Foreign Minister
In the spring of 1921 the German chancellor, Joseph Wirth, appointed Rosen as Foreign Minister. On the issue of war reparations, the Centre Party's Wirth considered an anglophilic and also independent foreign minister to be advantageous. In the five months Rosen's tenure lasted, he acquired a peace treaty with the United States as a permanent result.
Rosen retired in protest against the London ultimatum, in which the Entente powers combined demands of high reparations from Germany with threats of sanctions. He considered the policy of the victorious powers as an application of double standards: On the one hand, they would proclaim the self-determination of peoples, but on the other hand showed no respect to the referendum in Upper Silesia, where a 60 percent majority voted in favour of retaining the area as a part of Germany.
Thus, Friedrich Rosen retired in October 1921 from civil service. Following the same policy, Wirth named Walther Rathenau as his successor, who was committed to similar principles.
Read more about this topic: Friedrich Rosen
Famous quotes containing the words foreign and/or minister:
“She planted corn and left the rest
to elements, convinced that God
with giant faucets regulates the rain
and saves the crops from frost or foreign wind.”
—Richard Hugo (1923–1982)
“Rosalynn said, “Jimmy, if we could only get Prime Minister Begin and President Sadat up here on this mountain for a few days, I believe they might consider how they could prevent another war between their countries.” That gave me the idea, and a few weeks later, I invited both men to join me for a series of private talks. In September 1978, they both came to Camp David.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)