Erwin Wickert

Erwin Wickert (7 January 1915 – 26 March 2008) was a German diplomat who, during the 1970s, served as the ambassador to Romania and China.

Wickert spent the year following graduation traveling the United States and Asia, before returning to Germany. During his travels, he worked odd jobs, including as a waiter in San Francisco and for a travel agency in New York City. In 1939 he completed a doctorate in philosophy at Heidelberg University.

Career

By September 1939, Wickert had joined the Nazi Party and was hired by the German foreign ministry. That year he was appointed "radio attaché" at the German consulate in Shanghai, where he was responsible for managing the German propaganda station XGRS. Towards the end of the war he was reassigned to Tokyo, Japan.

From 1947 Wickert worked as a freelance writer in Heidelberg. Upon the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1955, Wickert resumed working for the foreign ministry, holding posts in Paris, London, and a domestic assignment in Bonn. From 1971 to 1976 he served as German ambassador to Romania and, from 1976 to 1980, as ambassador to the People's Republic of China.

During his life, Wickert wrote more than a dozen fiction and non-fiction books. In 1998 he edited the diaries of John Rabe.