My Father Joachim von ribbentrop

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH FOR THE FIRST TIME, THIS MEMOIR PROVIDES A UNIQUE INSIGHT INTO ONE OF THE KEY FIGURES IN THE BUILD UP TO WWII “MY FATHER JOACHIM VON RIBBENTROP WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN GERMAN IN 2008 BUT WAS NOT PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH UNTIL 2019”

Author: Rudolf Von Ribbentrop Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Price: £30 Released Out Now

Perhaps most infamously remembered for his negotiations of the Pact of Steel with Italy and the Molotov-ribbentrop Pact with the Soviet Union, Joachim von Ribbentrop served as Adolf Hitler’s foreign minister from 1938 to 1945. He became a close confident of the Fuhrer, fatefully advising him that Britain could not aid Poland in the event of an invasion. Yet despite his early success, Ribbentrop’s importance declined following the outbreak of war. Nevertheless, he was arrested by the Allies in June 1945 and hanged just over a year later. My Father Joachim von Ribbentrop was originally published in German in 2008 but was not published in English until 2019. The author, Rudolf von Ribbentrop, Joachim’s son, was an officer in the Waffen-ss, who saw service in Finland and on the Eastern Front, taking part in the retreat from Kharkov and the Battle of Prokhorovka. Later, Rudolf fought in France with the 12th Ss-panzer Division Hitlerjugend before his capture by the Americans. He died in May 2019. The book acts as Rudolf’s memoirs of his relationship with his father before and during the war. It claims to offer the reader an objective look at Joachim’s role in the lead up to the invasion of Poland and the subsequent attack on the Soviet Union. Given the author’s relationship to Joachim and his membership of the SS, some readers may be put off reading this book. However, for those serious about the study of the political workings of the Third Reich, it will nevertheless prove a useful and interesting text.