Kurt von Kleefeld

Who is Kurt von Kleefeld?

Kurt von Kleefeld was a German lawyer, Executive Director of the Hansabund, and President of the Chamber and Executive Director of the princely mines and industrial activities of the princely Hohenlohe family. He was the last person in Germany to be ennobled; on the request of his employer, Prince Christian Kraft zu Hohenlohe-Öhringen, he was raised to the hereditary nobility of the Principality of Lippe by Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe "in recognition of his loyal service" on 12 November 1918, the same day as the Sovereign Prince's abdication and the abolition of monarchy.

He belonged to a family of industrialists. Both his parents had a Jewish family background, but were Protestant by religion. His sister, Käte Stresemann, was married to the German Chancellor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Gustav Stresemann.