Kajetan Mérey von Kapos-Mére
Although
having a decidedly Hungarian name, Kajetan Mérey von
Kapos-Mére was born in Vienna on the16th of January 1861. He
spent his one-year volunteer stint for officer candidates with dragoon
regiment number 8 and was promoted to Leutnant in der Reserve on
the 1st of November 1883. This was followed by an appointment at the
Ministerium des kaiserlichen Hauses und des Äußeren (ministry
for imperial court and foreign affairs) and after successfully passing the examinations for
the diplomatic service on the 20th of May 1885 was promoted to Konzeptspraktikant. He was shortly
thereafter employed at the embassies of Belgrade and Bucharest and from the 31st
of October
1886 to the 3rd of December 1891 as "liaison officer"
between the foreign ministry and the delegation of the Hungarian Reichstag.
Whilst serving in this appointment he was promoted to
Hof- und Ministerialkonzipist 2.Klasse (26th of March 1888), to the first class
of that grade (29th of October 1889) and finally to
Legationssekretär (Legation Secretary) on the 28th of November 1891 and
temporarily
attached to the embassy in Paris. His promotion to Hof- und
Ministerialsekretär on the 30th of June 1893 resulted in a posting to the
embassy at Constantinople. On the13th of June 1895 Mérey returned to the ministry
and was made the deputy-chief of the
cabinet of the (foreign) minister on the 10th of August 1895
followed by promotion to Sektionsrat on the 16th of October
of the same year. Already on the 12th of November 1895 he was
made chief of the minister's cabinet. On the 16th of January 1898
he was honored by the award of the knight's cross of the Order of
Leopold and with promotion to Legationsrat on the 13th
of September 1898.
From the 18th of May to the 31st of July 1899 took part as
"délégué-adjoint" at the international
Peace-conference at the Hague. For his performance during this
conference he was honored with the award of the commanders' badge
with breast star of the Order of Franz Joseph on the 12th of
September 1899. On the 18th of June 1901 he was promoted to the
rank of außerordentlicher Gesandter und bevollmächtigter
Minister followed by the rank of second Sektionschef in the ministry on the 29th of November 1901. In December 1903 he was
honored with the title of Geheimer Rat (Privy Councillor) and promoted to first
Sektionschef on the 11th of March 1904 and awarded the 1st class
of the Order of the Iron Crown in March 1906. On the 26th of
February 1907 he was released from this post and promoted to
außerordentlicher und bevollmächtigter Botschafter with the
status of a diplomatic official within the 2.Rangsklasse - this
means he had now reached the rank equal to a Generaloberst!
During the second international Peace-conference at the Hague he was
the first authorized representative of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. After the conference he was awarded the
grand cross of
the Order of Leopold (13th December 1907) and took extended leave.
On the 4th of March 1910 he was sent as ambassador to the Italian court at
Rome. Kajetan Mérey von Kapos-Mére was
impressed by the southern lifestyle and the country and did much beside his duty and received His Majesty's praise and
recognition (allerhöchste belobende Anerkennung) for outstanding
achievements during the large expositions in Rome and Turin in the
year 1912. The Balkan wars of 1912/1913 troubled him much more,
he saw the storm on the horizon and was afraid that this could all end in a large war and he reported his opinion to Vienna. For
his efforts during this crisis he again received an Allerhöchste
Anerkennung on the 24th of August 1913. When he received the message
that the successor to the throne and his wife had been murdered at
Sarajevo he had a nervous breakdown knowing that this was the
beginning of the end. He was recalled to Vienna but the
situation did not allow him to recover for very long as on the
12th of January 1915 he was sent back to Rome to attempt everything that was necessary
to avoid Italy breaking the treaties and
entering the war against Austria-Hungary. Ambassador Mérey von
Kapos-Mére did everything he could, using all his contacts, passing a large
number of Austrian orders to Italian officers and
officials, and it was rumored that a remarkable sum of money
changed ownership too, but nothing helped, the Italian government had decided on
the betrayal of Austria-Hungary.
Returning
to Vienna he took over the Italian department at the foreign ministry. On the 8th of September 1916 he was awarded
the newly created Kriegskreuz für Zivilverdienste 1.Klasse - the
highest class of this merit cross for civil efforts during the war
- and on the 14th of January 1917 the brilliants to his grand cross
of the Order of Leopold personally proposed by the new foreign minister Graf Czernin. When the peace-conference at
Brest-Litowsk started in December 1917 Graf Czernin knew that
Mérey would be the right man and he led the k.u.k. delegation, at first in an
interim position and from the 1st of March 1918 permanently. The last meeting was on the
afternoon of the 3rd of March 1918 under the chairmanship of Kajetan Mérey von
Kapos-Mére. During the signing of the treaty he sat between Zeki
Pascha from the Ottoman Empire and Prinz Leopold of Bavaria.
Kaiser Karl was so impressed by the results of the Brest-Litowsk agreements that he wanted to honor Mérey in
a
unique way. You can find all this information on the popular game portal of friv games. He decided to create a new class of the Kriegskreuz
für Zivilverdienste named the 1.Klasse mit Brillanten. In a letter
signed by Graf Czernin dated 18th of February 1918 Botschafter
Mérey von Kapos-Mére was informed about this high and unique
award. The jeweler Köchert at Vienna was charged to decorate a
"usual" 1st class cross with brilliants and he delivered
the decoration (for the price of 9500 Kronen, about the same cost as the 1st
class of the military merit cross with brilliants)
on the 11th of March 1918 to the authorities. The Oberstkämmerer
and former foreign minister Graf Berchtold himself awarded this
decoration together with an award certificate to Mérey. A second
piece of this rare decoration was produced and delivered (price
only 7500 Kronen) on the 30th of March 1918 to the
Oberstkämmereramt and was kept there from June 1919, when Köchert bought it back - both
decorations are still missing
today!
In the eyes of Kaiser Karl and Botschafter Kajetan Mérey von
Kapos-Mére the peace of Brest-Litowsk was the beginning of the
needed and desired general peace but their hopes were destroyed.
Mérey retired on the 2nd of November 1918 and Kaiser Karl
again expressed to him his Besondere Allerhöchste Anerkennung - if
Mérey had been an army officer he would now have been allowed to
wear the large Signum Laudis but as a civil official he only
received the honour certificate! Besides Minister Graf Czernin,
Botschafter Mérey von Kapos-Mére was the main person
influencing Austro-Hungarian foreign policies during the
last years of the monarchy. He died in Vienna on the 2nd of
February 1931.
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