Otto Christian Archibald, Prince von Bismarck (25 September 1897, Schönhausen, Brandenburg – 24 December 1975) was a German politician and diplomat, and the Prince of Bismarck from 1904 to his death.
He was the elder son of Herbert von Bismarck, as well as the grandson of the famous Otto von Bismarck and elder brother of Gottfried Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen. A lawyer, he became the owner of the family estate in Schönhausen, and joined the diplomatic service in 1927, serving in Stockholm (1927–28), London (1928–37), with the Foreign Ministry in Berlin (1937–40), as Envoy to Rome (Kingdom of Italy) (1940–43), and finally as head of the Italian section of the Foreign Ministry (1943–44).
In August 1942, Bismarck was directed to request that Italy turn over Jewish refugees in Italian-occupied Croatia for deportation to the East. He disclosed that the goal was the "dispersion and elimination" of these Jews.
He was a member of the DNVP (the conservative party) in the Weimar Republic, and served as a Member of Parliament from 1924 to 1928. In 1933 he joined the Nazi Party and in 1935 he became a member of the Anglo-German Fellowship. In the 1950s he considered becoming a member of the FDP (the liberal party), which offered him a nomination for Parliament, but eventually joined the conservative CDU instead. He served as a Member of Parliament for the constituency of Herzogtum Lauenburg (Duchy of Lauenburg, his grandfather held the title Duke of Lauenburg) from 1953 to 1965, and as a member of the foreign affairs committee. He was also a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and served as its Vice President from 1959 to 1960 and from 1961 to 1966. He was also chairman of the Deutsche Parlamentarische Gesellschaft from 1957 to 1961. He received the Great Cross of Merit in 1965.
Bismarck married Ann-Mari Tengbom (1907–1999), a native of Sweden, daughter of Ivar Tengbom, on 18 April 1928, and they had six children, including the current head of the princely House of Bismarck, Ferdinand von Bismarck, and the philanthropist Gunilla von Bismarck. His grandson Carl-Eduard von Bismarck served as a Member of Parliament, representing the CDU for the constituency Herzogtum Lauenburg, from 2005 to 2007.
Famous quotes containing the words von bismarck, otto, christian, von and/or bismarck:
“Whoever speaks of Europe is wrong: it is a geographical expression.”
—Otto Von Bismarck (1815–1898)
“Some smart man once said that on the most exalted throne in the world we are seated on nothing but our own arse.”
—Wendell Mayes, U.S. screenwriter. Otto Preminger. CINCPAC II (Henry Fonda)
“I’ve almost gained my heav’nly home; My spirit loudly sings;
The holy ones behold they come, I hear the noise of wings.
O come, angel band, Come and around me stand.
O bear me away on your snowy wings, To my immortal home.”
—T. Haskell, minister and hymn-writer. Published in Christian Harmony. “Angel Band,” l. 5-8.
“When women reach the age of maturity, Mother Nature sometimes overworks their frustration to the point of irrationalism. Like the middle-aged man...who finds himself looking longingly at a girl in her early twenties.”
—Mark Hanna. Nathan Hertz. Dr. Von Loeb (Otto Waldis)
“Politics is the art of the possible.”
—Otto Von Bismarck (1815–1898)