Adolf Georg von Maltzan

Adolf Georg Otto von Maltzan, usually known as Ago, entered German diplomacy in 1906 after legal training. He worked in St. Petersburg, Peking, and The Hague before taking charge of Russian affairs in Berlin. As the Bolsheviks consolidated power, he advocated reopening practical relations, first over prisoners of war and then through trade. ¹

Maltzan was a principal architect of the 1922 Treaty of Rapallo, which restored German and Soviet diplomatic relations and settled mutual financial claims. He became state secretary at the Foreign Ministry and subsequently ambassador in Washington. His American posting formed part of Germany’s effort to repair its position after the First World War. He died in an aircraft crash near Schleiz in September 1927; his Washington papers survive in the German Foreign Office’s Political Archive. ^{1, 2}