Editing Joachim von Ribbentrop (section)

====Dienststelle Ribbentrop====
In August 1934, Ribbentrop founded an organization linked to the Nazi Party called the ''Büro Ribbentrop'' (later renamed the ''Dienststelle Ribbentrop''). It functioned as an alternative foreign ministry.<ref>Bloch, pp. 59–61.</ref> The ''Dienststelle Ribbentrop'', which had its offices directly across from the Foreign Office's building on the Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin, had in its membership a collection of [[Hitler Youth|''Hitlerjugend'']] alumni, dissatisfied businessmen, former reporters, and ambitious [[Nazi Party]] members, all of whom tried to conduct a foreign policy independent of and often contrary to the official Foreign Office.<ref name="craig 422"/> The Dienststelle served as an informal tool for the implementation of the foreign policy of Hitler, consciously bypassing the traditional foreign policy institutions and diplomatic channels of the German Foreign Office. However, the Dienststelle also competed with other Nazi party units active in the area of foreign policy, such as the foreign organization of the Nazis ([[NSDAP/AO]]) led by [[Ernst Wilhelm Bohle|Ernst Bohle]] and [[NSDAP Office of Foreign Affairs|Nazi Party office of foreign affairs]] (APA) led by [[Alfred Rosenberg]].<ref>Tammo Luther: ''Volkstumspolitik des Deutschen Reiches 1933–1938: die Auslandsdeutschen im Spannungsfeld zwischen Traditionalisten und Nationalsozialisten''. Franz Steiner Verlag, 2004, {{ISBN|3-515-08535-1}}. Diagramm "Versuche zur Zentralisierung der Volkstumspolitik (Volksdeutscher Rat) / Stufe&nbsp;II (15. Oktober 1934)", Organigramm Stab Rudolf Heß/Bormann↔Hitler↔Auswärtiges Amt, p.&nbsp;113.</ref> With the appointment of Ribbentrop to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in February 1938, the Dienststelle itself lost its importance, and about a third of the staff of the office followed Ribbentrop to the Foreign Office.

Ribbentrop engaged in diplomacy on his own, such as when he visited France and met Foreign Minister [[Louis Barthou]].<ref name="Bloch, Ribbentrop, p. 52">Bloch, p. 52.</ref> During their meeting, Ribbentrop suggested for Barthou to meet Hitler at once to sign a Franco-German non-aggression pact.<ref name="Bloch, Ribbentrop, p. 52"/> Ribbentrop wanted to buy time to complete German rearmament by removing preventive war as a French policy option. The Barthou-Ribbentrop meeting infuriated [[Konstantin von Neurath]], since the Foreign Office had not been informed.<ref>Bloch, pp. 52–53.</ref>

Although the ''Dienststelle Ribbentrop'' was concerned with German relations in every part of the world, it emphasised [[Anglo-German relations]], as Ribbentrop knew that Hitler favoured an alliance with Britain.<ref name="craig 422"/> As such, Ribbentrop greatly worked during his early diplomatic career to realize Hitler's dream of an anti-Soviet Anglo-German alliance. Ribbentrop made frequent trips to Britain, and upon his return he always reported to Hitler that most British people longed for an alliance with Germany.<ref name="craig 422"/> In November 1934, Ribbentrop met [[George Bernard Shaw]], Sir [[Austen Chamberlain]], [[Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood|Lord Cecil]] and [[Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian|Lord Lothian]].<ref>Craig, p. 423.</ref> On the basis of Lord Lothian's praise for the natural friendship between Germany and Britain, Ribbentrop informed Hitler that all elements of British society wished for closer ties with Germany. His report delighted Hitler, causing him to remark that Ribbentrop was the only person who told him "the truth about the world abroad".<ref name="craig 425"/> Because the Foreign Office's diplomats were not so sunny in their appraisal of the prospects for an alliance, Ribbentrop's influence with Hitler increased.<ref name="craig 425">Craig, p. 425.</ref> Ribbentrop's personality, with his disdain for diplomatic niceties, meshed with what Hitler felt should be the relentless dynamism of a revolutionary regime.<ref name="craig 425"/>