Hans Thomsen

Hans Thomsen trained in law and entered Germany’s foreign service in 1919. After consular assignments in Milan and Naples, he advanced through the Foreign Office. He led the embassy in Washington as chargé d’affaires after Hans Heinrich Dieckhoff’s recall in November 1938 and remained until Germany declared war on the United States in December 1941. ¹

While leading the Washington mission, Thomsen sought to strengthen American opposition to entering the war. In a June 1940 cable later captured and published by the Allies, he proposed financing a visit by isolationist Republican congressmen to their party convention and contributing to newspaper advertisements against intervention. His request put the costs at $3,000 for the convention delegation and $60,000 to $80,000 for the advertising campaign, part of which he expected American supporters to fund. ²

When the cables were released in 1956, an Associated Press report linked the advertisements to a committee chaired by Congressman Hamilton Fish. Fish denied receiving German money. ²

Thomsen later headed Germany’s mission in Stockholm. After the war he was interrogated but not charged, and subsequently worked with the Red Cross in Hamburg. ¹