Joachim von Ribbentrop was a German diplomat who played an important role in the Nazi government of Adolph Hitler, serving as foreign minister from 1933 to 1945. Ribbentrop negotiated the treaty between Germany, Italy, and Japan that created the Axis Powers, and he negotiated a treaty with the Soviet Union that paved the way for the 1939 invasion of Poland. He was tried for war crimes by the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg.

Ribbentrop was born on April 30, 1893, in Wesel, Germany. He attended schools in Germany and several other European countries before immigrating to Canada in 1910. Ribbentrop spent four years in Canada but returned to Germany in 1914 to serve as a solider on the Russian front. After the war he became a champagne salesman. He obtained the use of the noble prefix "von" by paying a relative a lifetime annuity, the payment of which was made possible by his marriage...