Jürgen Chrobog (born 28 February 1940) is a German jurist and former diplomat. He worked in the Foreign Office of West Germany and the reunified Germany and among other diplomatic postings, was Ambassador to the United States from 1995 to 2001.

Jürgen Chrobog
Jürgen Chrobog in 1995
Born (1940-02-28) 28 February 1940 (age 84)
Occupation(s)Jurist, former diplomat
SpouseMagda Gohar-Chrobog
Children3

Life and career

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Chrobog was born in Berlin.[1] He studied law in the 1960s in Freiburg im Breisgau, Göttingen, and Aix-en-Provence and then worked as an attorney in Hannover. In 1972, he joined the diplomatic service of the Federal Republic of Germany, which he served in the United Nations in New York.[2]

A member of the Freie Demokratische Partei, from 1973 to 1977 he worked in the German Foreign Office under foreign ministers Walter Scheel and Hans-Dietrich Genscher, where he was responsible for European issues as well as the Third World. In 1977, he was dispatched to Singapore, and in 1980, to the European Union headquarters in Brussels.

From 1984 to 1991, Chrobog was the head of the press division as well as the spokesperson for the Foreign Office, and beginning in 1988, directed Genscher's ministerial office. From 1995 to 2001, he was the German ambassador to the United States.[2] After this posting, he returned to Berlin as State Secretary of the German Federal Foreign Office, under foreign minister Joschka Fischer.[1]

Chrobog represented West Germany at the 2+4 negotiations with East Germany and the four victorious powers of World War II (the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France) concerning the reunification of Germany and its future as a NATO member,[3][4] and referred to those negotiations in a meeting of the directors of the US, UK, French, and German foreign ministries in Bonn. After the meeting of the political directors of the US, British, French and German foreign ministries in Bonn on 6 March 1991, Chrobog wrote: “We made it clear in the two-plus-four negotiations that we would not take NATO beyond the Elbe stretch. We can therefore not offer Poland and the others NATO membership."[4][5]

In 2003, as undersecretary of state, Chrobog was responsible for dealing with the crisis provoked by the kidnapping of German tourists in Algeria.[2][6]

Chrobog retired in 2005 and became chairman of the supervisory board at the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt [de]. In late December that year, he and his family were abducted while traveling on vacation in eastern Yemen;[2] they were released on 31 December.[7][8]

Personal life

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Chrobog and his wife, Magda Gohar-Chrobog, have three sons.[1]

See also

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Sources

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  1. ^ a b c "Board of Directors: Jörgen Chrobog". Villa Aurora. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d "Jürgen Chrobog: Profile of a Gifted Crisis Manager". Deutsche Welle. 29 December 2005. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  3. ^ Puccio, Andrea (20 February 2022). "Le promesse della Nato di non espandersi verso est. Parole rinnegabili". FarodiRoma (in Italian). Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  4. ^ a b Wiegrefe, Klaus (18 February 2022). "Nato-Osterweiterung: Aktenfund von 1991 stützt russische Version". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  5. ^ "Treaties with Russia contained no pledge NATO would not expand — German Foreign Ministry". Tass. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022.
  6. ^ Stoltenberg, Jochim (8 July 2003). "Auf diplomatischen Samtpfoten will Jürgen Chrobog Touristen befreien". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  7. ^ "Die Familie Chrobog ist frei". Die Zeit (in German). DPA. 31 December 2005. Archived from the original on 8 March 2006.
  8. ^ "Yemen captors free German family". BBC News. 31 December 2005. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
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