Ribbentrop: A Biography

Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler's foreign minister, played a prominent but by no means essential role in the formation of the Rome-Berlin Axis and the 1939 Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact, we're reminded here. Additionally, he took part in planning the attack on Poland that set off WW II. Bloch also introduces new material about Ribbentrop's role in Hitler's 1933 ascension to power, his tenure as German ambassador in London (alienating much of the British populace with his arrogance), his participation in anti-Jewish policies as foreign minister and his harebrained scheme to kidnap the Duke of Windsor. This involving, revealing biography of Hitler's yes-man makes clear that Ribbentrop was wanting in character and ideas and that his pompous manner made him an international buffoon. Still unanswered is the question of why Hitler retained him in such an important post. Ribbentrop was convicted at Nuremberg and hanged as a war criminal in 1946. Bloch is the author of The Secret File of the Duke of Windsor. (June)