Friedrich Wilhelm von Prittwitz und Gaffron

Friedrich Wilhelm von Prittwitz und Gaffron (1 September 1884 – 1 September 1955) was a German Ambassador to the United States under the Weimar Republic, from 1928 until 14 April 1933. He was in office at the time that Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, and resigned from the diplomatic corps in protest the day after Hitler was appointed Chancellor. He had hosted German Jewish playwright Lion Feuchtwanger at a dinner that day. On the day of his resignation, Prittwitz called Feuchtwanger and recommended that he not return to Germany. In 1945 he was a founding member of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, and he served as a member of the Parliament of Bavaria from 1946 to 1954.

Early life Prittwitz was born on 1 September 1884 in Stuttgart, Württemberg into an old Silesian noble family von Prittwitz and was the son of the Royal Prussian Colonel Arwed von Prittwitz und Gaffron and Sarah née Baroness Schott von Schottenstein. His younger brother was . The German General Heinrich von Prittwitz und Gaffron was a cousin.

He studied law at the University of Bonn and Berlin and became a member of the Corps Borussia Bonn in 1903. In 1907 he received his doctorate from the Law Faculty of the University of Leipzig. von Prittwitz, who was only 43 years old, was appointed German ambassador to the United States by Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann, in spite of concerns by President Paul von Hindenburg and conservative faction in the Reichstag. An ally of the American Democrats, he rejected the divisions of pre-war period and presented himself as a representative of the German people to the American people, advocating that diplomacy should serve world peace. He promoted economic ties, but he placed particular emphasis on the cultural ties between the two countries. He was often a guest of Adolph Ochs, the owner of the New York Times. He also referred to the Revolution of 1848 as a link between Germany and the United States, as it was not only the birth of democracy in Germany, but also led to many German Democrats emigrating to the United States.

On 15 April 1933, Prittwitz resigned as ambassador to Washington in protest the day after Hitler was appointed Chancellor, handing over duties to the former Reich Chancellor and Finance Minister Hans Luther. Upon his return to Germany (aboard the Europa), he met with Hitler before retiring from the diplomatic service on 18 July 1933.

Prittwitz died on 1 September 1955 in Tutzing, Starnberg, Bavaria.

Honours Honorary doctorate, Columbia University