Adolf Tortilowicz von Batocki-Friebe
Max Johann Otto Adolf Tortilowicz von Batocki-Friebe, usually known as Adolf von Batocki-Friebe, was a German noble, lawyer and politician, and belonged to a noble Lithuanian family.
Early life, education and government service
Batocki-Friebe was born at Gut Bledau, Cranz near Königsberg, East Prussia to an aristocratic family. He studied law at the universities of Bonn, Strasbourg and Königsberg. He joined the Prussian civil service as a government Assessor in 1895. He served as the Landrat in the Königsberg Regierungsbezirk from 1900 to 1907 and then became the chairman of the East Prussian Chamber of Agriculture from 1907 to 1914. He sat as a member of the Prussian House of Lords from 1910 to its abolition in 1918.First World War roles
Batocki-Friebe served as Oberpräsident of the Province of East Prussia for two periods spanning most of the First World War. The onset of the war led to an initial wave of refugees fleeing those areas that the Imperial German Army felt could not be effectively defended. This led to a humanitarian crisis which the authorities hoped to mitigate by setting up the War Relief Commission. At their first plenary held on 12 October 1914, Batocki-Friebe outlined his approach:After German forces repulsed the Imperial Russian Army's invasion of East Prussia, Batocki-Friebe was instrumental in reconstructing the war damage in the province and was selected as president of the War Food Office, which he headed from 22 May 1916 to 6 August 1917. From there, he served on the Italian front as a major of reserves and was the military governor of Udine until February 1918 when he returned to resume the office of Oberpräsident of East Prussia.
Post-war life
In the Weimar Republic, Batocki-Friebe was elected as a deputy of the provincial parliament of East Prussia from 1919 to 1921 as a member of the conservative German National People's Party. He sat on the board of directors of the Deutsche Reichsbahn and the boards of several corporations. He founded and led the Institute for East German Economics. In 1927, Batocki-Friebe was appointed an honorary professor on the faculty the University of Königsberg and lectured on economics. He spent his later years on his family estate. In the 1932 German presidential election, he publicly campaigned for the re-election of Paul von Hindenburg over Adolf Hitler.Batocki-Friebe was a Knight of Justice of the Order of Saint John.