Klaus von Bismarck

Who was Klaus von Bismarck?

Klaus von Bismarck was the Director General of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk from 1961 to 1976, and the President of the ARD from 1963 to 1964. He was also the President of the Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag 1977–1979 and a member of its presidium 1950–1995, as well as President of the Goethe Institute 1977–1989.

He was a highly decorated Lieutenant Colonel in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. According to his memoirs published in 1992 he refused to obey Hitler's Kommisar Order to execute all captured Russian political Commissars attached to the Russian Army whilst serving as an adjutant on the Russian front in 1941.

He is a relative of Otto von Bismarck, Germany's first Chancellor, and was the son of Gottfried von Bismarck, Lord of Jarchlin and Kniephof, family estates located in Pomerania.