Talk:Hermann Kriebel

Strange Claim

The article claims..."he maintained his ties with the Nazi party and the Oberland League but did not benefit from Hitler's rise to power. He became the German Consul General in Shanghai." What, becoming consul general is not a "benefit"? Dr. Dan (talk) 04:41, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

Agreed! This article does not mention this, but after 1923, Kriebel worked as an arms dealer in China, selling weapons to various Chinese warlords plus the Kuomintang government. There was much fighting in China at the time, and the demand for arms was incredible-it helps to know that China did not have much of its own arms industry at the time, requiring that arms be imported. By 1933, he was engrossed in his arms dealing business, which had made him a rich man in Shanghai. When China declared war on Germany in 1917, they took the opportunity to end the extraterritorial rights enjoyed by German citizens gained in what the Chinese call the "unequal treaties" of the 19th century. Thus, in the interwar period, American citizens, British citizens, and French citizens all did not have to worry about being arrested by the Chinese police in Shanghai, but German citizens did. He had asked Hitler to made him consul-general in Shanghai to give him diplomatic immunity (arms dealing can be a tricky business and having diplomatic immunity is useful in that line of work). That request was granted, and he was duly made consul-general, which would indeed count as a benefit. --A.S. Brown (talk) 04:01, 24 May 2021 (UTC)