RIBBENTROP JOACHIM VON: (1893-1946) The Archbishop of Canterbury is summoned to the Nuremberg Trials

RIBBENTROP JOACHIM VON: (1893-1946) The Archbishop of Canterbury is summoned to the Nuremberg Trials

RIBBENTROP JOACHIM VON: (1893-1946) German Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs 1938-45. Arrested in June 1945, Ribbentrop was tried at the Nuremberg Trials and found guilty on all four indictments, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, convicted for his role in starting World War II and enabling the Holocaust. On 16th October 1946 he became the first of those sentenced to death to be hanged. Rare D.S., J v Ribbentrop, in pencil, two pages, folio, n.p. (Nuremberg), 25th January 1946, in German. The mimeograph document, completed in typescript, is an official International Military Tribunal application form for a Defendant's Application for Summons for Witness, addressed to the General Secretary, and requesting that William Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, is summoned by the Tribunal to give evidence on Ribbentrop's behalf as the politician 'repeatedly told to the witness that the establishment of friendly relations between Germany and England was absolutely necessary', continuing to explain that, as the Archbishop was a member of the high English Clergy, he had ‘the possibility to spread and promote in church circles the idea of the necessity to establish such relations in order to secure peace for the peoples'. Signed by Ribbentrop at the conclusion of the first page and countersigned by Dr. Martin Horn, the defendant's counsel. Accompanied by an original unsigned English translation of the document. A document of extraordinary content. Both of the documents have been professionally restored, causing some very minor defects, the second page of the German text document silked, resulting in slightly less bold (although perfectly legible) text. File holes and small tears to the upper edges, not affecting the text or signatures, G, 2

William Cosmo Lang (1864-1945) Archbishop of Canterbury 1928-42. The Scottish Anglican Prelate, a strong supporter of appeasement, had in fact died suddenly on 5th December 1945, apparently unbeknown to Ribbentrop, who signed the present document over a month later.

Provenance: The present document originates from the personal archives of Hans Werner, who in 1945, as the Director of Printing at the International Military Tribunal, was responsible for overseeing the printing of the Record of the Trial of Major War Criminals for the Nuremberg Trials. Published in 42 volumes in three different languages (English, French & German), the record of the trials was finally distributed in November 1949. Werner was the last member of over 100 editors and translators to stay with the IMT before finally returning the United States.

The present documents were professionally restored in the early 1980s, the work being carried out under the supervision of the India Office in London.