From Shanghai to Cincinnati: A Bavarian Reichs-Diplomat

[Guest Rick Research]

Got this one from Evil Ricky in May 2005 and just found the guy at 0030 hours this morning. Never occurred to me to look… where he was all along.

Bavarian Army Jubilee medal 1905

Prussian Red Eagle Order (RAO4)

Brunswick House Order (BrH3b to use Prussia’s abbreviation)

Bavarian Long Service Award (LD1)

Dark purple (???)

China Order of the Double Dragon (ChDDIII.3)

1897 Kaiser Wilhelm I Centenary Medal

My first instinct—with no Bavarian Order in first place—was that this was a very lucky Captain. Bavaria was stingier with its BMV4s before the war than Prussia was with RAO4s. I found several possibilities over the years with the Brunswick Order, but none worked out.

Bear in mind that not all Bavarians got a Centenary Medal—in fact most did not. But unlike the Prussia Rank Lists’ omissions of such medals, Bavarian Rank Lists DID show jubilee and campaign medals of all sorts.

Having gotten nowhere with lucky Captains, my next thoughts were of The Invisible World—and hunting for Bavarian awards that had moved OFF medal bar, leaving the foreign ones behind. Once again—no luck.

The bizarre “ribbon” in next to last place had always baffled me. It looks like a crude replacement—and yet the fragile stitching of the characteristic Bavarian robin’s egg blue backing had never been altered. I suspected it had to be something as exotic as the Imperial Chinese Order of the Double Dragon—but had never been able to find a color picture of such a ribbon…

Until Christian Lehrle’s Benemerenti auction catalog for this coming October arrived—and here one is:

Bingo! So… why hadn’t I been able to FIND an award that ceased being awarded in 1911 with the establishment of the Chinese Republic? The wearer was obviously alive in 1905. Having no Bavarian Military Handbooks between 1903, 1909, and 1913 surely meant a narrow window for the award—to somebody who died before the next issue I had—right?

Wrong. He was a RESERVIST.

Dr. Oskar Mezger’s initial commission date has eluded me.

Oberleutnant dR 16.01.02 in KB FAR 4

Hauptmann dR 19.12.09

In 1909 he had the 1905 Jubilee Medal, BLD2, and 1897. By 1913 he had added RAO4, BrH3b, and ChDDIII.3. Here is is pre-war 1914:

I then consulted the 1912 directory of Bavarian dR and dL officers to find out what his “day job” was—and found he wasn’t listed!

…because they MISTAKENLY list and index him as “Metzger” not “Mezger.”

And here he is, date of rank confirmed—as Imperial German Consul in….Cincinnati, Ohio!

Flipping through Prussian Ordenslisten found him in Nachtrag 5 to the 1905, RAO4 20.04.09 as Vice-Consul in… Shanghai.

He was not there during the Boxer Rebellion—no China Medal in Steel. Unfortunately the Gotha “Hof Kalendar” editions were never indexed—an impossible chore for such thick little “pocket books—so with an entire planet to look for career imperial diplomat Dr. Mezger… at this point can only tell from the 1914 and 1917 editions that he was Consul in Cincinnati from 1911 until the year America declared war on Germany.

Unfortunately the ONLY issue of a Reichs Hof- und Staatshandbuch I’ve seen is 1918. Excellent for WW1 awards BUT… no diplomats listed from closed embassies and consulates abroad.

Perhaps a 1914 edition might explain the dark purple ribbon. Many things were NOT listed in military Rank Lists, if obscure enough. Probably foreign—though it could be a Weimar-era Bavarian career fire department cast-iron “plum” for all a single solid color reveals. So 1 out of 7 remains a mystery---

But TWO Bavarians match, TWO Prussians match, an inexplicable 1909-13 Brunswick matches, as does an Imperial Chinese—a combination SO peculiar that Mezger was the only possible match.

Sources:

Bavarian MHBs 1903, 1909, 1913, 1914

Bavarian dR/dL Directory 1912

Hof-Kalendar 1914, 1917

Prussian Orders List 1905 Supplement 5

One more crossed off the 3 AM list!!!

[Daniel Krause]

Wow! Long search came to a good end!!! :-)

[Guest Rick Research]

Find us some pre-war Reichs HuSHBs please! Mezger is still listed as senior Hptm dR of KB FAR 4 in the April-ish 1916 MHB. But I wonder what he would have gotten for his "war service" in... Ohio...on being shipped home in 1920!

[Glenn J]

Rick,

you might find this interesting: Fresh off the scanner at the Berlin State Library this afternoon from the "Biographisches Handbuch des deutschen Auswärtigen Dienstes 1871-1945" Band 3.

Glenn

[Guest Rick Research]

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Allllleeeeeeelllllllujjjjjah!!!!!!

Oh, am I glad to be back online!

Once again millions of "Indiana Jones!"

[Glenn J]

He did make char. Major:

[Guest Rick Research]

That would have made a really weird 1918+ uniform-- NO decorations for the war and a Feldgrau Major dR!!!!!

Are you into actual personnel files there, from the looks of the paper?

Amazingly good timing Glenn, unbelievably lucky you were in the Reichshauptstdt just now--after 8 years with no name for this fellow. Wow.