in occupied France, which included SD operations, and for advising the German police and military. Abetz advised the military, the Gestapo and the SD, who nevertheless did not heed his advice. As the official representative of the German Government with the honorary rank of SS-Standartenführer (Colonel), he sought to seize the initiative as much as possible. In 1940 he created the German Institute, to be headed by Karl Epting, which was intended to improve French-German relations by offering a taste of German culture to the French people. Thirty thousand people signed up for the Institute's German language courses, but far more popular were the concerts which featured Germany's best musicians, including Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Following the occupation of all France on 11 November 1942, von Ribbentrop's influence became minimal as all of France was run by German military authorities, in conjunction with military police. A NSDAP Reichskommissariat of Belgien-Nordfrankreich held sway in several northern departments. Abetz was helpless to aid von Ribbentrop in Paris and von Ribbentrop recalled him in November following the occupation of all France. Abetz felt that he was in disfavour, although he did not understand why. He saw neither Hitler nor von Ribbentrop for a full year. He was consulted only once, on the formation of the French volunteer Waffen-SS unit Charlemagne. In his memoirs, Abetz assumed that he was considered "too francophile" and that his constant warnings about the loss of the French fleet and the loss of the French North Africa colonies were a thorn in the side of von Ribbentrop, particularly once they turned out to be correct. The scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon on 27 November had ensured that the French would not join the Axis. He left France in September 1944 as the German armies withdrew, this despite claiming to Swedish ambassador Raoul Nordling on the seventh of the previous month that the Germans had neither killed political prisoners nor were making any plans to leave Paris. Trial, conviction and death Abetz was arrested by Allied authorities in the Schwarzwald in October 1945. In the announcement of his arrest in France Soir, he was quoted as saying that Adolf Hitler was not dead, but had escaped to Argentina. A French court sentenced Abetz to 20 years' imprisonment for crimes against humanity, particularly his role in arranging the deportation of French Jews from Drancy internment