Martin Roth has resigned from his position as director of the Victoria and Albert museum (V&A) – a decision fuelled in-part by his disillusionment at the recent Brexit vote.

Roth – who in 2011 was appointed the V&A’s first foreign director since its foundation in 1852 – will return to his native Germany, telling German broadcaster DW that the UK’s decision to leave Europe felt like a personal defeat. Roth also said he was particularly upset to hear aggressive “war rhetoric” used during the debate.

“For me, Europe is simply synonymous with peace,” said Roth. “I didn’t want to be a German. I did not want to grow up in a country that had killed a huge part of its population. So for me, Europe always gave hope for a peaceful future, based on sharing, solidarity and tolerance. Dropping out always means creating cultural barriers and that worries me.”

According to The Guardian, Roth had always been planning to step down from his position in the next year, but that the Brexit result coupled with the strong position he was leaving the V&A in led to his early decision.

Roth has been a huge success for the V&A, drawing record numbers of visitors to the institution thanks to exhibitions featuring the likes of David Bowie and Alexander McQueen. In 2015 alone, four million people visited the museum, which led to it winning this year’s Art Fund Museum of the Year award.

Since his appointment, Roth has also overseen a number of major developments for the V&A, including construction of the V&A Museum of Design Dundee, due to open in 2018 and V&A East in London’s Olympic park to open by 2022. The original V&A is also working on a £49m underground extension, which will be completed in early 2017.

“It's been an enormous privilege and tremendously exciting to lead this great museum, with its outstanding staff and collections, and I’m proud to have steered it to new successes and a period of growth and expansion, including new partnerships around the UK and internationally,” said Roth.

“Our recent accolade as Art Fund Museum of the Year feels like the perfect moment to draw to a close my mission in London and hand over to a new director to take the V&A forward to an exciting future.”

In a statement, the V&A’s board of trustees said it had started the search for a new director. For 2017, the institution has a number of big events planned, including The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains running between May and October.