French politician and diplomat
Andre Francois-Poncet
(13 June 1887 ? 8 January 1978) was a French
politician
and
diplomat
whose post as ambassador to Germany allowed him to witness first-hand the rise to power of
Adolf Hitler
and the
Nazi Party
, and the
Nazi regime
's preparations for
World War II
.
Francois-Poncet was the son of a counselor of the
Court of Appeals in Paris
. A student of
German studies
at the
Paris Institute of Political Studies
, his first area of study was journalism. One of Francois-Poncet's early written works included observations made during several journeys to the
German Empire
in the years prior to
World War I
. During the war, he served as an infantry lieutenant.
Between 1917 and 1919, he was assigned to the press office of the French embassy in
Bern
,
Switzerland
and later served with the International Economic Mission in the United States and in other diplomatic roles under a series of French leaders.
Francois-Poncet became managing director of the
Societe d'etudes et d'informations economiques
(Society for Economic Studies and Information). In 1924, he was replaced by
Emile Mireaux
.
[1]
He served as a delegate to the
League of Nations
, and in August 1931 was named undersecretary of state and ambassador to
Weimar Germany
. From his post in
Berlin
, Francois-Poncet witnessed the rise of Hitler and later observed signs of Germany's plans for World War II. The insightful Francois-Poncet was described by American journalist
William Shirer
in his
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
as "the best informed ambassador in Berlin", but the French government generally did not heed the ambassador's many warnings about Hitler's intentions. Francois-Poncet was inadvertently involved in the purge of the
Night of the Long Knives
when, in Hitler's justification for the killings, he referred to a dinner that Francois-Poncet had attended with
Ernst Rohm
and
Kurt von Schleicher
as evidence that the men had been conspiring with the French to overthrow the German government. As the evidence was manufactured, Francois-Poncet himself was never named or charged with anything.
[2]
[3]
Shortly after the
Munich Agreement
was signed in 1938, Francois-Poncet left his post as French ambassador to Germany
after a farewell visit to Hitler at the
Eagle's Nest
on 18 October 1938.
He was then reassigned to
Rome
as ambassador to
Fascist Italy
. Francois-Poncet was appointed ambassasdor to Italy largely because he shared the desire of the Foreign Minister,
Georges Bonnet
, for closer Franco-Italian ties.
On 19 November 1938, Francois-Poncet arrived at the
Quirinal Palace
to present his letters of accreditation to King Victor Emmanuel III as the ambassador of the French republic to the Kingdom of Italy.
Most notably, Francois-Poncet addressed King Victor Emmanuel III as both King of Italy and Emperor of Ethiopia, thereby recognising the Italian conquest of Ethiopia.
He served in that position until 1940 when Italy declared war on France.
On 23 January 1941, Francois-Poncet was made a member of the National Council of
Vichy France
.
[5]
Arrested by the
Gestapo
during the wartime
German occupation of France
, Francois-Poncet was imprisoned for three years.
In 1949, he was named French high commissioner to
West Germany
, a position which was later elevated to ambassador. Francois-Poncet served in this capacity until 1955. He was later vice president and president of the
French Red Cross
. In 1952, he was elected to the
Academie francaise
, taking the seat previously occupied by Marshal
Philippe Petain
.
Occasionally contributing to the French newspaper
Le Figaro
, Francois-Poncet wrote numerous books, several based on his experience as French ambassador to Germany in the 1930s and reflecting his lifelong interest in Germany. At least one of his works,
Souvenirs d'une ambassade a Berlin
, published in France in 1946, was translated to English as
The Fateful Years: Memoirs of a French Ambassador in Berlin, 1931?1938
in 1949.
Andre Francois-Poncet was the father of
Jean Francois-Poncet
, also a French politician and diplomat who served as
Minister of Foreign Affairs
under French President
Valery Giscard d'Estaing
.
References
[
edit
]
Books and articles
[
edit
]
- Salerno, Reynolds M. (February 1997). "The French Navy and the Appeasement of Italy, 1937-9".
English Historical Review
.
112
(445): 66?104.
External links
[
edit
]
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