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Aleksander Piotr Mohl (alt. Alexander), Count, (November 18, 1899 – June, 1954) was a Polish military officer, diplomat and intelligence officer.

Early life

Aleksander Piotr Mohl was born on November 18, 1899 at Wyszki, the Mohl estate in Courland which is today Latvia. The Mohl family were an old noble Baltic family tracing their lineage to the 15th century. Originally known as Graf von der Mohl, the name was shortened to Mohl in order to make it sound more Polish . Aleksander's father was Count (hrabia) Hieronim Mohl(1871-1939), and his mother was Vera Letitia Bornholdt(1874-1908) daughter to a Danish shipping magnate. He was educated at his father estate Wyszki, until 1911. In 1912, he attended the Grabowski school in Stara Wies close to Warsaw. Due to illness he had to leave the school and travelled to France. When he returned he enrolled in the Russian gymnasium in Jelgawa, moving during the war to Smolensk and Yalta(Crimea), where he graduated in 1918. When the Germans occupied Crimea he returned to his father's estate and started studying at the Polytechnic School at Riga. He left Riga two months before it was captured by Bolsheviks and went to Berlin and then Dresden. In late January 1919, he illegally crossed the German border volunteered for the Polish army and served as private, NCO, and later a cadet officer in the 10th Lithuanian Uhlan Regiment. He left the regiment in October 1920 to continue his studies. He graduated from the Poznan University of Technology in political science in 1922.

Personal life

In September 1929 he married Countess Elżbieta Hutten-Czapska at the Albertyn estate of the Puslwoski family. In 1929 Elżbieta and Aleksander had twin daughters, Therese and Sophie. He ended his military career in 1930 as a Second Lieutenant with the 13th Regiment of Wilno Uhlans. During that year his wife died of complications during an operation gone wrong.

In 1940, Mohl fled to Portugal on the SS Nyaasa. His two daughters lived with Mary Anne Payne Clew Blumenthal in Brookville, New York, with whom he was having an affair, and with whom he had phone contact from Portugal until the FBI cut them off. Mohl's brother, Maurice, and sister and law fled to New York as well. Maurice Mohl's wife reportedly had an affair with Otto Abetz, Hitler's man in Paris. Aleksander is mentioned in intelligence briefings to the US president in regards to a possible coup plot by a ring led by Allen W. Gullion, mainly due to their mutual personal relationships.

Diplomatic career

From 1925 to 1927 he served as Secretary of the Marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland, Wojciech Trąmpczyński. He continued serving as Secretary of the Marshall of the Senate for Julian Szymański from 1928 to 1930. From 1930 to 1935 he served a third term as Secretary of the Marshall of the Senate, now under Władysław Raczkiewicz, who had succeeded Szymanski.

Towards the end of 1936 Aleksander was appointed to his first assignment abroad as First Secretary of the Polish Embassy in Paris, serving under Ambassador Juliusz Lukasiewicz. Aleksander, or "Olko" as he was nicknamed, was very well liked and made many friends in Paris beyond the diplomatic circles such as Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Ambassador Lukasiewicz said that he was a very precise barometer, feeling every change in the surrounding situation.

Before the Germans occupied Paris in 1940, the Polish Embassy staff left the city.

From 1940-1943, Mohl served as head of the delegation of Poland to France at the Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal. In 1944, Aleksander moved to the position of Counselor to the Embassy in Algiers, serving just during that year. He became one of the most popular persons in the temporary capital of the Free French Forces, acting as a "connector" of great value to all the allies. Aleksander spoke fluent Polish, Russian, French, German and English, which in this environment was extremely useful. The diplomats were fond of him, politicians trusted him and even officers of the allied command, normally reluctant with civilians, liked him. When the Germans left Paris, the Polish Embassy was reopened and Aleksander served as Counseler in the Embassy until 1945. The war ended and the Western Powers gave into Stalin's demands, withdrawing the accreditation of the Polish government-in-exile.

Intelligence officer

During the war, Mohl served as an intelligence officer for the Polish government in exile.

He is mentioned as a possible source of an intelligence leak from William J. Donovan to the Abwehr in 1942 regarding American war plans in Europe. At the time, US planning was to hold off the US invasion until arms production tilted the war in America's favor, expecting the Soviets to hold off. Mohl held an extensive discussion with Donovan at the time in Washington.

After the War

At the end of the war, Aleksander was stateless and could not return to Poland. He moved to Madrid. He tried mediating between American funds and underinvested Spanish companies. Though a good mediator, he was not a good businessman. Always impeccably dressed, he escorted some of the well known socialite ladies of the day such as Mrs Margaret Biddle. Aleksander passed away in Madrid in June 1954 due to cancer, and was buried in the Cementerio de San Justo.

Awards

Aleksander was awarded the French Legion of Honour, Commander Class; The Yugoslav Order of St Sava , Commander Class; The Estonian Order of the Cross of the Eagle, Commander Class, the Order of Polonia Restituta, Officer Class; The Silver Cross of Merit (Poland),and the 1918-1921 Polish War Medal. He was also awarded the Order of the Crown (Belgium), Officer Class; and the Order of the Star of Romania, Officer Class.

References

1. ^ Piotrowski, Jacek, ed. Dzienniki czynności Prezydenta RP Władysława Raczkiewicza, 1939-1947, Vol. 1. No. 2687. Wyd. Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 2004. p61
2. mj@minakowski.pl, Marek Jerzy Minakowski. "Aleksander Piotr Mohl h. Ropuchy". Sejm-Wielki.pl.
3. Jurzak, Ryszard. "Genealogia dynastyczna". genealogia.grocholski.pl.
4. the Central Military Archive (Centralne Archiwum Wojskowe, ul. Czerwonych Beretow bl. 124, 00-910 Warszawa, caw@wp.mil.pl ).Archive Number 1814
5. mj@minakowski.pl, Marek Jerzy Minakowski. "Elżbieta hr. Hutten-Czapska h. Leliwa". Sejm-Wielki.pl.
6. FDR presendential records, page 19, letter November 1942
7. FDR presendential records, page 59, letter November 1942
8. Wojciech Trąmpczyński, Zygmunt Kaczmarek, Wydawn. "Lega", 1993 , pages 155-156
9. "Zbiory NAC on-line". audiovis.nac.gov.pl.
10. "Zbiory NAC on-line". audiovis.nac.gov.pl.
11. "Zbiory NAC on-line". audiovis.nac.gov.pl.
12. Twórczość, Volume 50, Issues 9-12, 1994, RSW "Prasa-Książa-Ruch"
13. ^ Rojek, Wojciech. Odyseja skarbu Rzeczypospolitej: losy złota Banku Polskiego 1939-1950. Wydawn. Literackie, 2000. p 515
14. Roosevelt's spy games, Washington Times, 2001
15. Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage, By Joseph E. Persico, 2002, ISBN-13: 978-0375761263
16. "According to Colonel Donovan"; A Document from the Records of German Military Intelligence, Timothy P. Mulligan, The Historian, Vol. 46, No. 1 (NOVEMBER, 1983), pp. 78-86
17. Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage, By Douglas Waller, page 119, 2012, ISBN-13: 978-1416576204
18. Spanish Death Certifcate issued by the Spanish Ministry of Justice, L 000324, F 205, Number 3424033/06
19. https://audiovis.nac.gov.pl/obraz/47126/2df328967b589d63c8c7a1da73e07053/
20. https://www.president.ee/en/estonia/decorations/bearer/15092/krahv-aleksander-mohl

• Łukasiewicz, Juliusz (1970). Jedrzejewicz, Waclaw (ed.). Diplomat in paris, 1936-139. Papers and memoirs of Juliusz Lukasiewicz, Ambassador of Poland. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231033087.
• Baltische Ritterschaften: Livland. Estland. Kurland. Œsel.

• 1899 births
• 1954 deaths
• Polish diplomats
• Diplomats of the Second Polish Republic