Kurt von Kleefeld

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Kurt Kleefeld (standing, right) in the presidium of the Hansa-Bund at a meeting in November 1912 in Berlin. Next to him is Hartmann von Richthofen on the left . Sitting, from left: Franz Heinrich Witthoefft , Jakob Riesser and Albert Hirth

Kurt von Kleefeld (until he was raised to the nobility on November 12, 1918 Kurt Kleefeld ; * October 16, 1881 in Kassel , † October 28, 1934 in Berlin-Karlshorst ) was a lawyer, administrative clerk, association official, industrialist and landowner. He was a brother-in-law of Gustav Stresemann .

From 1909 to 1916 Kleefeld was managing director of the Hansabund and from 1914 to 1932 he was the royal Hohenlohe-Oehringian administrator and general agent of the Hohenlohe mines and industrial companies.

Kurt von Kleefeld was the last German to be ennobled during the German Empire .

Life

Origin and career

Kleefeld came from an assimilated Jewish entrepreneurial family and was baptized Protestant at the request of his parents. The relatively wealthy family moved to Berlin in December 1882 . His father Adolf (also Arthur, originally Aaron) Kleefeld (1856–1902) ran a cotton business together with his older brother Hermann and later became involved in lignite mining . After his early death, his mother Antonie, daughter of the horse dealer Julius Heinemann from Lankwitz in the Teltow district near Berlin, was left to fend for himself with Kurt and his three very handsome younger sisters. He studied in Berlin , Leipzig and Freiburg im Breisgau . With a thesis on animal owner liability , Kleefeld acquired a doctorate in law in 1904 . After completing his studies, he passed the state examination in 1905 as a government assessor with a legal study on theater censorship in Prussia and entered the Prussian administrative service. In 1910 he became deputy district administrator in Briesen in West Prussia . His sister Kate (1883–1970) had been married to Gustav Stresemann from 1903 , who, like Kleefeld, belonged to the Leipzig reform fraternity, Suevia .

On the mediation of his brother-in-law, Kurt Kleefeld was initially honorary in 1909 and from 1912 full-time managing director of the liberal economic interest group Hansabund . On the recommendation of Albert Ballin , in the spring of 1914 he was appointed President of the Chamber (i.e. head of the property and financial administration) of Prince Christian Kraft zu Hohenlohe-Oehringen , one of the richest aristocrats in Germany, who had been in business difficulties for several years. Prince Christian Kraft founded a general administration for the widely scattered estates of his house in the imperial capital Berlin, where he also lived, and gave Kleefeld the management. In addition to large agricultural and forestry holdings, the Princely House also had considerable mining and industrial holdings. After all, the house's coal mines accounted for around 7% of total production in Germany around 1900. The zinc smelters produced 5% of world production. However, the prince had taken over financially through numerous unsystematic investments. Kleefeld should renovate the property again. He calculated debt obligations of 160 million gold marks. Through good relations with Hjalmar Schacht , Kleefeld was able to raise the necessary capital to pay off the debt obligations. After that, the aging prince made Kleefeld his closest advisor and companion, gave him complete confidence and left all the business of his house to him for years.

During the First World War , Kleefeld also performed hospital services in Belgium and was awarded the Iron Cross as well as various civilian orders of merit .

Nobility titles, marriage, goods

Kurt Kleefeld was the last person to acquire a title of nobility in Germany . At the request of his employer, Prince Christian Kraft zu Hohenlohe-Öhringen, Duke of Ujest, "in recognition of the many years of loyal service rendered to him" by Prince Leopold IV zur Lippe on November 12, 1918, the day of his abdication Lippe nobility raised. The background was that the Kleefeld Knight's Cross of the First Class of the Württemberg Order of Frederick, which was promised in recognition of its work for Prince Kraft, had not been associated with the elevation to the personal nobility since 1913, which is why the ennoblement by the Prince of Lippe was a way out appeared. Kleefeld succeeded in advancing into the nobility at the very moment when it went under: There were no longer any princes authorized to carry out class surveys in Germany, and when the Weimar Constitution came into force on August 14, 1919, all class privileges were abolished.

For a businessman of Jewish descent like Kurt Kleefeld, the ennoblement in the German Empire meant not only social advancement, but also social recognition as an equal performer. Stresemann biographer Kurt Koszyk describes them as "a kind of protection for a baptized Jew like Kleefeld in a latently anti-Semitic society." Nobility elevations of Jews and citizens of Jewish origin were systematically denied in many German states, especially in Prussia and Saxony . The Prussian Herald's Office was reluctant to acknowledge the status surveys even carried out elsewhere . Some southern German states and small states such as Lippe were less strict in this regard and thus opened loopholes such as those used by Kleefeld.

In 1919 Kurt von Kleefeld married Gudrun Countess von Schwerin (1901–1988), who was 20 years his junior . As a landowner, Kleefeld was the master of Alt-Hartmannsdorf , Beeskow - Storkow district ; In 1922 he had the Schlössle built in Weißbach and in 1929 acquired the Forchtenberg ruins , which he had repaired and, according to an inheritance contract, wanted to bequeath to the city of Forchtenberg after his death . The castle initially remained in private ownership and only finally came into the ownership of the city in 1989.

Relationship with Stresemann

Tensions in the time of upheaval

Although nationalist, Kleefeld joined the free-thinking DDP in 1918 . The anti-Semitism of the parties further to the right was apparently a motivation for this. Kleefeld was involved on the side of the DDP in the failed unification negotiations between Freinn and the National Liberals in November 1918, so that he and Stresemann (1919 co-founder of the National Liberal DVP ) were on different sides. Stresemann, who had advocated aggressive annexationist goals during the war, remained unacceptable to the DDP, which embittered him and even led him to make anti-Semitic statements in letters (in the DDP, “exclusively Jews are the spokesmen”, one strives for “the rule of mobile capital Leadership of Judaism in Germany ”. Kleefeld expressed devastating criticism of Stresemann's behavior during the war and referred to him in this context as his "poor, unhappy, misguided brother-in-law", as Stresemann noted in his diary. Kleefeld himself appeared during the war as a firm supporter of Arnold Rechberg's ideas for a separate peace with France .

On the same occasion Kurt von Kleefeld apparently also said that the newly founded German Democratic Party represented “a new political ethic,” which Stresemann commented on in later notes with emphatic mockery. His biographer Jonathan Wright suspects the reason for Stresemann's ridicule at the time of Kleefeld's commitment to democracy (around November 15, 1918): Only a few days earlier he had been raised to the nobility!

Kleefeld was very skeptical of the war early on. While his political friends were still debating war goals, he feared German defeat as a likely scenario during the war and, in this case, warned of the impending "Sudanization" of Germany (creating an occupation and suzerainty relationship based on the model of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan meant). In the run-up to the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty, he repeated this warning in an article in the Berliner Acht-Uhr-Abendblatt on May 19, 1919, this time formulated as an appeal to the victorious powers, from which he concluded a peace based on the 14-point program the American President Woodrow Wilson demanded and called for this point of view to be consistently disseminated to the international public in order to ostracize the program of "Sudanization" of Germany run by opposing maximalists.

Collaboration in Stresemann's network

Despite such tensions and divergences, Kurt von Kleefeld always belonged to the close political network and circle of influence of his brother-in-law and remained connected to Stresemann his entire life. Stresemann was particularly useful in his extensive relationships with the nobility and the financial world. Even the placement of Kleefeld in the Hansabund was a maneuver by Stresemann to secure his influence in the association he co-founded; Even the position of Kleefeld as the princely general administrator was probably at least indirectly engineered by Stresemann. Stresemann belonged to the supervisory boards of various large corporations, partly together with Kleefeld, who had gained access to such committees through his position as general representative and was able to work there in the spirit of Stresemann.

At the same time, the Stresemann biographers emphasize that the relationship between Kurt von Kleefeld and Stresemann was not a one-sided relationship of dependence and admiration and that Kleefeld was not just Stresemann's assistant or adept (Pohl, on the other hand, names other close collaborators of Stresemann, for whom this, in his opinion, applies). Not only the political differences at the founding of the DDP are cited as an example, but also the fact that the stylish and self-confident Kurt Kleefeld moved more skillfully and elegantly in the social arena, had access to other circles that Stresemann remained closed, and the like Like Stresemann himself, who envied his brother-in-law many qualities: “Kurt Kleefeld had a wealth of qualities that Stresemann himself lacked: charm, a certain lightness (also in financial matters) and socially perfect manners. He was at least as career-conscious as Stresemann. "

Hostility

Even before the First World War, Heinrich Claß , the leader of the Pan-Germans , had accused Stresemann and his mentor Ernst Bassermann (whose wife Julie also came from a Jewish family) in his pseudonym published agitation text If I were the Kaiser (Leipzig, 1912) , that they were "Jewishly mixed". During his political career in the Weimar Republic (1923–1929), the extreme right repeatedly tried to discredit Stresemann, including through his kinship with Kurt von Kleefeld. In addition to the reference to Kleefeld's Jewish origins, as the general representative of the House of Hohenlohe-Oehringen, he was also accused of having raised French and English capital for the companies located in Poland after 1918, thereby damaging German interests in these areas. In domestic and foreign media it was speculated that Stresemann would be financially supported by his rich brother-in-law. The Time Magazine kolportierte these rumors on 8 November 1926 by Gustav Stresemann put the (satirical invented) words in his mouth: "A story made the rounds last week in Berlin that my ability, with a salary of 6,400 dollars per year to run a big house, to the kind promotion of my affairs by the multimillionaire Dr. von Kleefeld owes my noble brother-in-law. ”In 1928, however, attacks also came from the SPD central organ Vorwärts . On the main page, the newspaper quoted statements from the Hindenburger Tageblatt , which stated that Kleefeld was "the typical representative of a certain class of upstart".

Corruption allegations and death

After disputes with the heirs of Prince Christian Kraft, who died in 1926, Kleefeld left the service of the house in 1932. There was a long-term legal dispute with his former employer, which only two years after his death resulted in a court settlement between the heirs of v. Kleefelds, namely his sisters and their husbands, and the foundation of the Princely House ended. In essence, he was accused of taking assets abroad for personal use and of damaging the company through his administration. Gustav Stresemann was also confronted with the allegations against his brother-in-law in the last few months before his death (October 3, 1929), the scope and justification of which he was not yet able to assess. According to Stresemann's biographer Koszyk, the details reported in the press looked like a variation on the affair of “ Jud Suss ”. Stresemann had feared as early as 1926 that his brother-in-law's financial irregularities might fall back on him and warned him to be careful. In order to avoid prosecutions for alleged tax evasion, v. Kleefeld temporarily moved to Hungary in 1931 and later to Switzerland .

Kurt von Kleefeld joined the Berlin Society of Friends in 1931 , but is no longer listed in the association's membership directory for 1933, which was published in early 1934.

Successor v. The banker Richard Chrambach (1932–1942), who appeared as Kleefeld's main opponent in the dispute over the allegations of embezzlement , became Kleefeld's general administrator of the Hohenlohe property . Also of Jewish origin, he tried to deny this during the Nazi era and saw himself as a staunch National Socialist. Later, after his release for “racial reasons” in the Second World War , he went to Hungary and from there carried out his “Aryanization” and return to office in an adventurous way with the help of forged certificates of descent and paternity declarations , whereby he exposed himself to blackmail and was finally exposed. Chrambach was admitted as a German Jew to the Austrian concentration camp Mauthausen in February 1945 and murdered there.

Kurt von Kleefeld died at the end of October 1934 as a result of a heart attack on the Berlin-Karlshorst trotting track . He left no offspring. Stresemann's son Wolfgang looked after the interests of Kleefeld's heirs until the dispute was settled in November 1936, and in 1939 emigrated to the USA with his mother, Kurt's sister Käte. At that time, the National Socialists avoided exploiting the inheritance disputes between Kleefeld's family and the princely administration for propaganda purposes, because at that time a campaign against the memory of Gustav Stresemann did not seem opportune due to the international reputation of the deceased politician and the good relations his family had abroad .

The communist economic journalist and poet Franz Jung , who was usually well informed about the details of business affairs in high finance , who knew Chrambach personally and who witnessed his unfortunate Aryanization affair in Hungary, claimed in 1946 in his letters to Ruth Fischer , “the predecessor of Chrambach, brother-in-law of Stresemann was able to steal 120 million Reichsmarks from the administration of this company, some of which Chr [ambach] was able to steal from him. "However, Jung considered Chrambach to be a" madman "and otherwise took his statements very little seriously.

coat of arms

The coat of arms awarded to Kurt von Kleefeld when he was raised to the hereditary nobility is split and shows a four-leaf green clover leaf on the right, in silver at the top of the shield, and a natural wagon wheel in red on the left; below, over the shield, a gold-edged sword slanted upwards to the right. On the crowned helmet with red and silver covers an open flight, silver on the right, red on the left, with the four-leaf clover in between.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Bührer: Introduction , in: ders. (Ed.), Henry Axel Bueck : Mein Lebenslauf. Ed. and with an introductory commentary by Werner Bührer (articles on the company's history, vol. 95 = new series, vol. 1). Frank Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, p. 24; with reference to Siegfried Mielke : The Hansa Association for Trade, Commerce and Industry, 1909–1914: the failed attempt at an anti-feudal collection policy. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1976, p. 196 (attachments) .
  2. ^ A b Eberhard Kolb : Gustav Stresemann. Beck, Munich 2003, p. 26 f.
  3. ↑ DNB : Kleefeld, Adolf (idn = 1082046078) .
  4. ↑ Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom : Liberal deadlines: 12.6. - The “Hansabund für Gewerbe, Handel und Industrie” is founded in Berlin (accessed on February 11, 2016). From this:
    In its presidium [that of the Hansabund founded in 1909] the majority of free-thinking and national liberal politicians were represented, the first president was the lawyer and banker Jacob Riesser (1853-1932), later a national liberal member of the Reichstag; first managing director of Gustav Stresemann's brother-in-law Kurt von Kleefeld (1881-1934).
  5. ↑ a b Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg , Hohenlohe-Zentralarchiv Neuenstein : inventory overview Berlin General Administration (Oe 145): content and miscellaneous (accessed on February 11, 2016).
  6. ↑ Kurt Koszyk: Gustav Stresemann: The democrat loyal to the emperor. A biography. Kiepenheuer & Witsch , Cologne 1989, p. 81 f.
  7. ^ Kurt Koszyk: Gustav Stresemann. Cologne 1989, p. 161; 183; Fig. 6.
  8. ^ A b Kurt Koszyk: Gustav Stresemann. Cologne 1989, p. 183.
  9. ^ Kai Drewes: Jüdischer Adel: Nobilitierungen von Juden in Europa des 19. Century. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2013, page 273 a. ö. Especially on Kleefeld cf. ibid. Page 104 f., Note 280.
  10. ^ Information page Burg Forchtenberg (burgenarchiv.de, accessed on February 11, 2016).
  11. ^ Kurt Koszyk: Gustav Stresemann. Cologne 1989, p. 156.
  12. ^ A b Karl Heinrich Pohl: Gustav Stresemann: Biography of a border commuter. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2015, p. 91; 179; 211.
  13. ^ Gaines Post: The Civil-Military Fabric of Weimar Foreign Policy. Princeton University Press, New Jersey 1976, pp. 143 et al. Note 30 .
  14. ↑ Jonathan Wright : Gustav Stresemann. Weimar's Greatest Statesman. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2002, pp. 120 u. Note 26.
  15. ↑ The article is quoted in excerpts together with corresponding discussion notes in: Georg Freiherr von Eppstein : Der Deutsche Kronprinz. Leipzig 1926, p. 211 f. (Eppstein was acquainted with Kleefeld).
  16. ^ Karl Heinrich Pohl: Gustav Stresemann. Göttingen 2015, p. 155.
  17. ^ Karl Heinrich Pohl: Gustav Stresemann. Göttingen 2015, pp. 88–90.
  18. ^ Karl Heinrich Pohl: Gustav Stresemann. Göttingen 2015, p. 91; see. also Kurt Koszyk: Gustav Stresemann. Cologne 1989, p. 81.
  19. ↑ Jonathan Wright: Gustav Stresemann. Oxford 2002, p. 48 and Note 88.
  20. ^ Kurt Koszyk: Gustav Stresemann. Cologne 1989, p. 272.
  21. ↑ “A story went the rounds of Berlin last week that my ability to entertain lavishly on a salary of $ 6,400 a year is due to the kindly furtherance of my affairs by the multimillionaire Dr. von Kleefeld, my bachelor brother-in-law. " [1] That the "quote" is an ironic parody is evident from the introduction to the article. [2]
  22. ^ Kurt Koszyk: Gustav Stresemann. Cologne 1989, p. 356.
  23. ^ Kurt Koszyk: Gustav Stresemann. Cologne 1989, p. 355 f .; Karl Heinrich Pohl: Gustav Stresemann. Göttingen 2015, p. 91.
  24. ^ According to information from Sebastian Panwitz (author of: The Society of Friends 1792–1935. Berlin Jews between Enlightenment and High Finance. Georg Olms, Hildesheim 2007, ISBN 978-3-487-13346-1 ) of July 17, 2017.
  25. ↑ a b Peter Lübbe (Ed.): Ruth Fischer / Arkadij Maslow: Abtrnig gegen Willen. From letters and manuscripts of exile. R. Oldenbourg, Munich 1990, p. 194 and p. 197, note 3 (documents part I: “Letters from and to Ruth Fischer and Arkadij Maslow 1934–1961”, document 80: letter of December 5, 1946).
  26. ↑ Entry in the central database of Holocaust victims of the Yad Vashem memorial with Richard Chrambach's prisoner card as a German Jew of the Mosaic religion (accessed on February 12, 2016).
  27. ↑ Michael Engel: Public family tree of the Pringsheim family ( memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) with the mention (as person no. 361) of Richard Chrambach (1890–1945) and further evidence (accessed on February 12, 2016).
  28. ^ Kurt Koszyk: Gustav Stresemann. Cologne 1989, p. 357.
  29. ^ According to information dated September 11, 2009 by the heraldist Claus J. Billet, member of the Heraldic Association of Westphalia, based on information from Joachim von Roy (accessed on February 11, 2016).

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kleefeld, Kurt von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kleefeld, Kurt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION last person to receive a title of nobility in Germany
DATE OF BIRTH October 16, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH kassel
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 1934
Place of death Berlin-Karlshorst