Fritz Grobba

Fritz Konrad Ferdinand Grobba 18 July 1886 – 2 September 1973) is best remembered for being a German diplomat during the interwar period and World War II.

Biography

Fritz Grobba was born in Gartz on the Oder in Brandenburg in what was then the German Empire (Deutsches Kaiserreich). He attended elementary and high school in Gartz. Grobba studied law, economics, and Oriental languages at the University of Berlin. In 1913, he received his doctorate of law. Grobba worked briefly in the German consulate in Jerusalem, Palestine. Palestine was then part of the Ottoman Empire.

The first world war

During World War I, Lieutenant Grobba fought for the Central Powers as an officer of the Imperial German Army (Deutsches Heer). Grobba fought in France and on the Turkish Front.

In September 1922, Grobba joined the legal affairs department of the German Foreign Ministry of the Weimar Republic. In January 1923, he was transferred to Department 3 (Abteilung III), the department responsible for the Middle East. In October 1923, when post-war diplomatic relations were established between Weimar Germany and the Emirate of Afghanistan, Grobba was named Germany's representative in Kabul with the rank of Consul. In 1925, the government of Emir Amanullah Khan accused him of attempting to help a visiting German geographer escape from Afghanistan shortly after the geographer shot and killed an Afghan citizen near Kabul. Grobba denied the charge. A diplomatic crisis between Germany and Afghanistan over the role Grobba played ensued.