Embassy of Germany, London

History

| use_new_UK-LEG = | UK-LEG_title = From 1842, Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen leased 4 Carlton House Terrace for the Prussian Legation. In March 1849, the legation moved along the terrace to the larger 9 Carlton House Terrace, which was renamed 'Prussia House'. Its purchase was authorised by the Prussian Legation Act 1850 (13 & 14 Vict. c. 3): this was necessary as before the passing of the Naturalization Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 14), only British subjects could legally own property in England.

Count Bernstorff replaced Baron von Bunsen in 1855, becoming the German Ambassador from 1867.

During the First World War, the building was occupied by the American Embassy (as protecting power) between 1916 and 1917, and then the Swiss Legation from 1918 to 1920. In 1921 the German Embassy resumed occupation.

During Hans Wesemann's 1936 trial over the kidnapping of pacifist writer Berthold Jacob from Basel, Switzerland, Wesemann admitted that the German Embassy in London had been used as a base for the activities of the Gestapo, the Nazi secret State police. In 1937, Ambassador Joachim von Ribbentrop hosted 1,000 people, including Prince George, Duke of Kent and his wife, Maria, Duchess of Kent, at the reopening of the Embassy at Carlton House Terrace which had undergone a £100,000 renovation. In September 1939, the German Embassy burned its files following the onset of World War II.

Post World War II

Throughout the war, the closed embassy remained intact under diplomatic conventions. But after World War II, with Germany itself occupied and German government properties taken up by the occupiers, Prussia House was requisitioned as enemy property, furniture and the works of art were sold in separate auctions. The British fascist Robert Gordon-Canning attracted public attention when at one of these auctions he purchased a large marble bust of Hitler for £500 (equivalent to £ today).

The Federal Republic of Germany moved its consulate and diplomatic operations to Belgrave Square, still operating as a consulate general. The consulate became a fully functional embassy in June 1951, the FRG leasing the building for 99 years in 1953. In the 1960s, the West German Embassy was the site of Jewish War veterans who were protesting signs in Germany of a revival of anti-Semitism.

In the 1970s, office space in the embassy was tight so an extension was erected at Chesham Place, inaugurated in 1978. It won the Westminster City Council prize for architecture.

In 1990, after German reunification, the East German embassy building at 34 Belgrave Square became part of the German embassy.

List of German ambassadors to the United Kingdom

Main article: List of ambassadors of Germany to the United Kingdom

Gallery

File:Plaque of German foreign missions.svg|Coat of Arms of German Foreign Missions File:Embassy of Germany in London 2.jpg|The embassy seen from Chesham Place File:German Embassy London.jpg|The Residence at Belgrave Square File:DtBotschaftGB.jpg|The Chancery around the corner on Chesham Place

References

References

1. (14 December 2013). "The London Diplomatic List".
2. (1940). "Survey of London". London County Council.
3. (6 May 1936). "NAZI AGENT ADMITS KIDNAPPING WRITER; Says in Basle That the German Embassy in London Was Base of Nazi Secret Police.". [[The New York Times]].
4. (15 May 1937). "RIBBENTROP IS HOST TO 1,000 AT EMBASSY; German Envoy Reopens London Edifice--Duke and Duchess of Kent Among Guests". [[The New York Times]].
5. (2 September 1939). "German Embassy Burns Files". [[The New York Times]].
6. (7 December 1945). "Hitler Head for £500". [[The Courier-Mail]].
7. (18 January 1960). "BRITONS PROTEST ANTI-SEMITIC ACTS; Jewish War Veterans Lead London Throng in March on Bonn's Embassy". [[The New York Times]].