Alfons Mumm von Schwarzenstein

Who was Alfons Mumm von Schwarzenstein?

Philipp Alfons Freiherr Mumm von Schwarzenstein was a diplomat of the German Empire. He succeeded the murdered Baron Clemens von Ketteler as ambassador in Beijing in 1900.

Mumm studied law at Götttingen University and entered the diplomatic service afterwards. He served in London, Washington D.C., Bucarest, Rome, Luxembourgh and again in Washington. During his years in China, he dealt with the Boxer Rebellion and signed The Boxer Protocol on September 7, 1901 on behalf of Germany, maintained an extraordinarily good relation with Empress Dowager Cixi, but also he took many pictures of China in the 1900s as an amateur photographer. From 1909-11, he was ambassador of the German Reich in Japan. He retired in 1911, but was reactivated 1914 in Berlin. In 1917-1918, he represented the German Reich in Kiev.