Otto Kueck (1878 – March 1915) was a German businessman, agent, and diplomat in Chihuahua City, Mexico. He was the German consul of the city between 1908 and 1914, when Pancho Villa expelled him because of his support of

Victoriano Huerta José Victoriano Huerta Márquez (; 22 December 1854 – 13 January 1916) was a general in the Mexican Federal Army and 39th President of Mexico, who came to power by coup against the democratically elected government of Francisco I. Madero wit ...

. He not only served in the German diplomatic corps but also was a German secret service agent and recruiter. The best known German spies who worked for him were

Felix A. Sommerfeld Felix A. Sommerfeld (May 28, 1879 – ?) was a German secret service agent in Mexico and the United States between 1908 and 1919. He was chief of the Mexican secret service under President Francisco I. Madero, worked as a diplomat and arms buy ...

and Horst von der Goltz. Kueck was succeeded by Ernst Goeldner and died in March 1915 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

as a result of a heart attack.

Biography

Born in 1878 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany, Kueck emigrated to Mexico at the turn of the century. He worked for the merchant house of Ketelsen and Degetau in Ciudad Juarez. The owner of the store was Emil Ketelsen, a wealthy businessman in Chihuahua, German consul and leader of the German community of the state. Kueck married Ketelson's daughter Emilie. When Ketelsen died in 1905, Kueck took over the diplomatic representation of the German community in Chihuahua as Vice Consul. Ketelsen left his daughter a sizeable fortune, a third of an estimated one million Pesos (approximately $11 Million in today's value). Kueck returned to Germany in 1906 to recover from a liver illness. Very likely it is between 1906 and 1908 that he entered the service of the Ettappendienst der Marine, the precursor to the German naval intelligence service. When he returned to Chihuahua in 1908 he had orders to establish contact with the burgeoning anti-reelection opposition forming against the Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz. It is unclear whether Kueck recruited

, who came to Chihuahua around the same time, or received orders to be Sommerfeld's secret service handler in Chihuahua. Certain is that Kueck maneuvered Sommerfeld close to the future president of Mexico,

Francisco I. Madero Francisco Ignacio Madero González (; 30 October 1873 – 22 February 1913) was a Mexican businessman, revolutionary, writer and Public figure, statesman, who became the 37th president of Mexico from 1911 until he was deposed in Ten Tragic Da ...

. In 1911, at the initiative of Sommerfeld, Kueck received a promotion to full consul.Auswaertiges Amt, Politisches Archiv Berlin, Mexiko II, Paket 5 Kueck also had involvement with the notorious World War I sabotage agent Horst von der Goltz. Von der Goltz appeared in Chihuahua around 1913. According to von der Goltz' memoirs, Kueck recommended him to the German military attache in Washington,

Franz von Papen Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen, Erbsälzer zu Werl und Neuwerk (; 29 October 18792 May 1969) was a German conservative politician, diplomat, Prussian nobleman and General Staff officer. He served as the chancellor of Germany i ...

. At the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in Chihuahua in 1911, troops believed to be Villistas ransacked and burned the Ketelsen and Degetau store in Ciudad Juarez in the course of the Battle of Ciudad Juarez (1911). This act turned most of the German community against Madero's government, including Otto Kueck. When Madero died in a coup d'état in the Decena Tragica in February 1913, Kueck began to support the new Mexican government under

. When the Constitutionalists under the leadership of

Venustiano Carranza José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (; 29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920) was a Mexican wealthy land owner and politician who was Governor of Coahuila when the constitutionally elected president Francisco I. Madero was overthrown in a February ...

defeated Huerta in 1914, Pancho Villa expelled the German consul for his support of the usurper president.von Feilitzsch, ''In Plain Sight: Felix A. Sommerfeld, Spymaster in Mexico, 1908 to 1914'', p. 310 Kueck fled to Los Angeles, California where he died from a heart attack in March 1915.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kueck, Otto 1878 births 1915 deaths German spies World War I spies for Germany German expatriates in Mexico