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Dr. Wilhelm Heinrich Solf (October 5, 1862 - February 6, 1936) was a German diplomat, jurist and statesman.
Early life
Wilhelm Solf was born into a wealthy and liberal family in Berlin. He attended university in Anklam (Pommern) and in Mannheim, where he graduated in 1881. Afterwards he took up the study of Oriental languages, in particular Sanskrit in Berlin, Göttingen and Halle, earning his doctorate in philology in the winter of 1885; under the influence of one of his teachers, the well-known Indologist Richard Pischel, he wrote an elementary grammar of Sanskrit.
After earning his doctorate, he worked at the library of the University of Kiel while serving his military service with the German naval infantry. However, he was deemed unfit for military service and discharged shortly afterwards.
Early Diplomatic Career
He was hired by the German Foreign Office (Consular Service) on December 12, 1888 and shortly afterwards was assigned to the German Embassy in Calcutta on January 1, 1889. However he left the consular service to study law in the University of Jena. He obtained his doctorate in law in September 1896, becoming Court Assessor (Gerichtassessor) that same year. Because of his law degree Solf became qualified for higher positions in the diplomatic service. He joined the Colonial Department of the Foreign Office (Kolonialabteilung des Auswärtigen Amtes) and in 1898 was district judge in Dar-es-Salaam. In 1899 he served as council chairman in Apia, Samoa.
Governor of Samoa
Upon the division of the Samoan islands as the result of the Samoa Tripartite Commission, Solf became the first Governor of German Samoa (now Samoa) on March 1, 1900. Although he was a firm supporter of Kaiser Wilhelm's desire for a German Empire to compete with the other colonial powers of Europe, he was known to be an able liberal administrator. He defended the natives against colonial exploitation, kept the old Samoan tribal organization and retained the rights and duties of the district chiefs. However, Solf did not hesitate in deposing several native chiefs — including Mamoe, an early figure in the Mau movement. As well as deposing members of the Maloa o Samoa (Samoan council of chiefs), Solf called in two German warships in a show of strength. Faced with this demonstration of military force, and with the movement divided, Mamoe surrendered, and resistance faded until the 1910s.
Later career
After his return from Samoa, Solf became Secretary (Staatssekretär) to the German Colonial Office (Reichskolonialamt) to 1918, travelling to Namibia and Geman East Africa in 1912, and to Cameroon and Togo in 1913. Unfortunately for Solf's ambitions the outbreak of World War I diminished Germany's colonial empire, her possessions in Africa given to Britain while her Pacific colonies given to Japan.
As a result Solf lobbied for a negotiated peace settlement in 1917 and 1918, preparing to cede Germany's annexations in the west in exchange for keeping her overseas empire. He also firmly against an annexationist policy in the west since the outbreak of the war in 1914. He was also opposed to the implementation of unrestricted submarine warfare, a policy which eventaully lead to the entry of the United States into the war in 1917.
With the defeat of Germany imminent and the likelihood of revolution growing he was appointed what turned out to be the last of the Imperial Foreign Ministers in October 1918. In this capacity he undertook negotiations for the armistice that took effect on November 11, 1918.
He resigned his post as Foreign Minister on December 13, 1918 with the onset of the German revolution. Between then and 1920 he served as Vice President of the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft. From 1920 to 1928 he served as the German ambassador to Japan for the Weimar Republic; his stint proved to be fruitful, as he was instrumental in restoring good relations between the two wartime enemies, culminating in the signing of the German-Japan treaty of 1927. On his return to Germany he became the Chairman of the Board of the Deutsches Auslands-Institut based on Stuttgart.
Although he supported the election of Paul von Hindenburg as German President, he was a centrist politically, joining the German Democratic Party (Deutsche Demokratische Partei). However, with its dissolution in 1933, he planned to co-found a new moderate party with other moderates; it was however unsuccessful.
He was married to the former Johanna "Hanna" Dotti, who later formed the anti-Nazi Solf Circle together with their daughter So'oa'emalelagi "Lagi", who was born in Samoa.
See also
1862 births | 1932 deaths | History of Samoa | German World War I people
"Wilhelm Solf"