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Konstantin von Neurath
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 1932 – 1938
Preceded by	Heinrich Brüning
Succeeded by	Joachim von Ribbentrop
Protector of Bohemia-Moravia
In office 21 March 1939 – 24 August 1943
Preceded by	Johannes Blaskowitz
Succeeded by	Reinhard Heydrich
Born	2 February 1873(1873-02-02)
Died	14 August 1956 (aged 83)

Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath (February 2, 1873 – August 14, 1956) was a German diplomat, Foreign Minister of Germany (1932-1938) and Reichsprotektor (Governor) of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (1939-1941). Neurath remained titular Protector until 1943.

He was born in Vaihingen an der Enz, Württemberg, the son of minor Swabian nobility. He studied law in Tübingen and in Berlin. After graduating in 1892 he joined a local law firm in his home town. He joined the civil service in 1901 and worked for the Foreign Office in Berlin. In 1903 he was assigned to the embassy in London as Vice-Consul and from 1909 he was Legationsrat (legation counsel) at the embassy. In 1914 he was sent to the embassy in Constantinople.

On May 30, 1901 he married Marie Auguste Moser von Filseck (1875-1960) in Stuttgart, a son Konstantin was born in 1902 followed by a daughter Winifred in 1904.

During WW I he served as an officer with an infantry regiment until 1916 when he was badly wounded. In December 1914 he was awarded the Iron Cross. He returned to the diplomatic service in Turkey. Towards the end of the war he headed the Württemberg government.

In 1919, von Neurath returned to diplomacy, being assigned to the embassy in Copenhagen as Minister to Denmark. From 1921 until 1930 he was the ambassador to Rome; he was not overly impressed with Italian fascism. He was considered for a post in the new cabinet by Paul von Hindenburg in 1929. In 1930 he returned to head the embassy in London.

Von Neurath was recalled to Germany in 1932 and became Minister of Foreign Affairs under Franz von Papen in June. He continued to hold that position under Kurt von Schleicher and then under Adolf Hitler. He was involved in the German withdrawal from the League of Nations in 1933, the negotiations of the Anglo-German Naval Accord (1935) and the re-occupation of the Rhineland. Von Neurath joined the NSDAP in 1937 and in September of that year he was awarded a honorary rank of Obergruppenführer in the SS.

On February 4, 1938, von Neurath resigned as minister; he felt his office was marginalised and was not in favor of Hitler's aggressive war plans, which were detailed in the Hossbach Memorandum (1937). He was succeeded by Joachim von Ribbentrop, but he remained in government as a minister without portfolio.

In March 1939, von Neurath was appointed Protector (Reichsprotektor) of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (Reichsprotektorat Böhmen und Mähren). He instituted German laws controlling the press and abolished political parties and trade unions, ordered a harsh crack-down on protesting students in October and November 1939, but he was regarded as insufficiently rigorous in controlling Czech resistance. In September 1941 he was relieved of his day-to-day powers and replaced by Reinhard Heydrich. Von Neurath attempted to resign in 1941 but his resignation was not accepted until August 1943.

He was tried at Nuremberg in 1946, where he was defended by Otto von Ludinghausen. The Allies accused him of "conspiracy to commit crimes against peace; planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression; war-crimes and crimes against humanity". He was found guilty by the Allied powers on all four counts and was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment. He was held as a war criminal until 1953, when he was released due to ill health, having suffered a heart attack. He died in Enzweihingen.

• List of rulers of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia

Note regarding personal names: Freiherr is a title, translated as Baron, not a first or middle name. The female forms are Freifrau and Freiin.

• Craig, Gordon "The German Foreign Office from Neurath to Ribbentrop" pages 406-436 from The Diplomats 1919-39 edited by Gordon A. Craig and Felix Gilbert, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953.
• Heineman, John Louis Hitler’s First Foreign Minister : Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath, Diplomat and Statesman, Berkeley : University of California Press, 1979 ISBN 0520034422.

v • d • e The Hitler Cabinet – 30 January 1933 to 30 April 1945

Adolf Hitler (Chancellor & Führer, NSDAP) | Franz von Papen (independent) | Konstantin von Neurath (independent → NSDAP) | Joachim von Ribbentrop (NSDAP) | Wilhelm Frick (NSDAP) | Heinrich Himmler (NSDAP) | Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk (independent) | Alfred Hugenberg (DNVP) | Kurt Schmitt (NSDAP) | Hjalmar Schacht (independent) | Hermann Göring (NSDAP) | Walther Funk (NSDAP) | Franz Seldte (DVP → NSDAP) | Franz Gürtner (DNVP) | Franz Schlegelberger (NSDAP) | Otto Georg Thierack (NSDAP) | Werner von Blomberg (independent) | General Keitel (independent) | Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach (independent) | Julius Heinrich Dorpmüller (NSDAP) | Wilhelm Ohnesorge (NSDAP) | Richard Walther Darré (NSDAP) | Herbert Backe (NSDAP) | Joseph Goebbels (NSDAP) | Bernhard Rust (NSDAP) | Fritz Todt (NSDAP) | Albert Speer (NSDAP) | Alfred Rosenberg (NSDAP) | Hanns Kerrl (NSDAP) | Hermann Muhs (NSDAP) | Otto Meißner (independent) | Hans Lammers (NSDAP) | Martin Bormann (NSDAP) | Karl Hermann Frank (NSDAP) | Rudolf Hess (NSDAP) | Ernst Röhm (NSDAP)