Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Luxburg, Count Karl

LUXBURG, COUNT KARL, German Chargé d'Affaires at Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1917, during the Great War. In the summer of that year, he sent secret dispatches to Berlin through the Swedish legation via Stockholm, which were made public by Secretary Lansing of the United States Department of State. These dispatches urged that certain Argentine ships should be “spurlos versenkt” — destroyed without a trace. The publication of the documents resulted in the dismissal of Count Luxburg from Argentina, and the virtual entrance of Argentina into the war. Luxburg was also Minister to Uruguay, and on his dismissal from Argentina, he asked for a passport to Montevideo instead of to Berlin.