operation he designed to bring Ireland into a wartime alliance with
Germany—Operation seeadler—never received permission to
proceed, as his superiors did not want to jeopardize Ireland’s de-
clared neutrality.
Far more significant was Veesenmayer’s activity in the Balkans.
Prior to the German attack on Yugoslavia, he had been dispatched to
Zagreb to support the aspirations of an independent Croatian state,
which, under his guidance, became a member of the Triple Alliance
in May 1941. Not only were Hitler and Ribbentrop pleased with the
outcome of his mission, but he received the highest award of the
Croatian government. Regarded by the Foreign Ministry as an expert
on Southeast Europe, Veesenmayer was sent to occupied Serbia as a
political advisor. Among his recommendations to quell the partisan
warfare was the removal of all male Serbian Jews from the coun-
try. Shortly after his return to Berlin in late 1941, his promotion to
SS-Oberführer (colonel) became official.
Veesenmayer’s most notorious activity took place from March
1944 to the end of the war, when he acted as the German envoy and
plenipotentiary in occupied Hungary. Despite his initial success in
helping to forge a friendly government under Döme Sztójay, the
competition between the SS and the Foreign Ministry increasingly
restricted his sphere of action. Ultimately he had to abandon his plans
for greater Hungarian autonomy in conjunction with Miklós Horthy
and submit to the harsh demands of the SS. That meant specifically
expediting the deportation of Hungarian Jews.
Fearful of falling into Soviet captivity with the advance of the
Red Army into Hungary, Veesenmayer surrendered to American
forces outside Salzburg, Austria, in May 1945. After having to re-
turn to Hungary for a lengthy interrogation, he eventually faced an
American court in Nuremberg at the Wilhelmstrasse Trials, which
dealt with officials of the Foreign Ministry. On 2 April 1949, he was
sentenced to 20 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against
humanity. A review resulted in his release from Landsberg (Bavaria)
two years later. Following a short period of employment in Iran,
Veesenmayer returned to a commercial position in Darmstadt. He
died there on 24 December 1977. No memoirs ever appeared, as he
steadfastly maintained that his role in the Third Reich had been vastly
overestimated.
VEESENMAYER, EDMUND • 471