A secret room filled with Nazi stuff was just found in Argentina. Looking at it, I suspect it was from the Germany embassy. I suppose we will find out soon enough.
But that has me asking, what in the world did the German embassies in neutral countries do in May 1945? Did they lose diplomatic status? Did they carry on? (Doing what?) Were they paid?
I suppose redecoration on a massive scale was called for overnight.
Any ideas?
IIRC while Argentina didn’t actually declare war on Germany until a few weeks before V-E Day they did sever diplomatic revelations in late 1944 under US pressure. The German Legation in Dublin on the other hand was open right up until the end of the war (de Valera even made a diplomatic condolence call when Hitler died). The Legation was of course closed down after the War ended as the German Reich had no central government (other than the Allied Control Council, which quickly recalled all German diplomats still abroad).
Here’s a list of Nazi era ambassadors.
There weren’t that many embassies left by the end of the war. It looks like most countries, including Argentina broke off diplomatic relationships by 1944.
For the few the didn’t:
The ambassador to Switzerland, Otto Kocher:
The ambassador to the Vatican, Ernst von Weizsäcker:
WAG: the staff didn’t get paid, and were in limbo until the German government sorted itself out, under Allied occupation.
The German Foreign Office basically collapsed in May 1945 when Germany surrendered. The Flensburg government had a nominal foreign minister, but he had no effective control over German diplomatic assets abroad, and in any event the Flensburg government was suppresses and its members arrested on 23 May.
From the point of view of people serving in German diplomatic missions abroad, instructions simply stopped coming from Berlin, and so did money. Wages ceased to be paid. Diplomatic staff were advised to return to Germany but were left to make their own arrangements; in some cases host nations paid for this. In other cases staff did not wish to return, and applied for permission to remain in the host nation as private individuals.
Embassy properties were still nominally the property of the German state, but the German state had ceased to function. The Allied Military Government could, I suppose, have attempted to exert control over them, but SFAIK never did so. In some cases residences continued to be occupied by unpaid diplomatic staff who had nowhere to go, but mostly they were vacated and mothballed, and looked after (or not) by the host nation.
The Allied Control Council took over all German government functions at the end of August 1945. On Sept. 10 they issued an order recalling the German diplomats. The AAC presumably took care of services provided by German embassies- on paper.
Apparently up until then they were in limbo.
Which raises questions about basic diplomatic tasks like handling a German citizen needing help while overseas.
Thank you all.
West Germany seems to have realised its dawn in 1950.
Its Embassy in the USA was established in1955.
“My name is Adolf – er – Schmittler! I have lost my ID, and would like help obtaining a passport and a residence permit here in Argentina…”