Prince William

- Yg. 1927, No. 3 -

Hail in the wreath, Harry Domela, Prince of Hohenzollern! It is true that the police caught you and the examining magistrate took care of you; but your glory overshadows your downfall, and your name is recorded, may you be a windy fellow. For your deeds have given us an hour of pure and undiluted joy in this gloomy time of the chill and Gessler.

You had not quite discovered yourself when you performed in Heidelberg with your worn trousers and as a princely p. Lieven, Lieutenant in 4. Reiterregiment zu Potsdam, who visited Saxo-Borussen. True, they are all count and barons, but were not they happy to get drunk with a prince? And the brilliant rehearsal in Heidelberg gave you the momentum for the main performance in the Thuringian countryside.

As a simple baron v. Korff took you apartment in the hotel in Erfurt. But your careless long-distance call with your brother Louis Ferdinand's court administration in Potsdam destroyed the incognito. You could not have kept it that way either: your features had betrayed you, the shining Hohenzollern eye, the nose of your ancestor, the old Fritz, the sleek mouth we know from your dad. Soon the city knew who she had in her walls. Nobility and society crowded for the presentation to Royal Highness. As you made your drive to Gotha, all of Thuringia was in an enthusiastic uproar. What reception have you got there in the castle! The Prime Minister a. D. Mr. v. Bassewitz, Mr. v. Wangenheim, Mr. v. Krosigk considered it an honor to be greeted by you; and even the ladies-in-waiting were all "crazy" after you, the slender and elegant, now newly decorated later successor to the throne. How gracious you were against the poor Lord Mayor. Scheffler, who did not know whether he had to say "Imperial" or "Royal Highness" to you! And against the Intendant in Dessau, who led you into the court lodge, so that you could see your famous ancestor Fritz strolling over the boards. And the Reichswehr commandos in Erfurt and Weimar received you in Gala to assure you of their devotion, the police officers were standing there, and a master baker was granted the unforgettable grace to kiss your hand. It was an unparalleled triumphal procession, your affability was enchanting, your whole demeanor so pretty high.

The tragic irony of the incident, if the German Republic is now reinvigorated, instead of taking you into their service! If she had not sent you also "incognito" to Swabia and Bavaria, to East Prussia and Mecklenburg, so that you give there republican visual instruction! Is there any more deadly weapon than the ridiculousness with which you have exposed the monarchist tailworms and thus done more for the republican thought than we able-bodied preachers in the desert do in acid weekly work?

May you find understanding and humorous judges, Harry Domela, greater successor to the captain of Köpenick! An annuity should expose you to the Republic if no film company hires you! It is due to you, if any, the first of the orders to be awarded again soon in the name of the Republic.

1927, 3 Sch.