Arndt Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven couldn’t have had a worse start as Germany’s ambassador to Poland. Germany’s fraught historical legacy with the country – six million Poles killed in the Second World War and Prussia’s role in wiping Poland off the map from 1795 to 1918 – inspired Freytag von Loringhoven in his final posting to push hard to improve ties with Warsaw. But the Polish government saw things differently.
His approval as ambassador – a role he finally took up in 2020 – was delayed by members of Poland’s then ruling PiS party, who campaigned against him using Nazi slurs. They targeted him because his father, Bernd, was a junior officer in Hitler’s bunker during the final months of the Second World War. Ignored by PiS was that Freytag von Loringhoven’s uncle, Wessel, obtained the explosives used in the attempt to kill Hitler on 20 July 1944, and, after the plot’s failure, committed suicide.
They targeted him because his father, Bernd, was a junior officer in Hitler’s bunker
Posters went up in Warsaw with the ambassador’s picture next to those of Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring.
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