Background
Otto Abetz was born on 26 May 1903 in Schwetzingen and matriculated in Karlsruhe.
Otto Abetz was born on 26 May 1903 in Schwetzingen and matriculated in Karlsruhe.
First Ottto Abetz worked as an art teacher, but in January 1935 he entered the Foreign Service under von Ribbentrop (q.v.). His activities as NSDAF representative in Pars led to his expulsion from France in 1939, but following the German occupation (after the fall of France), Abetz returned in June 1940 and in November received accreditation as German Ambassador - a post he held for four years. As a Party activist -he held the rank of SS-Standartenführer.
Otto Abetz asuggested that all émigré, stateless Jews should be expropriated and expelled to the Free Zone. He regarded anti-semitism as an important lever in undermining the grip of the army and church in Vichy France and replacing it by a pro-German, anti-clerical, populist mass movement.