Franz von Sonnleithner

Franz Edler von Sonnleithner ( born June 1, 1905 in Salzburg, † April 18, 1981 in Ingelheim am Rhein) was the representative of the Foreign Office at his headquarters at Adolf Hitler.

Life

The son of an Austrian officer studied law in Vienna and Innsbruck, where he received his doctorate in 1928, Dr. iur. Then he was police commissioner first in Vienna and later in Salzburg, and was then the Federal Chancellery in Vienna worked.

Because of its commitment to an annexation of Austria to the German Reich and his illegal activities for the forbidden in Austria NSDAP, into which he had entered on May 4, 1932 Sonnleithner was arrested in Vienna on 26 September 1934 and 1936 in the high treason and abuse Office condemned violence. He was amnestied on 12 February 1938 as a result of the Berchtesgaden agreement.

He was summoned to the Foreign Office, where he was able to extend his career early on December 2, 1938. On 9 March 1939 he was appointed counselor of legation, and on July 13, 1940 First Secretary. Later he worked in the personal staff of the Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. Since April 18, 1941 Sonnleithner the rank of Senior Legation Counsellor and since March 31, 1943 as ambassador first class had. Sonnleithner took since March 1943 as an alternative to Walter Hevel as a representative of the Foreign Minister at the briefing at his headquarters in part, as well as on the day of the assassination attempt on 20 July 1944, in which Sonnleithner was uninjured.

From April 1945 to 1948 he was imprisoned in various American internment camps. Ribbentrop's defender Martin Horn and Fritz Sauter tried him as a summon witnesses at the Nuremberg trial of the major war criminals, so on 26 November 1945 which was rejected by the court on procedural grounds.

After his release, he was able to gain a foothold in the private sector of Ingelheim. Until his death Sonnleithner fought not only to his civil service pension, but also for his reputation as a diplomat. He claimed that he had preserved the Foreign Office before liquidation by Hitler.

Posthumously published in 1989 his records.

Writings

• As a diplomat in " Hitler's headquarters ": from the estate. With e Vorw by Reinhard Spitzy. Langen -Müller: Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7844-2267-5.