Frases de Joachim von Ribbentrop

“Esto[el Pacto Tripartito] es lo más grande del mundo.”

“Ya no pedimos nada; queremos la guerra”

“Una cosa es segura: si atacamos, en dos meses la Rusia de Stalin será borrada del mapa.”

“Sé que la idea de los judíos causando la guerra y de los judíos siendo tan importantes no tiene sentido. Pero era la idea de Hitler, y… era pura fantasía. Como decía, Hitler es un misterio para mí y lo seguirá siendo siempre.”

“Habíamos recibido protestas del Vaticano. Teníamos cajones llenos de protestas del Vaticano”

“Estaba interesado, diría, únicamente en su reputación personal con Hitler. Pasaba horas y días redactando cartas de protesta sobre las interferencias de Goebbels en sus asuntos, simplemente porque estaba celoso de su prestigio. Ribbentrop tenía un deseo anormal de rango y posición. Quería influencia personal y buena reputación con Hitler. No quería que nadie estuviera más cerca de Hitler que él. En eso era diferente a Himmler, que, estoy convencido, quería el poder militar. Ribbentrop quería satisfacer su propia vanidad. Es un hombre muy superficial.”

“Es un buen tipo, pero siempre aparece como si fuera a caerse a cada minuto. A veces, lo paso mal cuando me aburre con sus comentarios al tribunal. Que hizo la voluntad del Führer y seguía instrucciones es cierto. Lo hizo, más o menos, y yo le aconsejé durante su defensa, pero no tiene habilidad para hacer fintas al fiscal. Si yo hubiera sido ministro del exterior estaría preparado para defender mis acciones, sin importar lo que me hicieran. Pero Ribbentrop es demasiado débil e indeciso.”

“Muerte, muerte. Ahora no podré escribir mis preciosas memorias.”

“Gott schützt Deutschland!”

“Desconfío de las iniciativas de Ribbentrop. Él es vanidoso, ligero, locuaz.”

“Siempre hiperbólico, Ribbentrop”

“Basta mirarle la cabeza para darse cuenta de que tiene poco cerebro.”

“Von Ribbentrop es como un hombre de madera.”

“Un ministro de asuntos exteriores que sabía un poco de asuntos exteriores y nada de política exterior.”

“Cuando las aprehensiones en el extranjero amenazaron el éxito del régimen nazi de la conquista, fue el hipócrita Ribbentrop, el vendedor del engaño, el que se dedicó a verter el vino en las turbulentas aguas de la sospecha predicando el evangelio de las intenciones limitadas y pacíficas.”

“¿Necesita un comentario sobre ese idiota? No es un ministro del exterior sino un admirador ciego de Hitler. También es, personalmente, desagradable e inútil.”

“Nunca confié mucho en las habilidades de Ribbentrop. Como ministro del exterior tenía falta de comprensión y de experiencia. Estuve en contra de Hitler cuando lo eligió. Yo quería que Neurath continuara. No era un hombre fuerte, y Hitler podía decirle qué hacer, pero lo habría hecho de manera más inteligente y más sutil que Ribbentrop.”

“I was truly under Hitler's spell, that cannot be denied. I was impressed with him from the moment I first met him, in 1932. He had terrific power, especially in his eyes. Now the tribunal accuses us of conspiracy. I say, how can one have a conspiracy in a dictatorship government? One man and one man only made all the crucial decisions. That was the Fuhrer. In all my dealings with him I never discussed the exterminations or anything of that sort. What I shall never comprehend is that six weeks before the end of the war he assured me we'd win by a nose. I left his presence then and said that from that time forth I was completely at a loss — that I didn't understand a thing. Hitler always, until the end, and even now, had a strange fascination over me. Would you call it abnormal of me? Sometimes, in his presence, when he spoke of all his plans, the good things he would do for the Volk, vacations, highways, new buildings, cultural advantages and so forth, tears would come to my eyes. Would that be because I'm a hysterical weak man?”

“Death, death. Now I won't be able to write my beautiful memoirs.”

“I know for a fact that this idea of the Jews causing the war and the Jews being so all important is nonsense. But that was Hitler's idea, and…was pure fantasy. As I say, Hitler is a riddle to me and will always remain so.”

“I think the only way one can arrive at an understanding of his anti-Semitism growing all the time is because in America your Mr. Roosevelt had his brain trust which was made up of so many Jews, Felix Frankfurter, Claude Pepper - was it Pepper? I can't recall the other names. Oh yes, Morgenthau. It made Hitler feel more and more that an international conspiracy had caused the war, with the Jews behind it.”

“I rather liked Stalin and Molotov, got along fine with them.”

“I don't mean that it is important whether a few of us like Goering, myself, or the others are sentenced to death or hard labor or whatever, but to the German people we will always remain their leaders, right or wrong, and in a few years even you Americans and the rest of the world will see this trial as a mistake. The German people will learn to hate the Americans, distrust the British and French, and unfortunately, perhaps be taken in by the Russians. That will be the worst calamity of all. I hate to think of Moscow ruling Germany or Germany becoming a territorial possession of the Soviet Union. The Allies should take the attitude, now that the war is over, that mistakes have been made on both sides, that those of us here on trial are German patriots, and that though we may have been misled and gone too far with Hitler, we did it in good faith and as German citizens. Furthermore, the German people will always regard our condemnation by a foreign court as unjust and will consider us martyrs.”

“Last words: God protect Germany!”

“Need one comment on that fool? He is not a foreign minister but a blind adherent of Hitler. He is also personally disagreeable and vain.”

“That man always made it a point to speak German, although he spoke English well enough. That was because he imitated Hitler to the last degree. He would say that his reason for speaking German instead of English during conferences with English-speaking representatives was that he wanted to concentrate on the subject in hand, and not on the language. Ribbentrop was a complete imitator of Hitler - even to the design of his cap. Originally he had a nice cap, but then he imitated the stationmaster type of cap preferred by Hitler.”

“When apprehensions abroad threatened the success of the Nazi regime for conquest, it was the duplicitous Ribbentrop, the salesman of deception, who was detailed to pour wine on the troubled waters of suspicion by preaching the gospel of limited and peaceful intentions.”

“A foreign minister who knew little of foreign affairs and nothing of foreign policy.”

“God protect Germany. God have mercy on my soul. My final wish is that Germany should recover her unity and that, for the sake of peace, there should be an understanding between East and West. I wish peace to the world.”