WEBVTT - What Crown Prince Wilhelm Left Behind 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:04.840 One quick note before we begin. Noble Blood is now 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:08.360 on Patreon, so if you are interested in supporting the 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:11.520 show and getting a behind the scenes look at my 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:15.680 process and getting access to Q and as bibliographies for 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:19.759 the readings and episode scripts, check out patreon dot com 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:25.919 slash Noble Blood Tales. All right, let's dive in. Welcome 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:28.960 to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio and 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:33.160 Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky. Listener discretion is advised. 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:39.760 There are two German people that I need to introduce 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:43.640 you to before this story can really begin. The first 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:49.360 is Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia. That's his legal last name, 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:54.360 Prince von Prussen. Germany is no longer a monarchy today, 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:57.640 but if it were, Georg Friedrich would be its leader. 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:00.520 The forty four year old head of the House of 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:05.440 Hohenzo Learn is the great great grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:09.080 the Second, the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:14.080 who abdicated both of those titles in nineteen eighteen following 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:17.959 Germany's defeat in World War One. Up until then, the 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:21.520 hohens O Learned family had ruled in modern day Prussia 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:26.160 for over three hundred years. Looking at Georg Friedrich, you 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:30.440 wouldn't necessarily think that he's royal. He looks like any 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:34.959 other attractive, wealthy person in his forties. He could be 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:39.720 a stockbroker or a member of the local school board. Still, 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.880 he is a direct descendant of Queen Victoria, which makes 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:48.200 him technically two hundred second in line for the British throne, 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:51.200 although I've seen that number as low as one hundred 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:55.080 and seventy Yet. The second German Man you need to 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:58.480 know for this story is the German equivalent of John 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:01.480 Stewart back when he was hosted The Daily Show, a 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:05.440 man named Jan Boorman. Jan is the host of a 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:10.200 late night television show called Neo Magazine Royal. Like any 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:15.040 political satire, the show is no stranger to controversy. Jan 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:18.840 has launched a handful of national scandals in the press 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:23.440 and dealt with about as many lawsuits. Last year in 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:28.400 Jan air to segment that brought a little known legal 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:34.440 battle to national attention. For years, Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia, 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:39.360 had secretly been embroiled in negotiations with the German government 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:43.600 in an effort to reclaim thousands of pieces of art 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:48.320 and other priceless historical artifacts and to regain his family's 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:52.480 claim to a number of castles and other properties, a 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:59.400 negotiation worth hundreds of millions of euros. When the Soviets 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.800 claimed East Germany after World War two, and half the 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:06.440 country fell under communism, much of the Holland or Land 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:10.200 family property fell on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:15.640 But then the Berlin Wall came down and in German 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:19.440 parliament passed a law which allowed Germans the right to 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:23.440 reclaim property that had been seized in the Soviet occupation. 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:27.920 But that law had one major caveat. You had the 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:32.600 right to family property, but that right was automatically forfeited 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:37.560 if your ancestors significantly contributed to the rise of the 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:42.520 Nazi Party. This is where things get slightly sticky for 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:49.160 Georg Friedrich, the Kaiser abdicated in eighteen after Germany's defeat 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:51.600 in World War One, and he spent the rest of 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.960 his life in exile in the Netherlands to avoid being 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:59.680 extradited by the Allies. But his son, former Crown Prince 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:03.920 will Home, did return to Germany, and there are a 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:08.760 number of more than uncomfortable photos of the former Crown 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:15.000 Prince wearing a Nazi uniform, saluting, smiling and laughing next 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:18.400 to Adolf Hitler like they're the best friends in the world. 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:23.880 Georg Friedrich's negotiations with the German government over the art 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:28.480 and the property had almost been entirely private until beyond 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:33.320 Borman segment, in which the comedian dubbed Georg Friedrich in 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:38.800 German hashtag print stupid. Young Gorman said that for bringing 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:42.480 the case at all, for trying to reclaim any of 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:45.719 the property that was currently being displayed to the public 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:50.640 as museums, meant that Georg Friedrick had and I quote, 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:56.720 I are ashall balls of steel for Georg Friedrich. I 0:04:56.720 --> 0:05:00.279 imagine it's not just a matter of money, though it 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:03.880 does seem like quite a bit of money, but of family, 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:08.240 honor and shame. Whatever pride he might take in being 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:12.279 able to trace his lineage back past Queen Victoria is 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:18.000 permanently overshadowed by those photos of his great grandfather proudly 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:23.080 wearing a swatsticka But those photos, embarrassing as they are, 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:28.080 can't tell a full story, and so millions of euros 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:31.760 are at stake in a legal battle in which historians 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:35.880 have been enlisted on both sides to answer a seemingly 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:42.160 simple question, did Crown Prince Wilholm significantly help the Nazis? 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:54.080 I'm Dana Schwartz and this is noble blood. Crown Prince 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:58.320 Wilhelm was the son of the last Kaiser. He was 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:02.080 actually the son of a man with two titles, Kaiser 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:07.000 of Germany and King of Prussia. Until eighteen seventy one, 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:10.640 Prussia was one of a number of sovereign states within 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:15.640 the German Confederation. In eighteen seventy one, the states became 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:20.640 the German Empire and the Hohenzollern family became its emperors. 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:25.680 Kaiser Wilhelm the second went to war against two of 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:29.440 his first cousins, the King and Czar of England and 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:34.200 Russia respectively, in World War One, and his oldest son, 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:39.800 Crown Prince Wilholm, was obviously expected to show his bravery 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:44.880 and composure on the battlefield in a leadership position. The 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:48.080 Crown Prince was in his thirties when World War One began, 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:53.000 and he patriotic as any German, was thrilled at the 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:57.279 notion of expansion and the sharing of Teutonic glory all 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:01.280 over Europe. As a prominent noble He was, of course 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:05.560 given command of an entire field army, regardless of the 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:10.840 fact that he was completely unqualified and had done nothing 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.080 with his twenties more notable than having an affair with 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:18.680 the opera singer Geraldine Farrar. Crown Prince Wilhelm had the 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:22.520 misfortune of being born as a prince while the idea 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:27.640 of monarchy in Europe was facing a major reckoning. Famously, 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.440 the devastation of World War One can be in part 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:40.120 attributed to nineteenth century tactics and twentieth century technology. A 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:44.560 similar mismatch was at play with Europe's royal families at 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:49.000 the time. Crown Prince will Holm had the lineage and 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:54.080 ego of the absolute monarchs in a country no longer 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:58.840 willing to give him any real power, and so though 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:02.360 Crown Prince will Holm was technically the commander of the 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:06.400 military's fifth Army, he had a chief of staff with 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:11.840 actual experience who would be actually, you know, doing the work. 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:17.760 It was understood and expected that Crown Prince Wilhelm would 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:22.880 defer to his chief of staff on all important military decisions. 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:25.600 But the Crown Prince still about to wear the sash 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:30.000 and badges of a commander. The most noteworthy thing that 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:32.800 Crown Print Wilhelm was actually involved in in the war, 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.640 for my money, is having an affair with the performer 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:39.920 known as Mata Harri, who would be offered a million 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.600 francs by the French military for German secrets, attempt to 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:47.439 double cross them with the Germans, and then face execution 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:50.640 by a French firing squad when the Germans left her 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.319 out to dry. Now, this would be a much longer 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:56.959 and a much different podcast if I were to go 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:00.840 into all of the details about the military maneuvers of 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:05.480 the First World War. Those details are fascinating, and I 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:08.440 encourage you to read more about them, but for now, 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.520 I think it suffices to say that at the end 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:15.880 of the war, Germany was in free fall. A generation 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:19.520 of young men had been wiped out in the senseless 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:25.959 bloodshed of trench warfare. Three million Germans percent of Germany's 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:30.040 men were killed. While the German army stood facing the 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:35.319 precipice of true and genuine defeat, It's demoralized soldiers began 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:39.480 to splinter in revolt against the aristocrats who had put 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:42.839 them in that position to begin with. First, there was 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.960 a mutiny at sea by naval officers then coming in 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:53.000 from the coasts. The masses demanded change. A socialist uprising 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:57.720 was bubbling within Germany. The nation was going to become 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:02.839 a republic at any cost. On November nine, with a 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:07.920 crowd gathering in Berlin, the Kaiser and his closest advisers 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:12.520 realized that they had no choice. The Kaiser resigned his 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:21.839 royal title, as did his son, the Crown Prince. Privately, 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:25.199 the former Kaiser believed that even though he had technically 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:28.720 abdicated his title as Kaiser, he could still hold some 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:32.240 power as the King of Prussia. It's the type of 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:36.880 naivety that almost looks adorable in retrospect, like someone on 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:39.880 the Titanic asking to make sure their tea is still 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:43.160 out by the time they get back. Both the former 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:47.480 Kaiser and former Crown Prince had to flee Germany in 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:51.600 order to protect themselves from their own people's revolt. They 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.360 went through Belgium and rode a train across the border 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:59.240 to the Netherlands, a country that was neutral under Queen Wilhelmina. 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.880 The Allied powers tried in Vain to extradite the former 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:07.840 Kaiser in order to charge him for war crimes, but 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:11.400 Queen Wilhelmina was neutral and wanted to make a clear 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:15.319 point to the rest of Europe adds to her nation's autonomy, 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:18.880 and so the Kaiser would go on to buy a 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:22.959 big house, endured, and live in exile in the Netherlands 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:26.439 for the rest of his life, stewing about his wrongful 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:30.920 forced eviction and blaming the Jews for sabotage in Germany 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:35.880 during World War One. From within. One more interesting thing 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.960 happened to the former Kaiser, not entirely relevant to the story, 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:43.840 but I think worth mentioning just because it seems surreal 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:46.160 to me that Ben Affleck hasn't made it into a 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:52.440 movie yet. In January nineteen nineteen, a former Tennessee senator 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:55.400 named Luke Lee, who had just been serving as a 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.800 colonel in France, attempted to kidnap the former Kaiser and 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:04.640 bring him to justice. Like most American soldiers, Lee was 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:08.680 frustrated that Kaiser Bill as he called him, was just 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:12.760 going to get away with it, to have caused so 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:15.520 much death and then just go on to live a 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:21.520 quiet life in a pastoral Dutch village somewhere. It seemed unimaginable. 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:25.760 After the war, Lee happened to stumble into a party 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:29.360 where he met the Duke of Connacht, the uncle of 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:34.280 both King George five and the Kaiser. With the blase 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:38.840 attitude of the blue blooded, the Duke mentioned off handedly 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:41.800 that no one was going to make a real fuss 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:45.720 about the Kaiser now that he was an exile. Of course, 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:49.760 they were all embarrassed by the Kaiser. The British royal 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:54.000 family had changed their last name in v from sax 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:58.880 Coburg Gotha to the more neutral sounding Windsor in order 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:05.480 to avoid the as pesky German associations. But nobility was nobility. 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:10.439 The noble, like the wealthy, like to protect their own 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:13.800 or at least to try to prevent them from ever 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:19.480 facing any actual consequences. But Luke Lee was a good 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:24.560 Southern boy who instinctively bristled against the insular camaraderie of 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:28.959 the elite, and so he took matters into his own hands. 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:37.200 With absolutely no permission from any authority whatsoever. Lee gathered 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:40.680 a handful of other officers from his unit, and the 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:44.880 group of them used fake civilian passports to sneak into 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:49.760 Holland in a seven passenger Winston Car Lee didn't tell 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:52.080 the other men what their mission was going to be 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.600 until they were already across the border. We're here to 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:58.560 kidnap Kaiser Bill and bring him to Paris, where they're 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:02.040 having peace talks. They can bring him to justice, he said. 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.080 Anyone who doesn't want to come along doesn't have to 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:10.360 leave now. None of the men left. Instead, the seven 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:15.000 American soldiers drove through the January night to the seventeenth 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:18.200 century castle where the Kaiser was living with his wife. 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:22.400 The gate was locked, but Lee leapt from the car 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:26.640 and rattled at the railing until a guard approached. I 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.840 demand to see the man in charge here, Lee shouted 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:35.040 in terrible German. The guard, no doubt deeply uncomfortable by 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:40.320 the rowdy strangers, nevertheless, brought them inside and escorted them 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:45.400 to the castle's library. After fifteen minutes, a man entered. 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:50.000 It wasn't the Kaiser. It was a Dutch nobleman named 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:55.360 Count Bentinck, wearing a full coat and tails, state or business. 0:14:55.560 --> 0:15:00.400 The Count said the Americans were silent. Benton left the 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:04.120 library and slammed the doors behind him. From the other 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:08.040 side of the library doors, the Americans listened as the 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:12.840 Count and the Kaiser talked quickly back and forth. Suddenly 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:16.200 the count reappeared. If you don't have official business with 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:19.680 the Kaiser, I'm afraid you must leave now. He said. 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:24.880 We're nephews of the German count. One of the Americans 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:28.800 ad libbed. Lee shook his head. Their mission was over 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.200 and their next move was written on his face aboard. 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:36.840 Before anyone could say another word, Lee and the Americans 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:39.800 ran from the castle and jumped back into their car. 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:43.520 They drove away as they saw Dutch troops coming up 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:47.720 the road. Finally, when it seemed like the coast was clear, 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:51.200 one of the men pulled a silver ashtray out from 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:54.840 his pocket. At least we got a souvenir, he said. 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:58.800 The ash tray was embossed with the German coat of 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:05.840 arms and the initial W I Wilhelm Imperator. The former 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:10.240 Kaiser would file a formal complaint about the illegal Americans 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:15.080 and their burglary of a priceless stolen astray, but in 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:18.400 the end, Colonel Lee and his cohorts would receive what 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:21.360 amounted to nothing more than a slap on the wrists. 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.240 Was the cost of an astray really worth the cost 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:28.760 in damages? The Kaiser had caused to Europe. Perhaps the 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:33.040 former Kaiser realized that it wasn't worth asking for anything 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:37.360 from the international community. Any attention you received at that 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:41.240 point would probably lead to trouble for him. He had 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:44.640 gotten away with it with everything he did. He had 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.840 his life and his freedom, and now he just needed 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:51.320 to keep his mouth shut. Sometimes you need to quit 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:58.560 while you're ahead. But while the former Kaiser was more 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:02.200 or less comfortable in xt style, the former Crown Prince 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:08.160 was not. In N three, the former Crown Prince, who 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.560 from now on will just call Wilhelm, made a deal 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:14.240 with the Chancellor that he would be allowed to return 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:18.360 to Germany as long as he didn't get involved in politics. 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:21.640 It didn't take him too long to break that promise. 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:25.199 From here we have to do a little bit of 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:31.359 speculation to draw conclusions about motivations and ideologies about which 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:35.480 historians on both sides of the issue argue. How did 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:38.840 Wilhelm feel about Adolf Hitler, the rising star of German 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:43.760 politics in the twenties. Well, we know that Wilhelm shared 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:47.399 a hatred of Jews and communists. He would write a 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:51.680 column published in a New York newspaper stating that Hitler 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:56.679 was a quote clear sighted and energetic leader, and commenting 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.919 that the Jews and Communists were the ones to blame 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:05.359 for Germany's lowered status on the world stage. Wilhelm wrote 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:09.440 glowing letters to Hitler and he joined Der Staalholm, a 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.560 World War One veterans group that then went on to 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:17.920 become the far right Harsburg Front. And then, when Hitler 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:22.480 and his party were celebrating the reopening of the new 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:27.280 Reichstock after the Reichstag fire, Crown Prince Wilhelm was the 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:31.240 guest of honor. He marched in the day of Potsdam 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:35.080 Parade with three of his four surviving brothers with a 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:39.960 swastika on his arm. For Hitler, the location and date 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:45.199 of the celebration were of massive symbolic importance. Potsdam in 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:48.919 Prussia was the seat of power for Frederick the Great 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:52.400 and the center of the Second Reich under Otto von Bismarck. 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:57.320 The date Hitler chose, March twenty one, was the anniversary 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:02.240 of the opening of the First Reichstock. Everything that Hitler 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:06.080 did was meant to convey the continuity and greatness of 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:10.320 Germany under his party, a return to its former glory 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:15.199 and the Crown Prince was essential in that vision. Not 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:20.240 only did Wilhelm's acceptance of Hitler ingratiate the politician among 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:24.280 the aristocratic elites, but his very presence at the parade 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:28.600 afforded it a legitimacy. Here was the heir of the 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:32.960 Hohenzolern family, the people who had ruled Germany for hundreds 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:38.040 of years, throwing his weight behind Adolf Hitler. Here's the 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:41.960 problematic part for Georg Friedrich, the head of the Hohenzolelern 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:46.200 family today, at least in terms of public image, there 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:51.080 is no shortage of photographs of Crown Prince Wilhelm wearing 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:55.480 the stormtrooper Nazi uniform in boots, or standing across from 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:59.320 Adolf Hitler looking genial like he seeing an old friend. 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:03.919 They are the type of damning photos of an ancestor that, 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:07.400 to me would make someone want to change their last 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:16.600 name altogether. But was being on Hitler's side publicly enough 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:21.679 to constitute a quote significant contribution to the Nazi Party. 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:25.840 Some argue that Wilhelm was just cozying up to Hitler 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:29.240 because he secretly believed that the Nazi Party might restore 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:33.240 the monarchy. In fact, once it became obvious that Hitler 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:37.280 had zero intention of sharing power with anyone. Will Holm 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:41.000 cold towards him, But does it make a difference why 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:46.520 someone supported Hitler? I only supported Nazis for a selfish reason, is, 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:50.720 to my ears, not an incredibly compelling line of defense. 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:55.000 Christopher Clark, a professor at Cambridge who was hired by 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:59.000 the Hollandzo Learned, initially argued in favor of restoring the 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:02.240 holandz Learned prop pretty. He wrote that even though it 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:06.119 was undeniable that the Crown Prince did support Hitler, he 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:10.560 wasn't politically adept or intelligent enough for that support to 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:14.679 be politically meaningful. It's as I like to think of it, 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:19.840 the don junior defense. Professor. Clark says that he has 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:23.000 since changed his mind on the issue since coming across 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:26.800 new evidence. But the Hollins O Learns have another historian, 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:30.920 will from Peter at the University of Stuttgart, who argues 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:36.320 that privately, Crown Prince Wilhelm actually rejected the Nazi system. 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:39.359 But for the most part, the historians that I read, 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:43.720 at least the translations of the internal reports that Comedian 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:48.720 Jan Bowerman leaked, paint a very clear picture. As the 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:52.800 German historian Peter Brant wrote, it cannot be denied that 0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:56.320 will Holm, especially in the dissolution phase of the Weimar 0:21:56.359 --> 0:21:59.879 Republic and in the consolidation phase of the Third Right, 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:05.080 steadily and significantly, contributed to the transfer of power to 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:09.280 the Nazi Party and to its consolidation. This happened in 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:13.359 full awareness and in agreement with the path to dictatorship, 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:17.000 combined with the hope of a more prominent place in 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:22.119 the new circumstances. Once Hitler was fully in power, Wilhelm 0:22:22.240 --> 0:22:25.840 almost fully withdrew from public life. He lived at his 0:22:25.920 --> 0:22:30.639 palace in Potsdam, Secilianhoff, separated from his wife, until the 0:22:30.760 --> 0:22:33.199 end of the war, when it was seized by the 0:22:33.280 --> 0:22:37.480 Red Army. That palace was actually used to host the 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:41.640 Potsdam Conference, which you might remember from a famous photo 0:22:41.760 --> 0:22:44.240 they showed us in a p u S History class 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:49.159 of Winston Churchill, Harriet Strumman, and Joseph Stalin all sitting 0:22:49.200 --> 0:22:53.840 side by side. After World War Two, Wilhelm was captured 0:22:53.880 --> 0:22:58.120 by French Moroccan troops and placed under house arrest under 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:01.919 the pretense of being a World War One criminal. He 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:04.760 died of a heart attack in nineteen fifty one at 0:23:04.760 --> 0:23:08.479 age sixty nine, and he was buried at Hohenzollern Castle, 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:13.160 where his great grandson Georg Friedrich now lives for part 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:19.600 of the year. The legal demands that Gaeorg Friederick is 0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:24.119 making today are for the typical random assortment of landed 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:29.800 gentry property, paintings by German masters, historically important letters, the 0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:33.159 chair where Frederick the Great died, you know, classic things. 0:23:34.000 --> 0:23:36.679 But he also requested the right for him and his 0:23:36.760 --> 0:23:39.840 family to live for free at the palace sicilian Hof, 0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:44.160 which Germany recently restored with taxpayer money to turn into 0:23:44.160 --> 0:23:48.040 a museum. Georg Friederich said that he hoped he and 0:23:48.119 --> 0:23:53.200 the government would reach a quote amicable settlement, but presumably 0:23:53.240 --> 0:23:57.840 to speed that alone in he and his family began 0:23:58.400 --> 0:24:01.840 withdrawing pieces of art that they did own outright but 0:24:01.960 --> 0:24:06.680 had been lending to public museums. Other nobles whose property 0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:11.240 had been forfeited under communism have made quiet settlement already. 0:24:11.600 --> 0:24:16.280 The Prince von seckend Weimar Eisenach was generous enough to 0:24:16.400 --> 0:24:21.119 accept eighteen point two million dollars for his assorted art 0:24:21.200 --> 0:24:25.600 pieces and castle inventory. There's so much on the line 0:24:25.640 --> 0:24:29.760 now between the German government and the Hohenzolen family that 0:24:29.920 --> 0:24:33.679 neither side wants to risk actually going to court and 0:24:33.800 --> 0:24:38.480 accepting the consequences of an all or nothing outcome. In August, 0:24:39.520 --> 0:24:42.639 both sides agreed to a year long delay in court 0:24:42.680 --> 0:24:47.760 proceedings in order to try to negotiate a mutually acceptable compromise. 0:24:48.720 --> 0:24:52.399 The way Gayeric Friedrich describes it, he is simply upholding 0:24:52.440 --> 0:24:56.800 his family legacy. He's fighting not out of financial greed, 0:24:56.920 --> 0:25:00.800 but out of familial obligation to take the things that 0:25:00.880 --> 0:25:05.040 belong to the holland to Learn. At its inception, the 0:25:05.119 --> 0:25:09.359 idea of feudal nobility and monarchy was almost meant to 0:25:09.400 --> 0:25:14.120 be mutually beneficial, that a king or nobleman would protect 0:25:14.200 --> 0:25:18.520 his serfs in return for their loyalty. One has to wonder, 0:25:18.640 --> 0:25:21.960 at what point does someone no longer earn the honor 0:25:22.040 --> 0:25:26.240 or dignity that society at large still ascribes to a title. 0:25:27.000 --> 0:25:29.439 At what point do they no longer remain entitled to 0:25:29.520 --> 0:25:32.879 the extreme wealth that went along with it. It's not 0:25:32.960 --> 0:25:35.760 as though gay Org Friederich, who owned three fourths of 0:25:35.840 --> 0:25:39.360 the Home to Learn, castle, to Wineries, and an island 0:25:39.400 --> 0:25:43.879 outright among his many other properties, is hard up for cash, 0:25:44.320 --> 0:25:47.879 drawing attention to yourself and your great grandfather in a 0:25:48.000 --> 0:25:52.280 Nazi uniform to ask for millions of euros in objects 0:25:52.280 --> 0:25:56.280 and properties that are currently being given to the public takes, 0:25:56.840 --> 0:26:01.480 as Jan Bowerman would say, here a stale. Being a 0:26:01.560 --> 0:26:04.480 monarch at the best of times puts a target on 0:26:04.520 --> 0:26:08.639 your back. Sometimes you need to quit while you're ahead. 0:26:16.119 --> 0:26:20.400 In German culture, the date November nine is massively significant. 0:26:21.040 --> 0:26:25.440 It's called shiksaws Dog or the day of fate. November 0:26:25.560 --> 0:26:28.800 nine was the day that Kaiser Wilhelms Chancellor announced the 0:26:28.880 --> 0:26:33.360 Kaiser's abdication, and then five years later, it's the day 0:26:33.400 --> 0:26:36.840 that his son, the former Crown Prince, chose to return 0:26:36.920 --> 0:26:41.040 to Germany. It's the day of Hitler's failed beer hall 0:26:41.160 --> 0:26:46.719 putch and the horrific Crystal knach In when Jewish shops 0:26:46.760 --> 0:26:50.440 and synagogues were destroyed and hundreds of Jewish were murdered. 0:26:51.280 --> 0:26:55.840 And then in nine it was the day the Berlin 0:26:55.920 --> 0:27:00.880 Wall fell, ending the German separation. All of the seeds 0:27:00.920 --> 0:27:04.480 of the story that led to the Kaiser's great great 0:27:04.520 --> 0:27:09.800 grandson demanding compensation from the German government for the castles 0:27:09.800 --> 0:27:13.520 that the Communists took We're all planted in a steady 0:27:13.640 --> 0:27:18.160 row on different November nine. I'm only sorry that this 0:27:18.200 --> 0:27:28.439 podcast is just a little early. Noble Blood is a 0:27:28.480 --> 0:27:31.160 production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from 0:27:31.160 --> 0:27:34.200 Aaron Manky. The show was written and hosted by Danis 0:27:34.200 --> 0:27:38.640 Schwartz and produced by Aaron Manky, Matt Frederick, Alex Williams, 0:27:38.680 --> 0:27:42.120 and Trevor Young. Noble Blood is on social media at 0:27:42.160 --> 0:27:44.600 Noble Blood Tales, and you can learn more about the 0:27:44.600 --> 0:27:47.600 show over at Noble blood Tales dot com. For more 0:27:47.640 --> 0:27:50.840 podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, 0:27:51.000 --> 0:27:54.240 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.