{"record":{"aliases":[],"appointmentIds":["germany-b2bc4d323acd9a"],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/germany-hans-heinrich-dieckhoff-6394f9bd2c/","countrySlug":"germany","entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/germany-hans-heinrich-dieckhoff-6394f9bd2c/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Hans Heinrich Dieckhoff entered the German Foreign Office in 1912 and became ambassador in Washington in 1937. He remained in diplomatic service throughout the Nazi period. Historian Sylvia Taschka describes a diplomat who had rejected Nazi ideology before 1933 but whose subsequent cooperation helped sustain the regime.","In February 1938, Dieckhoff informed Secretary of State Cordell Hull that Berlin would prohibit German citizens in the United States from joining organizations that interfered in American domestic affairs, including the German American Bund. Hull welcomed the announcement after repeated American complaints and agreed that Dieckhoff should handle its publicity.","By July, Dieckhoff acknowledged to Hull that relations had deteriorated despite his stated ambition to improve them. Hull responded by condemning militarism, territorial aggression, and Germany’s treatment of minorities and warning that such policies would bring a wider war.","Dieckhoff warned Berlin about Franklin Roosevelt’s hostility to Nazi Germany and the risks of confrontation with the United States. Germany recalled him in November 1938, after Washington had recalled its ambassador following the November pogroms. He later represented Nazi Germany in Spain. After the war, he was questioned and testified in the Nuremberg proceedings, but was not formally charged."],"id":"germany:germany-hans-heinrich-dieckhoff","identifiers":{},"legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-6394f9bd2cd9d31a4fc5.html","name":"Hans-Heinrich Dieckhoff","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["dieckhoff-taschka"],["dieckhoff-bund","dieckhoff-bund-background"],["dieckhoff-hull-july"],["dieckhoff-taschka","dieckhoff-bio"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-6394f9bd2cd9d31a4fc5.html","relatedEvents":[],"relatedPeople":[],"relationships":[],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-10-28","revision":"81f1f1c18ba5d1f0","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"2006","id":"dieckhoff-taschka","locator":"Publisher’s abstract","publisher":"Franz Steiner Verlag","title":"Sylvia Taschka, Diplomat ohne Eigenschaften? Die Karriere des Hans-Heinrich Dieckhoff (1884–1952)","type":"scholarship","url":"https://www.steiner-verlag.de/en/Diplomat-ohne-Eigenschaften/9783515086493"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"dieckhoff-bio","locator":"Biography","publisher":"Wikipedia","title":"Hans-Heinrich Dieckhoff","type":"reference","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Heinrich_Dieckhoff"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1938-02-28","id":"dieckhoff-bund","locator":"FRUS 1938, volume II, document372","publisher":"U.S. Department of State","title":"Hull memorandum of conversation, 28 February 1938","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1938v02/d372"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1938-02-28","id":"dieckhoff-bund-background","locator":"FRUS 1938, volume II, document371","publisher":"U.S. Department of State","title":"Gilbert to the Secretary of State, 28 February 1938","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1938v02/d371"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1938-07-07","id":"dieckhoff-hull-july","locator":"Document110, pp.423–424","publisher":"U.S. Department of State, Peace and War, reproduced by ibiblio","title":"Hull memorandum of conversation with Dieckhoff, 7 July 1938","type":"primary-record","url":"https://www.ibiblio.org/pha/paw/110.html"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"Accessed 23 October 2026","id":"mission-4004483e27002a3fc55a","locator":"Secondary year level roster; exact credentials and all temporary acting appointments not fully audited.","publisher":"","title":"Incoming German ambassadors to the United States: secondary chronology","type":"Mission record","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ambassadors_of_Germany_to_the_United_States"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"Accessed 23 October 2026","id":"mission-83913b668e6ddcdcd669","locator":"","publisher":"","title":"U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian: Germany recognition and diplomatic relations","type":"Mission record","url":"https://history.state.gov/countries/germany"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"Accessed 26 October 2026","id":"mission-0e46b2db1bb9cbe937ba","locator":"","publisher":"","title":"Historical representation: Nazi Germany","type":"Mission record","url":"https://www.bpb.de/lernen/angebote/grafstat/fussball-und-nationalbewusstsein/185194/m-02-06-bundesflagge/"}],"topics":["Nazi diplomacy","United States entry into war","Spain"]},"schemaVersion":1}