Dieter Sattler

The recorded working language is German. Positions recorded include ambassador of Germany to the Holy See and ambassador. Distinctions recorded are Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Knight Grand Officer of the Order of St.

• Name — Dieter Sattler • Born — 2 February 1906 • Birthplace — Munich, Bavaria, Germany • Died — 9 November 1968 • Place of death — Rome, Italy • Political Party — CSU • Occupation — architect politician ambassador • Spouse — Maria Clara Schiedges (1910–1973) • Parents — Carl Sattler (1877-1966) Eva von Hildebrand (1877-1962) • Children — 6

Dieter Sattler was born in Munich, the second of his parents' four children. His father was the architect Carl Sattler (1877-1966). His paternal grandfather, Ernst Sattler (1840-1923), was a painter. His mother was born Eva Hildebrand. His maternal grandfather was the sculptor Adolf von Hildebrand (1847-1921). There had been close links between the Sattler and Hildebrand families since at least 1848. In 1933 Dieter Sattler married Maria Clara Schiedges (1910–1973). They met at a Theology seminar. She came originally from Düsseldorf. That marriage resulted in six recorded children. These included Birgit Albrecht who worked as a librarian, Monika Schätz, a book dealer, Christoph Sattler (born 1938), a Munich-based architect, Florian Sattler, a Communications Chief for the city of Munich, Martin Sattler, a Law Professor Emeritus at Heidelberg University and Stephan Sattler (born 1947), a prominent arts journalist. Dieter Sattler was also father-in-law to the historian Dieter Albrecht (1927-1999).

Both Dieter Sattler's parents had been born in Florence where their own parents spent time as members of the expatriate artistic community. Dieter Sattler spent several months each year in Florence while a small child, but this routine came to an end in 1914, the year war broke out, and in 1915 he started to attend his secondary school in Munich. His parents separated in 1921. The children remained with their mother whose conversion to Roman Catholicism, (after growing up with parents who "had no Christian faith") had been a reason for the break-up. He passed his School Final Exams (Abitur) at the city's prestigious Wilhelmsgymnasium (secondary school) in 1924. Dieter Sattler himself would convert to Catholicism only in 1932, his decision to do so influenced both by the woman who shortly afterwards became his wife and by his intellectually formidable maternal uncle, Dietrich von Hildebrand (1889-1977), whose own conversion to Catholicism had taken place in 1914. He attended the Technical University of Munich between 1924 and 1929, studying Architecture and later also Economics. He received his first degree in 1929 and a doctorate of engineering (Dr. Ing) in 1931. His dissertation topic was the sculptor (and his own grandfather) Adolf von Hildebrand. It was his intention to progress to a habilitation (higher academic degree) which would have opened the way to a lifelong university career, but after 1933 this option was blocked to him. One source states that he worked as a freelance architect in Munich and then in Berlin between 1929 and 1939, with a particular focus on residential development projects. Elsewhere it is stated that he began to work as an architect in Munich only in 1932. Either way, after receiving his doctorate in 1931 it seems that he found time for several lengthy visits abroad, becoming fluent (where he was not already) in English, French and Italian.

Dietrich von Hildebrand's influence extended beyond the narrow issue of a religious denomination. Sattler also came to share his uncle's hostility to the Nazi party which took power in January 1933 and spent the next few months transforming the country into a one-party dictatorship. Dieter Sattler's marriage to Maria Clara Schiedges took place on 19 May 1933 in Salzburg, at that stage still just across the border from Nazi Germany, in Austria. In 1932 Sattler had acquired a property at Grendach near Taching am See, close to Salzburg but on the German side of the frontier. The region was far off the beaten track, but his brother, the landscape painter Berhard Sattler, already lived in an adjacent hamlet. Bernhard had "discovered" the region which he valued for its visual and artistic beauty. Dieter Sattler caused a seemingly unprecedented surge in employment opportunities for the small holders in the village by having the former cowshed on his property converted into a family home. At this stage, however, after the marriage the Sattler couple (soon a young family) settled in Berlin where Sattler still hoped to continue with his studies and obtain a habilitation (higher degree). He was supervised for his studies by a professor who shortly after this had his teaching permit withdrawn because, according to the authorities, he was Jewish. After this Sattler found his will to join the nation's academic establishment had disappeared. Nevertheless, while pursuing his career as an architect he continued to take an active interest in other matters. For example, there were still lengthy trips abroad, and he organised at least one concert tour by the brilliant (and already world-famous) Russian pianist, Vladimir Horowitz. During the twelve Nazi years Sattler made no secret of his dislike for the régime, retaining his belief in Catholic Conservatism and sustaining loose links with more active Christian opponents of Nazism. But he never himself participated in opposition activism (which would have been illegal), he was never identified as Jewish and he was clearly not a communist. Unlike his more outspoken uncle he never found it necessary permanently to escape from Germany. At the same time, sources hint that he received few architectural commissions at his Berlin office, and spent the later 1930s keeping out of the way at his Grendach property near Taching am See. In 1940 he was conscripted into the army: that summer he participated in the invasion of France. After eight months in the army in France, in December 1940 he was taken off the frontline and switched to an "emergency" building project involving Linz. The Linz scheme was particularly dear to the leader's heart. Sattler was assigned to it for most of the rest of the war. A personal benefit was that he was far closer to Grendach where his wife and children were based permanently after 1943 when the family's Munich apartment was bombed out.

Dieter Sattler found further uses for his experience of government service in July 1952, the month in which he was sent to Rome as a cultural attaché by the recently formed West German government. He remained in Rome till 1959. During his first few years much of his time was spent negotiating the return of the assets from the German Culture and Scientific Institute which had been confiscated by the Allied Armies during the war. One of his projects, which later became a model for German cultural institutions overseas, was the German Library in Rome. Meanwhile, in 1955 Bonn–Paris conventions, following several years of Anglo-French wrangling, were ratified and came into force in 1955, providing that West Germany should from that point acquire "the full authority of a sovereign State over its internal and external affairs". Most of the longer established members of the diplomatic community came with career histories that meant their contributions were no longer required by the West German diplomatic service. Sattler's own record seems not to have embarrassed anyone, however, his obdurate adherence to his Roman Catholic principals having effectively inoculated him against any involvement with the Nazi régime. In 1959, he was recalled to Bonn, seat of the West German government, and appointed "Ministerialdirektor" and head of the Cultural Department at the Foreign Ministry. As the political tensions between East and West Germany spilled over into the cultural sphere, his seven years in the office coincided with a period of significant "soft power" investment. On Sattler's initiative the Goethe Institute gradually took over all of the German cultural institutes abroad that fell within the ambit of the West German government. Sattler's objective was to anchor activities of the culturally focused German overseas institutions more firmly within the country's overall foreign policy strategy, which in some ways reflected his own life and career, using diplomatic instincts and personal panache to bring together the worlds of the arts and of politics. In October 1966, Dieter Sattler took up his appointment, which had been announced seven months earlier, as West German ambassador to the Holy See, a position for which his previous career made him, in the opinion of one commentator, the "ideal candidate". His term was cut short by his death at Rome in November 1968, caused by a nerve infection.

The authorities additionally record the heading Dietler Sattler. His recorded language was German. He was the child of Carl Sattler. He married Maria Clara Sattler. 3 children are recorded: Christoph Sattler, Stephan Sattler and Martin Sattler.

Dieter Sattler is recorded as having received Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Knight Grand Officer of the Order of St. Gregory the Great and Bavarian Order of Merit. Recognition and collections. Sattler received Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Knight Grand Officer of the Order of St.