Evening star., 1939-10-08
By Marquis ". Childs.

Stain and Vyache slot Molotof.
| called at British port. Fearing in
ternment for the duration of the war
Rlbbentrop and companion hid for
two days In the coal bunkers.
Awarded Iron Cross.
AS a son Of good family, he was ap-
pointed on his return to Berlin to one
OF the crack Hussar regiments and saw
service on the Russian front. Wounded
In action, he was awarded Iron Cross
I and II. Later he was transferred to
the war ministry and at the end of the
struggle he was attached to the Ger
man Embassy in Constantinople. His
diplomatic talents had become apparent
and ne served, in minor capacity, with
the German delegation to Versailles.
But with the conclusion of the peace
conference he turned his back on public
lie and started out as a salesman for
Henkells champagne, the best-known
German brand. A bright and ambitious
young man, he married Anna Elizabeth
Henkell. daughter of the owner of his
nrm Thereafter he was made head Of
the import-export Office in Berlin. The
numerous dealings he had with French
champagne growers and champagne
buyers all over the world provided ex-
perience that was useful to him later.
Some years after his marriage he
acquired his "von," mark of aristocratic
origin, when an unmarried aunt, of
another branch of the Ribbentrop FAM
lly, formally adopted him as her heir.
Equipped with lucrative position,
rich wife and patent of aristocracy.
Rlbbentrop was prepared to go places.
Heaven-Sent Opportunity.
He must have realized that the
elaborate hierarchy of the old German
order would inevitably make his progress
hopelessly slow. For Ribbentrop the
advent Of Hitler was heaven-sent op-
portunity. as it was to so many younger
men in the chaotic postwar years.
At the very outset Ribbentrop is re-
ported to have done Hitler an in
estlmable service. He was to establish
haison between the Nazis and the re-
spectacle leaders of German life who felt
that perhaps they could make an ad-
vantageous deal with this new insurgent
movement that seemed to have captured
popular imagination. Because of the
successes of recent years, we tend to
forget the extent to which Hitlerism was
outside the pale of respectability in the
Germany Of 1881 and 1882. These wild
men were either scoundrels or fools
whom one did not take too seriously if
one happened to occupy a secure posi-
tion>
Ribbentrop knew the wealthy in
dustrialists. They had watched Hitler,s
rise and they wanted to have a little
stake in his future. Hitler needed money.
Ribbentrop was the go-between.
Later he was to perform an even
more vital service. He was friend of
Franz Won Papen at the desperate time
In 1882 when this intriguing diplomat
politician was also seeking to make a
deal. Feeling that his former ally, Gen.
Won Schleicher, was through, Won Papen
had decided to convince Hitler of the
wisdom Of coming into power in a coali-
ton government. It was Ribbentrop
who brought the two men together in
the home of banker friend in Cologne.
Hitler had suffered political reverses.
He listened to Won Papen's proposition
and finally he agreed. Once in the gov
ernment, 1t was comparatively simple
matter to take power. In little more
than year Der Fuehrer had liquidated
Won Papens friends and allies, but Won
Papen himself survived.
In his biography Ribbentrop covers
his part in this deal with the modest
reference: Helped at negotiations to
form Hitlers government" And he
adds: "Chancellor's principal collabora-
tor in questions of foreign policy,
1928" After 1888 Ribbentrop pre-
sided over kind of second foreign office.
Really important foreign questions he
took up personally with Hitler, acting
quite independently of the then foreign
minister, Baron Constantin Won Neurath,
whom old Hindenburg had put into the
cabinet.
Headed Naval Delegation.
His first important assignment from
Hitler was to head the German naval
delegation to Great Britain in 1885. Out
of that came his first great success-the
Anglo German naval agreement. Legal
izing the construction of German navy
one-third the size of the British Navy,
this treaty came as q distinct shock to
Britain's ally, France. Actually without
consulting the French except at the very
end, the British had granted the Nazis
naval parity with France. According to
recent news dispatches, one Of the pocket