Adalbert, Count von Francken-Sierstorpff was a wealthy business magnate who owned significant land in the Grottkau District of Silesia. He served as a cavalry officer but also helped organize many automobile, motorboat, and airplane races, and was active administratively in those sports, including serving as President of the German Airships Pilots Federation. Count von Francken-Sierstorpff became a board member of the German NOC in 1910, and supported plans to hold skiing competitions at the 1916 Olympic Games in Berlin. He was suspended from the IOC in 1919 because of Germany’s role in World War I, and died in 1922 before the German members were reinstated in 1924.