Kaiserlicher Vizekonsul Dr. Richard Kuenzer (1875 - 1945)
Biography
Dr. Richard Kuenzer, born 6 April1875 in Freiburg i.Br., studied law and, upon graduation, served in the judiciary of the Grand Duchy of Baden. He took up his candidacy as consul in 1902. Kuenzer completed his doctorate at the University of Freiburg in 1903. Between 1904 and 1913, Kuenzer worked in the German diplomatic service in a number of countries, including today's South Africa and Zanzibar, which is now a semi-autonomous region of present-day Tanzania. During the First World War, he served in the army for a year. Upon leaving the army, he held office as an honorary consul in Lugano and subsequently as consul to Macedonia, where he was ultimately taken as a prisoner of war by British forces. Following his release, Kuenzer worked for the German Foreign Office once more until his provisional retirement in 1923. Between 1925 and 1927, Kuenzer was co-editor of the daily newspaper Germania, which was aligned with the German Centre Party. Kuenzer himself was a member of the German Centre Party, belonging to its left-wing faction. He was also active in the German Catholics’ Peace Association. Kuenzer was sent into permanent retirement in July 1933. During the Nazi era, Kuenzer joined the Solf Circle, an informal gathering of intellectuals involved in the resistance against the Nazi regime. In July 1943, Kuenzer was arrested and imprisoned. During the night of 22/23 April 1945, within a matter of days before the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht, Dr. Richard Kuenzer was murdered in Berlin by a special unit of the Reich Security Main Office.