GERMANY: Death of von Maltzan

Crash. As it must to all men, Death came last week to Ago Adolf Georg Otto von Maltzan, Baron Zu Wartenberg und Penzlin, 50, German Ambassador to the U. S., while flying in a Lufthansa monoplane from Berlin to Munich. The crash occurred near Schleiz, Thuringia. Five others were instantly killed: Baron Hans von Arnim, Lufthansa official; Herr Roell, director of the Reich railroads; Otto Osners, student pilot; Herr Seiler, mechanic; Herr Charlett, pilot.

At the Munich airport Baroness von Maltzan, former Fraulein Edith Gruson, daughter of a wealthy Magdeburg steel manufacturer, and her little daughter, Edith, were waiting for the arrival of husband and father. An official approached, sad news in his eye. The Baroness, with superb self-control, sensed the full import of the messenger’s news. “Tell me,” said she, “is he killed?” And without an answer being given she knew.

Eyewitnesses related that the machine began falling from a great height and that at a height of about 70 feet a wing fell off and the great machine hurtled, dead weight, to the ground, half burying itself. The corpses were mangled almost beyond recognition. All, save Seiler, were instantly killed, the mechanic merely showing bare signs of life and passing away without regaining consciousness. The accident was ascribed to an airpocket dashing the ma-chine to the ground, a hardly feasible premise; another guess was that the pilot had died suddenly of heart disease. A rumor of political assassination was dismissed.

Character. Baron von Maltzan, beside being one of the youngest Germans to attain ambassadorial rank, was also one of Germany’s ablest diplomats. In personal appearance he was a typical German aristocrat, medium height, portly but not adipose, with an attractive genial face and sharp eyes. Of all his traits, perhaps his devotion to his family was the most marked. He was to be seen everywhere not only with his wife, but with his daughter, Edith, to whom he was warmly attached. In his work he was unusually tactful, firm and independent. His genius for diplomacy, his skill and farsightedness won him the respect of statesmen far beyond the frontiers of Germany. Simple and unaffected in speech, he exuded an earnestness and sincerity that marked him as capable and efficient and endeared him to all. Coming to Washington two years ago as the successor of Dr. Wiedfeldt, who refused to lower the German flag at the death of ex-President Woodrow Wilson, he had a hard row to hoe; but by his energy and straight-forwardness in official matters and by his skill and charm as a host he soon conquered the Washington diplomatic circle and society.

Career. Baron von Maltzan began his diplomatic career in Rio de Janeiro. He soon won promotion and he was transferred to the embassy at St. Petersburg (now Leningrad). In 1912 he was made counselor of legation in Peking and was charge d’affaires there when the War broke out. He worked hard to prevent Japan from entering the conflict, even going so far as to offer Tokyo the cession of Tsingtao on his ownresponsibility; the Berlin government, however, refused to sanction the step. Virtually isolated by the Allies, all his messages subject to censorship, his next dilemma was to warn his government of theapproaching Japanese declaration of war. This he did by sending an ingenious, uncoded telegram, so harmless in appearance that the Allies let it go through: “My engagement to Miss Butterfly expected hourly. Please inform parents.”

During the war he served as a lieutenant in the Mecklenburg Dragoons, but in the spring of 1917 was transferred to diplomatic duty as representative of the Wilhelmstrasse (German Foreign Office) at general headquarters and later represented the Chancellor on the Eastern front, where he made himself so thoroughly unpopular by opposing the militarists that he was transferred to The Hague, Netherlands. After the war he was called to the Foreign Office first as head of the Eastern Department and after as State Secretary of Foreign Affairs — the permanent head of the German Foreign Office. 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. For three days the Kaiser refused to see the Baron. Finally, as von Maltzan was about to depart, he encountered the All Highest, clad in the field grey uniform of a marshal, in a corridor of the castle. Said the Kaiser, insult ingly: “You too belong to the rascals of the Foreign Office who cheated and lied to me throughout my reign.” Replied Baron von Maltzan: “I beg pardon, but as far as I am concerned I do not deserve this reproach. May I respectfully remind you of the observations I made to you in 1914 on my return from Peking when I pointed out Germany’s wrong policy in Eastern Asia. Furthermore it was I who, as representative of the Foreign Office on Germany’s Eastern front, as early as the summer of 1917 at Vilna pointed out the necessity of a separate peace with Russia.” The Kaiser cocked his head to one side and thought for a few minutes, then said: “Come with me into my study—you are to have my renunciation.” And a moment later he became legally an ex-Kaiser.