Adolf Tortilowicz von Batocki-Friebe

Max Johann Otto Adolf Tortilowicz von Batocki-Friebe, usually known as Adolf von Batocki-Friebe (31 July 1868 – 22 May 1944), was a German noble, lawyer and politician, and belonged to a noble Lithuanian family.

Early life, education and government service Batocki-Friebe was born at Gut Bledau, Cranz near Königsberg, East Prussia to an aristocratic family. He studied law at the universities of Bonn, Strasbourg and Königsberg. He joined the Prussian civil service as a government Assessor in 1895. He served as the Landrat (district administrator) in the Königsberg Regierungsbezirk from 1900 to 1907 and then became the chairman of the East Prussian Chamber of Agriculture from 1907 to 1914. He sat as a member of the Prussian House of Lords from 1910 to its abolition in 1918.

First World War roles Batocki-Friebe served as Oberpräsident of the Province of East Prussia for two periods spanning most of the First World War (1 October 1914 – 1 August 1916 and 1 February 1918 – 30 June 1919).

After German forces repulsed the Imperial Russian Army's invasion of East Prussia, Batocki-Friebe was instrumental in reconstructing the war damage in the province and was selected as president of the War Food Office, which he headed from 22 May 1916 to 6 August 1917. From there, he served on the Italian front as a major of reserves and was the military governor of Udine until February 1918 when he returned to resume the office of Oberpräsident of East Prussia. He sat on the board of directors of the Deutsche Reichsbahn and the boards of several corporations. He founded and led the Institute for East German Economics. In 1927, Batocki-Friebe was appointed an honorary professor on the faculty the University of Königsberg and lectured on economics. He spent his later years on his family estate. In the 1932 German presidential election, he publicly campaigned for the re-election of Paul von Hindenburg over Adolf Hitler.

Batocki-Friebe was a Knight of Justice of the Order of Saint John.

Publications Ostpreussens Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft, 1915. Die Preisbildung im Kriege 1916. (with Karl Thieß) Ostpreußen in Harren und Krieg, in Sturz und Sieg, 1916. (with Paul Burg) Russisch als Pflichtfach an höheren Schulen der Ostprovinzen, 1918. (with Joh Gerschmann) Vom Kampfe um das Geschick Ostpreußens, 1919. Warenpreis und Geldwert im Kriege, 1919. Wie kann die innere Siedlung und Bodenausnutzung schnell und wirksam [...], 1919. Umstellung der Landwirtschaft, 1920. Ostpreussens wirtschaftliche Lage vor und nach dem Weltkriege, 1920. Schluss mit Kriegszwangswirtschaft!, 1921. Staatsreferendar und Staatsassessor, 1927. (with Werner Friedrich Bruck, Heinrich von Friedberg) Preussen, der Kern der deutschen Verfassungsfrage, 1928. Bevölkerung und Wirtschaft in Ostpreussen, 1929. (with Gerhard Schack) Bedeutung und Umfang der Meliorationen in Deutschland, 1931. Die Bedeutung landwirtschaftlicher Meliorationen in Ostpreussen im Rahmen..., 1933. (with Otto Heinemann, Kurt Stüwe)