In 1908 he entered the Diplomatic Service. At the beginning he was employed as an
attaché at the
German Embassy in Washington, D.C. until 1910. He then was stationed in the political department of the
Foreign Office and at the
German Embassy in Saint Petersburg. At the beginning of the war in 1914, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the reserve, but returned slightly wounded in November 1914 and remained in the Foreign Office until the end of the war. von Prittwitz, who was only 43 years old, was appointed German ambassador to the United States by Foreign Minister
Gustav Stresemann, in spite of concerns by President
Paul von Hindenburg and conservative faction in the Reichstag. An ally of the American
Democrats, he rejected the divisions of pre-war period and presented himself as a representative of the German people to the American people, advocating that diplomacy should serve world peace. He promoted economic ties, but he placed particular emphasis on the cultural ties between the two countries. He was often a guest of
Adolph Ochs, the owner of the
New York Times. He also referred to the Revolution of 1848 as a link between Germany and the United States, as it was not only the birth of democracy in Germany, but also led to many German Democrats emigrating to the United States. On 15 April 1933, Prittwitz resigned as ambassador to Washington in protest the day after Hitler was appointed Chancellor, handing over duties to the former Reich Chancellor and Finance Minister
Hans Luther. Upon his return to Germany (aboard the
Europa), he met with Hitler before retiring from the diplomatic service on 18 July 1933.
Later life As his beliefs were in contrast to the new rulers in Germany, the
National Socialists, Prittwitz hoped that other ambassadors would join in their resignations, but remained the only one. After his retirement, he made his home at
Lake Starnberg, under
Gestapo surveillance. After the
Third Reich, he again became politically active, but no longer held a high position. He was one of the founding members of the
Christian Social Union in Bavaria. He was a member of the
Landtag of Bavaria from 1946 to 1954, and was directly elected in the
Würzburg constituency in 1950. Von Prittwitz advocated international understanding and the reunification of Germany. In 1948, together with
Waldemar von Knoeringen and
Thomas Dehler, he founded the Society for Foreign Studies (), of which he served as the first chairman. ==Personal life==