign minister under the Nazi regime. After serving in World War I, he became a wine merchant. He met Adolf Hitler in 1932 and became his chief adviser on foreign affairs. He negotiated the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and served as ambassador to Britain (1936–38), advising Hitler that Britain could not aid Poland effectively. As foreign minister (1938–45), he negotiated the Pact of Steel with Italy, the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, and the Tripartite Pact with Japan and Italy. His influence waned in World War II, after which he was found guilty at the Nürnberg trials and hanged.

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Ribbentrop, Joachim von 

Born Apr. 30, 1893, in Wesel; died Oct. 16, 1946, in Nuremberg. One of the chief war criminals of fascist Germany.

Ribbentrop was a sales agent in the wine business. He joined the Nazi Party in 1930 and soon became a close associate of Hitler. When the fascists came to power in 1933, Ribbentrop headed a bureau set up to carry out special foreign policy assignments of the Nazi leadership. He was ambassador to London from 1936 to 1938 and foreign minister from February 1938 to 1945. Ribbentrop directed the diplomatic preparation for the major Hitlerite acts of aggression. He was executed by verdict of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg.