Constantin
Freiherr von Neurath, German foreign minister
(1932-1938) and Reich Protector of Bohemia
and Moravia (1939-1941). Von Neurath entered
the foreign service in 1901. He served in
various consular posts until 1932, when he
was appointed foreign minister in Franz von
Papen's cabinet. At President Hindenburg's
insistence, von Neurath was retained in this
position under the von Schleicher government
and the Hitler regime. Because of his reluctance to pursue
Hitler's aggressive foreign poilcy, von Neurath
was dismissed from his post in 1938. He was
named Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia
and was responsible for dissolving the Czech
parliament and political parties, abolishing
freedom of the press, and instituting the Nuremberg
Race Laws. In 1941 von Neurath was replaced
by Reinhard
Heydrich and made an SS general (Obergruppenfuehrer). At Nuremberg,
he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He
was released in 1954 due to ill health and
died in 1956.
