Julius von Zech-Burkersroda (; 1885–1946) was the German ambassador to

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

at the start of World War II. He was the son in law of Theobald Bethman-Hollweg who died in 1921. Zech-Burkersroda studied law at universities in Germany,Graf von Zech-Burkersroda
, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Amsterdam, retrieved 17 January 2011 and was commissioned as an officer in the cavalry. After twenty years' service in the diplomatic corps, he was appointed minister to The Hague in 1928 during the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

. He remained at The Hague for the next decade, during which

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

gained power in Germany. In February 1940, Zech-Burkersroda claimed that the

Duke of Windsor Duke of Windsor was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 8 March 1937 for the former monarch Edward VIII, following his Abdication of Edward VIII, abdication on 11 December 1936. The Duchy, dukedom takes its name from ...

had leaked the Allied war plans for the defence of Belgium, which the Duke later denied. In May 1940, Zech-Burkersroda was given the responsibility of passing the German declaration of war against the Netherlands to Dutch foreign minister

Eelco van Kleffens Eelco Nicolaas van Kleffens (17 November 1894 – 17 June 1983) was a Dutch politician and diplomat. Biography Eelco van Kleffens descended from an old Frisian family of public servants. He was the son of Henricus Cato and Jeannette Frésine ...

.van Kleffens, Eelco (1941) ''Juggernaut over Holland: the Dutch foreign minister's personal story of the invasion of the Netherlands'', Columbia University Press According to Van Kleffens, Zech-Burkersroda was stunned speechless by the actions of the Nazis. On 7 June 1940, he retired from the diplomatic service, shortly after the Netherlands fell to the Nazis. Five years later, after the defeat of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, he was arrested by the Soviet occupation forces, and died shortly thereafter in

Bautzen Bautzen () or Budyšin (), until 1868 ''Budissin'' in German, is a town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the Bautzen (district), district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree (river), Spree river, is the eighth most ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zech-Burkersroda, Julius Von Ambassadors of Germany to the Netherlands 1885 births 1946 deaths