Ribbentrop, Joachim von

b. 1899; d. 1946

German politician and diplomat, born at Wesel. After serving in the First World War he became a wine salesman. He joined the National Socialist Party in 1932, becoming Hitler's plenipotentiary for foreign affairs while von Neurath was still foreign minister. He was appointed German ambassador in London, where later his intense unpopularity provoked hostile demonstrations in Downing Street (1936-37). In 1937 Ribbentrop replaced von Neurath, the substitution being indicative of the beginning of Hitler's expansionist undertakings; he signed the German-Soviet Pact of 23 August 1939. He was tried at Nuremberg and sentenced to death in 1946.

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