was born in Moscow on 20 June 1876, the son of German parents.
As a cavalry officer during World War I, he had the task of assem-
bling an anti-Russian army in Ukraine in 1918. Afterward, Köstring
studied the Red Army and then—given the title “Representative of
the Reichswehr attached to the Staff of the Red Army”—served as
military attaché to Moscow from 1931 to 1933. His primary goal
was to forge closer links between the military establishments of both
countries. When he returned to Moscow for his second tour of duty in
1936, the “exemplary secrecy in military matters” that he confronted
made his assignment exceedingly difficult. Based on meager sources,
Köstring’s reports rarely contained any hard data on the Red Army,
and after witnessing the purges of Joseph Stalin, he remarked that it
was no longer of “international importance.”
In August 1942, he was made “general in special mission for
problems of the Caucasus,” and became inspector of Turkish volun-
teers in Russia the following year. His command included more than
100,000 Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Georgians, Turkestani, and North
Caucasians willing to fight with the Wehrmacht. After surrendering
to U.S. forces in May 1945, Köstring was brought to Washington,
D.C., for interrogation and released the following year. His account
of the interwar military relations between Germany and the Soviet
Union appeared posthumously in 1966.KOTZEBUE, AUGUST VON (1761–1819). A German dramatist
believed to be a Russian spy, August von Kotzebue was born in
Weimar on 3 May 1761, the son of a ducal legation counselor.
After completing his legal studies at Duisburg, he entered Russian
service through the influence of the Prussian ambassador in St.
Petersburg and rose to become president of the magistracy in the
province of Estonia. An extremely prolific writer, Kotzebue gained
celebrity throughout Europe principally because of his plays, which
showed him to be a master of dramatic effect. His departure from
Russian service in 1790 was followed by sojourns in Paris, Mainz,
Vienna, Weimar, and Berlin. Kotzebue returned to St. Petersburg
after the military defeat of Prussia by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806,
eventually becoming the Russian consul general in Königsberg
(now Kaliningrad, Russia) as well as an outspoken opponent of
the French emperor.
KOTZEBUE, AUGUST VON • 243