Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg
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| Adolf Friedrich | |
| Duke of the United Baltic Duchy | |
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| Reign | 5 November 1918 – 28 November 1918 |
| Born | October 10, 1873 |
| Birthplace | Schwerin |
| Died | August 5, 1969 (aged 95) |
| Place of death | Eutin |
| Consort | Princess Viktoria Reuss-Schleiz |
| Royal House | Mecklenburg |
| Father | Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin |
| Mother | Princess Marie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt |
Duke Adolf Friedrich Albrecht Heinrich of Mecklenburg (10 October 1873 – 5 August 1969) was a German explorer in Africa, a colonial politician, the elected Duke of the United Baltic Duchy from November 5 to November 28, 1918, and the first president of the National Olympic Committee of Germany (1949–1951).
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[edit] Biography
Born in Schwerin, Adolf Friedrich was the third child of Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1823–1883), and his third wife Princess Marie Caroline of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.
[edit] Explorer of Africa
From 1907–1908, Adolf Friedrich led a scientific research expedition in the region of the Central African Graben and traversed across Africa from east to west. In 1908 he was awarded the Eduard Vogel Medal of the Association of Geography of Leipzig.The insects from his expeditions and residence in Togo are in Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin and Senckenberg Museum
From 1910–1911, he led an expedition to Lake Chad and the northern rivers of the Congo until the Nile in current Sudan. Adolf Friedrich and his companions explored the then little-known primeval forest region of the Congo tributaries and the basin of Lake Chad. Individual groups extended their explorations to the Bahr el Ghazal near the upper Nile, while others travelled to south Cameroon and the islands of the Gulf of Guinea. Vom Kongo zum Niger und Nil ("From the Congo to the Niger and the Nile"), a two-volume work based on the 1910–1911 expeditions, has an excellent reputation today for its detail and images.
From 1912–1914, Adolf Friedrich was the last governor of Togoland in German West Africa; he was invited for the official celebration of the independence of Togo in 1960. After World War I, he served as the vice-president of the privately-chartered German Colonial Society for Southwest Africa; his brother Johann Albrecht was president from 1895–1920.
[edit] Duke of the United Baltic Duchy
During World War I, Adolf Friedrich was in the army of Austria-Hungary (1915) and for a short time in the army of the Ottoman Empire (1916).[citation needed]
After Soviet Russia had formally relinquished all authority over its former Imperial Baltic provinces to Germany in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk the Duchy of Courland was nominally recognized as a sovereign state by Kaiser William II on September 22, 1918. A temporary Regency Council (Regentschaftsrat) for the all Baltic provinces led by Baron Adolf Pilar von Pilchau was formed on November 5, 1918. It was to be a confederation of seven cantons: Kurland (Courland), Riga, Lettgallen (Latgale), Südlivland (Vidzeme), Nordlivland (South Estonia), Ösel (Saaremaa), and Estland (North Estonia). The capital of the new state was to be Riga. The proposed United Baltic Duchy was to be located at the future territory of Latvia and Estonia covering the territory of the medieval Livonian Confederation. The first head of state of the United Baltic Duchy was to be Adolf Friedrich, but he never assumed office. The appointed Regency Council consisting of four Baltic Germans, three Estonians and three Latvians functioned until November 28, 1918, without any international recognition, except from Germany.
[edit] Member of the International Olympic Committee
Adolf Friedrich then served as a member of the International Olympic Committee from 1926–1956 and as the first president of the National Olympic Committee of Germany from 1949–1951.
[edit] Personal life
Adolf Friedrich was married twice. In Gera on 24 April 1917, he married Princess Viktoria Feodora of Reuss-Schleiz, who died a day after giving birth to their only daughter, Duchess Woizlawa-Feodora, on 18 December 1918. He later married the widow of his half brother Duke Johann Albrecht, Princess Elisabeth of Stolberg-Rossla on the 15 October 1924; she survived him by only a few weeks after his death in Eutin in 1969.
[edit] Works
- Ins innerste Afrikas. Leipzig, 1909. Translated into English as In the Heart of Africa. London: Cassell, 1910. vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3.
- Vom Kongo zum Niger und Nil. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1912. Translated into English as: From the Congo to the Niger and the Nile: An Account of the German Central African Expedition of 1910-1911. London: Duckworth, 1913. vol. 2.
- Wissenschaftliche Erlebnisse der Deutschen Zentral-Afrika-Expedition unter Führung Adolf Friedrichs, Herzog zu Mecklenburg. Leipzig, 1922. vol. 2, vol. 4, vol. 5, vol. 7.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates information from the revision as of November 10, 2006 of the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.
[edit] See also
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