Albrecht von Württemberg-Urach, Fürst von Urach Graf von Württemberg

Links:

• The Peerage
• Geneall
• Johann The Younger # 1656
• Wikipedia

Albrecht's ancestors have pages on Wikipedia, and the links are included in their files to save space.

His family lost much in 1918, just as he was maturing. His career as an expressionist artist ended in 1932, with the great depression, though he painted all his life. He took a position as a photojournalist in Japan in 1934-39, then arranging press liaison at the German foreign office in 1940-43, mostly with the Italian press. He remarried in 1943 to Ute Waldschmidt; they had Peter and Manuela before divorcing in 1955. He was promoted as under-consul at the German embassy in Berne in 1944-45. In 1953-1967 he was the press and publicity chief at Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart. Had a stroke in 1967 and died in 1969.

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In 1939 he returned to Europe and was posted to Rome as the Foreign Office liaison between the German and Italian Press, and made friends with Count Ciano. His ally in the Berlin Foreign Office was Ernst von Weizsäcker, whose family had worked with Albrecht's family in the past. In 1940 he brought neutral American and Italian journalists to report on the invasion of Norway, and then in 1941 at the start of the invasion of Russia.[citation needed] Following the Tripartite Pact between Germany, Japan and Italy signed in September 1940, he was sent on a secret mission to Japan in May and June 1941 to persuade the Japanese to attack the British in Asia; ostensibly the mission was for the co-operation of the German and Japanese press services. In April 1941 Yosuke Matsuoka agreed a neutrality pact between Japan and Russia. Failed in his mission, he returned on the Trans-Siberian Railway shortly before Russia was invaded. Ciano's diary of 10 March 1942 mentions German pessimism about the war in Russia, and that Prince Alberto von Urach had visited Rome, making "bitter-sweet" comments about Japan, and hinting at the need for an Axis peace with Britain. "Urach also said that the liquidation of Russia still appears to be a very hard task". 11 March: "The Duce was indignant about Urach's declarations".

Seen in Berlin as an expert on East Asia, he spent much of 1939-43 writing about Japan's progress (see below). The 1943 booklet "The secret of Japan's strength" is his best known, selling 800,000 copies, and is of particular interest insofar as someone with a partial dislike for Japan should glorify its martial spirit. Anxious to leave Germany, which was now facing defeat, in early 1944 he succeeded in being appointed press attaché at the German Embassy in Berne, with the rank of Unterkonsul. Here he assisted a group smuggling capital out of Switzerland to the USA via "Banque Charles" in Monaco, where his cousin Louis II reigned. In May 1945 the embassy staff was expelled to the French border and he was interned.

In 1946-48 von Urach was charged by a German court for creating and broadcasting propaganda in National-Socialist style, and for membership of the Nazi party. He apologized and there was no sanction. His superiors were prosecuted in the Ministries Trial in 1948. In 1947-67 he resumed his career as an artist and freelance journalist. He was chief press attaché at Mercedes Benz in Stuttgart in 1953-67, where his elder brother Wilhelm was a director. This suited his ability in languages and he travelled widely. He then died of a stroke in 1969 and was buried at Waldenburg.