Page "Joachim von Ribbentrop" Paragraph 87

After the outbreak of World War II, Ribbentrop spent most of the Polish campaign travelling with Hitler.

On 27 September 1939, Ribbentrop made a second visit to Moscow, where at meetings with the Soviet Foreign Commissar Vyacheslav Molotov and Joseph Stalin, he was forced to agree to revising the Secret Protocols of the Non-Aggression Pact in the Soviet Union's favour, most notably agreeing to Stalin's demand that Lithuania go to the Soviet Union.

The imposition of the British blockade had made the Reich highly dependent upon Soviet economic support, which placed Stalin in a strong negotiating position with Ribbentrop.

On 1 March 1940, Ribbentrop received Sumner Welles, the American Under-Secretary of State, who was on a peace mission for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and did his best to abuse his American guest.

Welles asked Ribbentrop what terms Germany might be willing to negotiate a compromise peace under, before the Phoney War became a real war.

Ribbentrop told Welles that only a total German victory " could give us the peace we want ".

Welles reported to Roosevelt that Ribbentrop had a " completely closed and very stupid mind ".

On 10 March 1940, Ribbentrop visited Rome where he met Mussolini, who promised him that Italy would soon enter the war.

For his one-day Italian trip, Ribbentrop was accompanied by a staff of thirty-five, including a gymnastics coach, a masseur, a doctor, two hairdressers, plus various legal and economic experts from the Foreign Office.

After the Italo-German summit at the Brenner Pass on 18 March 1940, which was attended by Hitler and Mussolini, Count Ciano wrote in his diary: " Everyone in Rome dislikes Ribbentrop ".

On 7 May 1940, Ribbentrop founded a new section of the Foreign Office, the Abteilung Deutschland ( Department of Internal German Affairs ), under Martin Luther, to which was assigned the responsibility for all anti-Semitic affairs.

On 10 May 1940, Ribbentrop summoned the Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg ambassadors to present them with notes justifying the German invasion of their countries, several hours after the Germans had invaded those nations.

Much to Ribbentrop's fury, someone leaked the plans for the German invasion to the Dutch Embassy in Berlin, which led Ribbentrop to devote the next several months to conducting an unsuccessful investigation into who leaked the news.

This investigation tore apart the agency as colleagues were encouraged to denounce each other.