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| Otto Christian Archibald | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince of Bismarck | |||||
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| Prince of Bismarck | |||||
| Tenure | 18 September 1904 – 24 December 1975 | ||||
| Predecessor | Herbert, Prince of Bismarck | ||||
| Successor | Ferdinand, Prince of Bismarck | ||||
| Born | (1897-09-25)25 September 1897 Schönhausen,Saxony-Anhalt,German Empire | ||||
| Died | 24 December 1975(1975-12-24) (aged 78) Friedrichsruh,Schleswig-Holstein,West Germany | ||||
| Burial | |||||
| Spouse | Ann-Mari Tengbom | ||||
| Issue | |||||
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| House | Bismarck | ||||
| Father | Herbert von Bismarck | ||||
| Mother | Countess Marguerite,Countess of Hoyos | ||||
Otto Christian Archibald von Bismarck | |
|---|---|
| Member of theBundestag | |
| In office 6 October 1953 – 17 October 1965 | |
| Styles of The Prince of Bismarck | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reference style | His Serene Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Serene Highness |
Otto Christian Archibald, Prince of Bismarck (25 September 1897 – 24 December 1975) was a German politician and diplomat, and thePrince of Bismarck from 1904 to his death (since 1919 only as a part of his name).
Bismarck was born inSchönhausen,Brandenburg. He was the eldest of the three sons ofHerbert von Bismarck, as well as the grandson of the German chancellorOtto von Bismarck and elder brother ofGerman Resistance figureGottfried Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen. Bismarck was six when his father died and he inherited his family estate inSchönhausen. A lawyer, he joined thediplomatic service in 1927, serving inStockholm (1927–28),London (1928–1937), with theForeign Ministry in Berlin (1937–1940), asEnvoy toRome (Kingdom of Italy) (1940–1943), and finally as head of the Italian section of the Foreign Ministry (1943–44).
Bismarck was a member of theDNVP (anational-conservative party) in theWeimar Republic, and served as a Member ofParliament from 1924 to 1928. He joined theNazi Party in 1933. In 1935, he became a member of theAnglo-German Fellowship which aimed to build up friendship between the United Kingdom and Germany.
Whilst stationed inRome during the Second World War, Bismarck would pass on German intelligence to the Italian Foreign Office and privately speak ill of the Nazi regime, in particularRibbentrop,Goering, andHitler.[1] "The Prince used to tell Italian Foreign Office officials much of what he knew, but, as Ciano discovered, 'he was hellishly afraid of being found out, and implored me in Heaven's name not to pass his confidential information to anyone.' He was convinced of the inevitability of Germany's defeat but did not, unfortunately, mount the big political guns which had so often enabled his grandfather to avert disaster."[2] Of Bismarck and the Nazi alliance with Italy,King Umberto II said, "The military element is strong in Germany, and even Bismarck who was truly exceptionally intelligent, had to submit to it."[3]
In 1942, Bismarck played a role in the disclosure ofNazi intelligence that allowedBalkan Jews to be saved. Jews, mostly fromCroatia, had fled to the parts ofYugoslavia which the Italian army occupied during 1941 and had since that time lived in peace under the protection of the Royal Italian Army. They had run from the unsystematic butchery of the Croatian fascists, theUstaši, but by the middle of 1942 they were threatened with the systematic extermination planned for them under the Nazi "new order" in Europe. In August 1942 the German government formally asked the Italian government to hand them over.Mussolini agreed; a handful of Italian diplomats and generals said no. By refusing the German request and disobeying an explicit order of the Duce, the conspirators set a perilous course which in the end crossed not merely the murderous ambition of Mussolini but that ofHitler,Himmler and theSS. At the start they had no conclusive evidence of what is now known as "thefinal solution", but theItalian Foreign Ministry had received a broad hint. On 18 August 1942, Prince Bismarck, called on the MarcheseLanza d'Ajeta at the Italian Foreign Ministry. Bismarck had orders to demand that the Italian government instruct its military authorities "to actuate those measures devised by the Germans and the Croatians for a transfer in mass of the Jews of Croatia to territories in the East". Prince Bismarck let slip the fact that the measures would lead to the "dispersion and elimination" of such Jews.[4] Indeed, in the original text d'Ajeta had recorded the word 'liquidation'.[5] Italy now faced the holocaust squarely. Bismarck himself had whispered the truth to the cabinet chief ofCount Ciano: the Jews were not being transferred to the east to work but to die.[6] Mussolini was perfectly prepared to grant his Nazi ally the bodies of a few thousandCroatian Jews. In his large hand he wrote"nulla osta" (no objection) across the memorandum. Mussolini apparently did not care what happened to the Jews of Croatia or refused to believe Bismarck's hint. It was that 'order' of Mussolini's that the conspirators decided to disobey.[5]
He worked as an envoy at the German Embassy at the Quirinal in Rome until August 1943. From November 1943 to November 1944, Bismarck was head of the Italy Committee in the Foreign Office in Berlin. He was then released because of his contacts with members of theresistance group, however lack of evidence and the legend of the name Bismarck saved him from personal persecution. He then continued to manage the family propertyFriedrichsruh near Hamburg.
At the end of the war Bismarck's home of Friedrichsruh became one of the headquarters of the "White Buses" operation undertaken by theSwedish Red Cross and theDanish government in the spring of 1945 to rescueconcentration camp inmates in areas under Nazi control and transport them to Sweden, a neutral country. Although the operation was initially targeted at saving citizens ofScandinavian countries, it rapidly expanded to include citizens of other countries.Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg, a Swedish nobleman and diplomat who was then vice-president of the Swedish Red Cross, negotiated the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps. Bismarck's wife Princess Ann-Marie had been a lifelong friend of Bernadotte having been classmates at school in Stockholm.[7] In spite of its clearly visible Red Cross markings on the roof, the Friedrichsruh manor house was destroyed during aRAF raid in the last days ofWorld War II, due to the (false) rumor thatHeinrich Himmler was hiding there. After the war, the premises were rebuilt at the behest of prince Otto von Bismarck.
In the 1950s Bismarck considered becoming a member of theFDP (theliberal party), which offered him a nomination for Parliament, but eventually joined theChristian-conservativeCDU instead. He served as a Member ofParliament for the constituency ofHerzogtum Lauenburg (Duchy of Lauenburg; his grandfather held the title Duke of Lauenburg) from 1953 to 1965, and as a member of the foreign affairs committee. He was also a member of theParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and served as its vice president from 1959 to 1960 and from 1961 to 1966.[8] He was also chairman of theDeutsche Parlamentarische Gesellschaft from 1957 to 1961. He received theGreat Cross of Merit in 1965. He died in West Germany.
Bismarck married Ann-Mari Tengbom (1907–1999), a native of Sweden, daughter ofIvar Tengbom, on 18 April 1928, and they had six children:
His grandsonCarl-Eduard von Bismarck served as a Member of Parliament, representing theCDU for the constituencyHerzogtum Lauenburg, from 2005 to 2007.
Otto Christian Archibald, 3rd Prince of Bismarck Cadet branch of theHouse of Bismarck Born: 25 September 1897 Died: 24 December 1975 | ||
| German nobility | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Prince of Bismarck 18 September 1904 – 11 August 1919 | Succeeded by |
| Titles in pretence | ||
| Loss of title | — TITULAR — Prince of Bismarck 11 August 1919 – 24 December 1975 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Member ofParliament 1924–1928 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member ofParliament for theDuchy of Lauenburg 1953–1965 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of theDeutsche Parlamentarische Gesellschaft 1957–1961 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | German Envoy to the Kingdom of Italy 1940–1943 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
