Ribbentrop

Of all the bizarre individuals projected into high office by Hitler's revolution, none was more improbable than Joachim von Ribbentrop. A successful middle-class businessman with Jewish friends, a romantic conservative who dreamt of restoring Germany's fallen monarchy and colonial empire, Ribbentrop joined the Nazis on the eve of their taking power. In spite of the hostility from both traditionalists and old guard Nazis, he began the spectacular rise which led to his becoming Hitler's Foreign Minister in 1938, a post he held until the end of the Third Reich.