Adolf Georg von Maltzan explained

Office:German Ambassador to the United States
Term Start:1925
Term End:1927
Predecessor:Otto Wiedfeldt
Successor:Friedrich Wilhelm von Prittwitz und Gaffron
Birth Name:Adolf Georg Otto von Maltzan
Birth Date:31 July 1877
Birth Place:Klein-Varchow, Mecklenburg
Death Place:Schleiz, Thüringen
Death Cause:Plane crash
Education:Katharineum
Alma Mater:University of Bonn
University of Wrocław
Parents:Ulrich von Maltzan
Adelheit Bierbaum
Children:Edith von Maltzan

Adolf Georg Otto "Ago" von Maltzan, Baron zu Wartenberg und Penzlin (31 July 1877 – 23 September 1927) was a German diplomat during the Weimar Republic, serving as State Secretary of the Foreign Office and Ambassador in Washington.

Early life

Baron von Maltzan, who was usually called Ago based on the initials of his baptismal names,[1] was born on 31 July 1877 on his father's estate at Klein-Varchow, Mecklenburg, Germany. He was the eldest son of manor owner Ulrich von Maltzan (1846–1931) and his wife Adelheit (née Bierbaum) von Maltzan (1857–1924). He was part of the nobility of Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania.

He attended the Katharineum in Lübeck, graduating in 1896. He then studied law at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University (known as the University of Bonn) and was a member of the Corps Borussia Bonn before transferring to the Silesian Friedrich Wilhelm University in Breslau.[2]

Career

After completing his studies and military service, von Maltzan entered the diplomatic service of the German Empire in 1906. He was initially employed as attaché in Rio de Janeiro in 1907, legation secretary in Oslo in 1909, St. Petersburg in 1911. In 1912 he was promoted to legation counselor and was assigned to Peking where he acted as chargé d'affaires during the Chinese revolution. Between his posts abroad, he took the diplomatic exam in 1908, and held "home posts" in the Foreign Office in Berlin, in the Reich Chancellery and at the Prussian Embassy in Stuttgart.

World War I

During World War I, von Maltzan served as First Lieutenant in the Mecklenburg Dragoons before he was transferred to diplomatic duty as representative of the Wilhelmstrasse (the Foreign Office) to the Commander-in-Chief Eastern Front in the Spring of 1917. By opposing the militarists, he made himself so unpopular he was transferred to The Hague in December 1917.

According to his obituary in Time, "His greatest diplomatic ordeal was doubtless in persuading the Kaiser to abdicate. Wilhelm II, at the time he fled from Germany, had not officially abdicated, his renunciation of the throne having been announced without Imperial authority by Chancellor Prince Max of Baden. Baron von Maltzan was therefore sent to Amerongen Castle to secure the Kaiser’s formal abdication as German Emperor and King of Prussia."

Later career

After the end of the War, von Maltzan was appointed Reich Commissioner for the East by Minister Hermann Müller in 1919, responsible for the newly formed Baltic countries of Estonia and Latvia, where he organized the withdrawal of the German troops stationed there and the protection of East Prussia. Afterwards, von Maltzan served as Ministerial Director from 1921 and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1922, becoming head of the Russian Department of the Foreign Office.[3] As such, von Maltzan played a key role in bringing about the Treaty of Rapallo between Germany and Soviet Russia (from the end of 1922 the Soviet Union), which was signed on 16 April 1922.[4]

In 1924, von Maltzan was appointed as the ambassador to the German Embassy in Washington but didn't present his credentials to President Calvin Coolidge at the White House until 12 March 1925.[5] In October 1925, von Maltzan and Secretary Frank B. Kellogg exchanged ratifications of a commercial treaty which was the first treaty between the countries following World War I with the exception of the peace treaty.[6] After his death, he was replaced by Friedrich Wilhelm von Prittwitz und Gaffron.[7]

Personal life

In 1914, Maltzan was married to Edith Emma Henriette Marie Luise Gruson (1886–1976), a daughter of industrialist Hermann August Gruson and granddaughter of Hermann Gruson of Magdeburg.[8] [9] Together, they were the parents of a daughter:

During a stay at home in 1927, von Maltzan died on 23 September 1927,[13] along with five others, when his Lufthansa monoplane crashed over Schleiz in Thüringen on the way from Berlin to Munich.[14] [15] His body was buried on his parents' estate in Grossen Luckow. In New York City, a memorial service was held for him at Zion Lutheran Church on the Upper East Side, which nearly 1,000 people attended including Julius P. Meyer, Rudolph Kessmeyer, Professor Theodor Wedepohl and Fritz Schroeder, and Karl von Lewinski among others.[16] A ceremony was held for him in the Assembly Room of the Foreign Office in Berlin officiated by Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann and attended by American Ambassador Jacob Gould Schurman.[17] [18] His widow died in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria in 1976.[19]

Descendants

Through his daughter Edith, he was posthumously a grandfather of Eckbert Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (b. 1956),[11] who married Countess Désirée von Ortenburg (née Princess of Hohenzollern) in 2004. The former wife of Heinrich Franz Josef Georg Maria, Hereditary Count of Ortenburg, she is a daughter of Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern and Princess Birgitta of Sweden.[20]

Honors and awards

In 1927, Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Law degree "on the basis of a long, distinguished professional career, and as an expression of international good-will."[21]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: VON MALTZANS CHOSE NAME; German Ambassador Calls Himself Ago, for Adolf Georg Otto. . 11 June 2024 . . 15 February 1925.
  2. Book: Lehmann . Torsten . Die Hallenser Corps im Deutschen Kaiserreich: eine Untersuchung zum studentischen Verbindungswesen von 1871 bis 1918 . 2007 . Mitteldeutscher Verlag . 978-3-89812-445-4 . 127 . 11 June 2024 . de.
  3. Book: Rossol . Nadine . Ziemann . Benjamin . The Oxford Handbook of the Weimar Republic . 2022 . . 978-0-19-884577-5 . 244 . 11 June 2024 . en.
  4. News: du Puy . William Atherton . GERMANY'S NEW ENVOY AN ATHLETIC DIPLOMAT; Descendant of Baltic Barons, von Maltzan Has Spent Many Years in Foreign Service of His Country -- Helped Frame the Rapallo Treaty . 11 June 2024 . . 29 March 1925.
  5. News: Times . Special to The New York . COOLIDGE RECEIVES NEW GERMAN ENVOY; President Praises Ebert In Accepting Credentials of Ambassador von Maltzan. SEES GERMANY RECOVERING Ambassador Thanks Americans for Help In Rebuilding Germany and Especially for Dawes Plan. . 11 June 2024 . . 13 March 1925.
  6. News: Times . Special to The New York . TO ACT ON GERMAN TREATY.; Kellogg and von Maltzan Will Exchange Ratifications Wednesday. . 11 June 2024 . . 11 October 1925.
  7. News: Times . by the New York Times Companyby Wireless To the New York . VON MALTZAN'S COURSE WILL GUIDE NEW ENVOY; Dr. von Prittwitz Will Arrive in Washington in January -- Is of Ancient Nobility. . 11 June 2024 . . 6 November 1927.
  8. Book: Who was who in America . 1968 . Marquis-Who's Who . 771 . 11 June 2024 . en.
  9. Book: Becker . Winfried . Frederic von Rosenberg: Korrespondenzen und Akten des deutschen Diplomaten und Außenministers 1913-1937 . 23 March 2011 . Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag . 978-3-486-70103-6 . 410 . 11 June 2024 . de.
  10. News: EDITH VON MALTZAN WED IN SWITZERLAND; Baroness, Daughter of German Envoy, Bride of Carl Hutz . 11 June 2024 . . 3 October 1939.
  11. Book: Manchester . William . The Arms of Krupp: The Rise and Fall of the Industrial Dynasty That Armed Germany at War . 31 October 2017 . Little, Brown . 978-0-316-48394-0 . 18 . 11 June 2024 . en.
  12. Book: Commire . Anne . Women in World History: Jab-Kyt . 2000 . Yorkin Publications . 978-0-7876-4067-5 . 824 . 11 June 2024 . en.
  13. News: GERMANY: Death of von Maltzan . 11 June 2024 . . 3 October 1927 . en.
  14. News: Times . by the New York Times Company by Wireless To the New York . BARON VON MALTZAN AND 5 OTHERS KILLED IN REICH AIR CRASH; Lufthansa Plane Carrying the Ambassador Crumples as One Wing Is Severed. PASSENGERS DIE INSTANTLY Talk of Sabotage Discredited and Cause of Disaster May Never Be Known. GREAT SHOCK TO GERMANY Washington, Where Envoy Was Very Popular, Profoundly Moved -- Fervent Tributes Paid to Him. BARON VON MALTZAN AND 5 OTHERS KILLED . 11 June 2024 . . 24 September 1927.
  15. News: MALTZAN TRAGEDY STUNS WASHINGTON; Official and Social Circles Saddened by Envoy's Death -Coolidge Expresses Grief. . 11 June 2024 . . September 24, 1927 . 2 . en.
  16. News: MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR VON MALTZAN; Prominent Men, Friends of Ambassador, Hear Eulogy in Zion Church. . 11 June 2024 . . 26 September 1927.
  17. News: SERVICES FOR VON MALTZAN; Stresemann Extols Late Ambassador at Foreign Office Ceremony. . 11 June 2024 . . 6 October 1927.
  18. News: DR. STRESEMANN SADDENED.; German Foreign Minister Pays Tribute to Baron von Maltzan. . 11 June 2024 . . 24 September 1927.
  19. Book: Deutsche Geschichtsquellen des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts . 1998 . Harald Boldt Verlag . 978-3-486-56278-1 . 711 . 11 June 2024 . de.
  20. Book: Reinhardt . Volker . Lau . Thomas . Deutsche Familien: historische Portraits von Bismarck bis Weizsäcker . 2005 . C.H.Beck . 978-3-406-52905-4 . 88-93 . 11 June 2024 . de.
  21. News: Times . Special to The New York . VON MALTZAN GETS DEGREE.; Marquette Honors German Envoy With Doctorate of Laws. . 11 June 2024 . . 4 May 1927.