Paul Wolff Metternich
{{Short description|German diplomat (1853–1934)}}{{Infobox person
| name = Paul Wolff Metternich
| image = Paul Wolff Metternich.jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1853|12|5}}
| birth_place = Bonn
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1934|11|29|1853|12|5}}
| death_place = Heppingen
}}
Paul Anton Marie Hubert Graf Wolff Metternich zur Grach (December 5, 1853 – November 29, 1934) was a Prussian and German ambassador in London (1901–1912) and Constantinople (1915–1916). He was a prominent German opponent of Ottoman actions during the Armenian genocide.
Diplomatic career
{{expand section|date=January 2013}}
Count Metternich began his career in the diplomatic service in 1882. He held early diplomatic postings in London, Brussels and South America.
He was appointed Envoy Extraordinary from the German Empire to the Court of St. James's in September 1901 in the absence for illness of the Ambassador, Count von Hatzfeldt.{{London Gazette |issue=27360 |date=1 October 1901 |page=6395}} He was formally appointed German Ambassador in November, when Count Hatzfeldt resigned shortly before his death. King Edward VII received his credentials at Marlborough House on 2 December 1901.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Court circular |date=3 December 1901 |page=6 |issue=36628}} During his tenure, he endeavored in vain to ease the tense German-British relations caused primarily due to the naval arms race between the two countries.{{Cite news |date=1912-05-15 |title=Der Botschafter, wie er nicht sein sollte |url=https://pm20.zbw.eu/mirador/?manifestId=https://pm20.zbw.eu/iiif/folder/pe/044841/manifest.json |access-date=2025-03-28 |work=Neue Hamburger Zeitung}}
He wrote in a report to Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg on July 10, 1916, "In a realisation of their plan to resolve the Armenian Question by destroying the Armenian race, the Turkish Government is not stopped neither by our representatives, nor by the public opinion of the west".
Honours
German Honours
- {{Flagicon|Kingdom of Prussia}}: Order of the Crown, First class{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Court Circular|date=25 December 1902 |page=7 |issue=36960}}
Foreign Honours
- {{Flagicon|United Kingdom}}: Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, GCVO - 1 February 1901.{{London Gazette |issue=27283 |date=12 February 1901 |page=1058 }}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Paul Metternich (diplomat)}}
- [https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20100818233339/http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian/papazian/vienna.html "Modern Genocide: The Curse of the Nation State and Ideological Political Parties: The Armenian Case"]
- [http://www.armenocide.de/armenocide/armgende.nsf/0/9FFF537AB97410BDC1256AD700358C5D?OpenDocument Letter of Wolff Metternich to Bethmann Hollweg, Feb 17, 1916] (ger)
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070705085020/http://zeus.zeit.de/text/2005/13/Armenier "Wer am Leben blieb, wurde nackt gelassen" - Die Zeit, March 23, 2005 No 13] (ger)
- {{PM20|FID=pe/044841}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolff Metternich, Paul}}
Category:Witnesses of the Armenian genocide
Category:German expatriates in the Ottoman Empire
Category:Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Category:Ambassadors of Germany to Turkey
Category:Ambassadors of Germany to the United Kingdom
{{Germany-diplomat-stub}}
{{Armenia-genocide-stub}}