Georg Albert from and to Franckenstein

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Georg Albert from and to Franckenstein

Georg Albert Freiherr von und zu Franckenstein (later Sir George Franckenstein , born March 18, 1878 in Dresden or Wiesentheid , Lower Franconia ; † October 15, 1953 in Kelsterbach near Frankfurt am Main ) was an Austrian diplomat and ambassador to London (1920–1938) .

Life

Franckenstein was the son of Karl Freiherr von und zu Franckenstein (1831–1898) and Elma Countess von Schönborn-Wiesentheid (1841–1884). His brother was the composer Clemens von Franckenstein (1875–1942). His sister Leopoldine Freiin von und zu Franckenstein (1874-1918) married the German industrialist Gustav Hermann von Passavant in 1913 ( February 7, 1872 in Frankfurt am Main ; † December 7, 1958 in Vienna ). (Rose Marie, also: Maria Rosario, von Passavant, from 1938: Rose Marie Hyde Villiers , approx. 1915 to 2007) came from this marriage .

Franckenstein spent his childhood in Franconia and Vienna . After attending the Schottengymnasium and studying at the University of Vienna , he joined the diplomatic service of the Austrian Empire . His diplomatic career took him to Washington , to the Russian Tsar's court in St. Petersburg and to Rome . After a short use in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vienna, he became the Japanese imperial court , after India and after Brussels ordered until it for "commercial director" of the Austro - Embassy in London was appointed. The beginning of the First World War in 1914 forced him to leave Great Britain. After the war defeat of the Central Powers and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy , he belonged to the peace delegation in Saint-Germain in 1919 . On October 13, 1920, he returned to London as the diplomatic representative of the new Republic of Austria . There he worked for 18 years as Austrian Minister to the Court of St. James , ie as envoy of the (First) Republic of Austria (1920-1934) and the dictatorial state of Austria (1934-1938).

During the First World War, Franckenstein served as diplomatic representative of the Habsburg Monarchy in German-occupied Belgium in 1915 and in the Caucasus occupied by the Central Powers in 1918, where he and his German colleague General Kress von Kressenstein tried to help the persecuted and starving Armenian refugees .

Baron Georg Franckenstein (portrait sketch by Philip Alexius de Laszlo ; 1925)

In the early 1920s, through his contacts in London, he was able to compensate for the serious financial distress in his country by brokering international financial bonds. Due to his lavish and representative lifestyle, especially the cultural-political motivated organization of music evenings and masked balls, he enjoyed a high social reputation in London, where - despite the abolition of the nobility in Austria in 1919 - he was still addressed as "Baron Franckenstein". On December 17, 1937 he was by King George VI. inducted into the Royal Victorian Order as Knight Commander . As a foreigner, this honor was given and was not associated with elevation to the British nobility .

With the annexation of Austria to the German Reich, he lost his diplomatic function in March 1938. He did not return to his homeland, which was now dominated by the National Socialists, but stayed in London and was naturalized as a British citizen on July 14, 1938 . On July 26, 1938 he was ennobled as Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and from then on carried the suffix "Sir". Franckenstein married the young Englishwoman Editha King on July 31, 1939 . On May 28, 1944, his son Clement George Freiherr von und zu Franckenstein was born, who later became an actor.

After the end of the Second World War , Franckenstein was offered in 1945 to run for the office of Austrian Federal President. He politely refused to do this, even in view of the low chances of being elected in a socialist state.

Franckenstein was a childhood friend of Hugo von Hofmannsthal , with whom he a. a. a lively correspondence connected. He died on October 14, 1953 as a passenger on a Convair CV-240 in the Sabena accident near Kelsterbach .

Honors

Works

Web links

Commons : Georg Albert von und zu Franckenstein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d biography of Clement von Franckenstein
  2. ↑ a b Sir George Franckenstein , Internationales Biographisches Archiv 51/1953 of December 7, 1953, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of the article freely available)
  3. ↑ Little Chronicle. (...) † Leopoldine v (on) Passavant-Franckenstein. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, No. 19375/1918, August 4, 1918, p. 9, top left. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  4. ↑ a b c Knights and Dames: FOX-GZ at Leigh Rayment's Peerage
  5. ↑ The London Gazette : No. 34541, p. 5182 , August 12, 1938.
  6. ^ Sylvia M. Patsch: Austrian writers in exile in Great Britain. A chapter of forgotten Austrian literature. Novels, autobiographies, factual reports in English and German . Brandstätter, Vienna 1985, ISBN 3-85447-076-2 , p. 210 ff.
  7. ^ Time, August 8, 1938
personal data
SURNAME Franckenstein, Georg Albert from and to
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Franckenstein, Georg von und zu; Franckenstein, Georg Freiherr von und zu
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH March 18, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden or Wiesentheid , Lower Franconia
DATE OF DEATH October 15, 1953
Place of death Kelsterbach near Frankfurt am Main