Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. As a
Speaker 1: hint of sun peaked through the two Gothic spires of
Speaker 1: the Cologne Cathedral, the sound of a man's footsteps broke
Speaker 1: the quiet of the sleeping early morning city streets. Though
Speaker 1: the cathedral remained in the man's sights, his destination was
Speaker 1: not the salvation of the church. Rather, he was headed
Speaker 1: toward a home for the damned, the nearby Cologne Prison.
Speaker 1: Being a prison guard wasn't the most glamorous job in
Speaker 1: the world. In fact, it probably would be more accurate
Speaker 1: to call it bleak. But in the years following the
Speaker 1: Great War, a job was a job, and there was
Speaker 1: little room for them. This man to complain. By June
Speaker 1: of nineteen twenty seven, the fresh wounds left behind by
Speaker 1: World War One had mostly healed, though it wasn't difficult
Speaker 1: to remember just a few years earlier, in nineteen twenty three,
Speaker 1: when the German financial market had all but imploded, with
Speaker 1: runaway inflation so rampant that some families resorted to burning
Speaker 1: their German marks as kindling to keep warm in the winter.
Speaker 1: While those desperate enough to still use the currency for
Speaker 1: its intended purpose raced to the markets on payday in
Speaker 1: hopes of gathering enough scraps of food before the prices
Speaker 1: would inevitably rise again. Luckily, in the near decade since
Speaker 1: the war ended, Germany's financial straits had seemingly resolved. But
Speaker 1: scars like that don't heal over. The sheer number of
Speaker 1: men behind the prison bars, each face haunted by crimes,
Speaker 1: likely committed out of poverty and desperation, were in all
Speaker 1: too real reminder of that. After clocking in, the guard
Speaker 1: went about his typical rounds, observing the inmates with the
Speaker 1: same detached air that he had become accustomed to as
Speaker 1: a guard. Every day. He walked past everyone from petty
Speaker 1: criminals to violent offenders. But the guard's job wasn't to
Speaker 1: judge them for their crimes. The court saw to that.
Speaker 1: Of course, that didn't stop prison guards from talking amongst themselves.
Speaker 1: And while this prison held dozens of men, each with
Speaker 1: their own stories to tell since January of that year,
Speaker 1: there was only one inmate that the guards were interested
Speaker 1: in talking about. From the outside, this man wasn't who
Speaker 1: you'd expect to be a hardened criminal. He had soft,
Speaker 1: delicate features. His skin was pale and smooth, unmarred by
Speaker 1: the calluses and wrinkles that so often signified a life
Speaker 1: of hard labor or poverty. But more than this prisoner's
Speaker 1: appearance was the way he chose to spend his days.
Speaker 1: He may have ventured into the mess hall at meal times,
Speaker 1: may have even taken to the fresh air when it
Speaker 1: was allowed, But what this man did with his free
Speaker 1: time in his cell was the primary source of his
Speaker 1: air of mystique. More often than not, when guards walked
Speaker 1: past this man's cell, they saw him hunched over on
Speaker 1: his cot or over a table with ink stained fingers,
Speaker 1: scribbling frantically over pages that he never seemed to tire
Speaker 1: of filling. In the months since this man came to
Speaker 1: the prison, his quarters had become littered with crumpled pieces
Speaker 1: of parchment and stacks of loose leaf paper decorated with
Speaker 1: his musings. And perhaps the most unsettling aspect was the
Speaker 1: fact that, even after six months in prison, he hardly
Speaker 1: showed any signs of slowing down his writings. In the
Speaker 1: years after the Great War, men had gone to absurdly
Speaker 1: desperate measures to keep themselves and their families afloat in
Speaker 1: the bereft New German Republic. But the rumors that swirled
Speaker 1: around the prison about this exceedingly prolific man in his
Speaker 1: cell topped all those stories of all those prisoners that
Speaker 1: came before him. Until six months ago, no one had
Speaker 1: ever heard the name Harry Domila. But after his arrest,
Speaker 1: the prison guards in Cologne lingered just a moment longer
Speaker 1: outside of his cell, each day, craning their necks to
Speaker 1: get a glance at the men who fooled a nation
Speaker 1: into thinking that he was the recently deposed Prince Wilhelm
Speaker 1: of Prussia, the man who conned himself into some of
Speaker 1: the most exclusive rooms and parties in Germany with nothing
Speaker 1: more than the clothes on his back and the lies
Speaker 1: through his teeth. Before nineteen twenty seven, Harry Damila was
Speaker 1: a nobody. But as that sixth month came to a
Speaker 1: close and Damila stared down at the array of pages
Speaker 1: that littered the floor of his cell, a small smile
Speaker 1: likely crept onto his face as he no doubt felt
Speaker 1: the eyes of the omnipresent guards on his back. After
Speaker 1: so long parading in the shadow of someone else, the
Speaker 1: eyes of the world were finally turning to him, and
Speaker 1: as he took in the mass of pages that made
Speaker 1: up the now completed first draft of his memoir, he
Speaker 1: was confident that the world would be unable to ever
Speaker 1: forget him. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is noble Blood.
Speaker 1: On February sixth, nineteen twenty seven, The New York Times
Speaker 1: was decorated with an iconic headline, false German prince lived
Speaker 1: a gay life for many weeks. The subhead added, Harry Domila,
Speaker 1: soldier and vagabond received honors paid only to royalty. Now,
Speaker 1: even if the term had yet to be invented, I
Speaker 1: know a clickbait title when I see one, But in
Speaker 1: the case of this article, the stranger than fiction premise
Speaker 1: is more than just a hollow headline meant to grab
Speaker 1: the reader's attention. Notable quotes include Damala attending quote fencing
Speaker 1: parties given in his honor every day and champagne suppers
Speaker 1: every night, as well as his meeting the Mayor of
Speaker 1: Gotha and when asked whether he should be addressed as
Speaker 1: your Oyal Highness or your Imperial Highness, allegedly he said,
Speaker 1: with a wave of the hand call me Wilhelm if
Speaker 1: you like. It is every journalist's dream, a true Aladdin,
Speaker 1: Prince Ali, a Babwa parading across Germany, only instead of
Speaker 1: a magic, all powerful genie. The only resources at Damala's
Speaker 1: disposal were his charm, good looks and an abundant lack
Speaker 1: of quite literally anything else to lose. But the subtext
Speaker 1: underneath the entire article boils down to one question, how
Speaker 1: did he do it? How did one man fool the
Speaker 1: upper echelons of an entire nation into lavishing him with
Speaker 1: gifts and Champagne suppers without a penny to his name. Well,
Speaker 1: in order to fully understand just how Harry Domelup pulled
Speaker 1: off his royal deception, we need to take a brief
Speaker 1: step back and talk about what Germany looked like in
Speaker 1: the aftermath of World War One. When the war ended
Speaker 1: in November nineteen eighteen, the German people were in a
Speaker 1: state of flux. The country they knew as the German
Speaker 1: Empire dissolved in the wake of the November Revolution, a
Speaker 1: period of civil unrest from November nineteen eighteen until August
Speaker 1: nineteen nineteen, when pressures between the working classes and aristocratic
Speaker 1: elite came to a head following Germany's devastating losses in
Speaker 1: the war. From the ashes of the German Empire came
Speaker 1: the German Republic, a new democratic parliamentary republic, which in
Speaker 1: turn cemented the end of the nation's monarchy in addition
Speaker 1: to a new form of government. The end of World
Speaker 1: War One brought forth the Treaty of Versailles, which, in
Speaker 1: the absolute simplest of terms, for the sake of this episode,
Speaker 1: blamed Germany for instigating the war and sought financial compensation
Speaker 1: to the Allied powers for the damages that it caused.
Speaker 1: The ensuing financial strain on an already war torn Germany
Speaker 1: caused the newly founded Republic to stumble into one of
Speaker 1: the worst financial crisses in history, having gone into debt
Speaker 1: to pay for their war efforts. Germany's loss in the
Speaker 1: war already had them at a substantial financial deficit, but
Speaker 1: with the reparations the Allies saddled them with paying, Germany
Speaker 1: was put into even more unimaginable debt, ultimately sending the
Speaker 1: country into such a drastic case of hyper inflation that,
Speaker 1: in some reports, a loaf of bread that had cost
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty marks in nineteen twenty two, rose
Speaker 1: to over two hundred billion by the fall of nineteen
Speaker 1: twenty three. This tenuous state of affairs in the newly
Speaker 1: founded German Republic left its citizens destitute in a country
Speaker 1: already floundering with its national identity. For the working class,
Speaker 1: whose fixed salaries were suddenly worthless, survival was their primary concern,
Speaker 1: But the former aristocratic elite were forced to reckon with
Speaker 1: a new Germany, one which no longer put its stock
Speaker 1: in the monarchy or cared much about the status of
Speaker 1: high society. Which brings us to our favorite prolific prison
Speaker 1: inmate and fraudulent German Prince, Harry Damila. Though I feel
Speaker 1: I can't continue this story without mentioning the fact that,
Speaker 1: apart from the previously mentioned New York Times article from
Speaker 1: February nineteen twenty seven, most of what we know about
Speaker 1: Damila's life comes from those pages that lay scattered across
Speaker 1: his prison cell. They would eventually be compiled into his
Speaker 1: best selling memoir titled A Sham Prince, The Life and
Speaker 1: Adventures of Harry Damila, as written by himself in prison
Speaker 1: at Cologne January to June nineteen twenty seven. As you
Speaker 1: would expect from a man who decided to write a
Speaker 1: memoir after being imprisoned for parading around impersonating a former
Speaker 1: German prince. This guy had an excessive amount of what
Speaker 1: I think we can call main character syndrome, the type
Speaker 1: of person who feels it starting to rain and decides
Speaker 1: that it must be the universe unfairly singling them out
Speaker 1: for some cosmic misdeed, rather than you know that it's
Speaker 1: just reigning out. That being said, should you ever find
Speaker 1: yourself in possession of a copy of this memoir, it
Speaker 1: is no doubt an interesting read. Damila is a compelling,
Speaker 1: though at times painfully self indulgent, storyteller who manages to
Speaker 1: paint his many, many personal anecdotes with the sides that
Speaker 1: give us insight into these stark differences between the working
Speaker 1: and aristocratic classes in post World War One Germany. At
Speaker 1: the same time, though the book is obviously an interesting text,
Speaker 1: I would, by no stretch of the imagination call this
Speaker 1: an unbiased account of the event that took place, So
Speaker 1: bear that in mind. Whether Damila is begging for help
Speaker 1: on the streets of Berlin or tricking German aristocracy into
Speaker 1: believing him to be former nobility. Damila predictably paints himself
Speaker 1: as the hero of his story, and why shouldn't he.
Speaker 1: It's his memoir, his story. But as far as delving
Speaker 1: into the historical accuracy of it all, I just want
Speaker 1: to reiterate that in the case of Harry Damila, there
Speaker 1: really are no quote unquote accurate historical accounts to go by.
Speaker 1: That isn't to say he's outright lying about his exploits,
Speaker 1: but when going through his work, I find it's more
Speaker 1: worthwhile to view his story through a more critical lens,
Speaker 1: one that takes into account the fledgling sense of German
Speaker 1: identity that citizens struggle to take hold of in their
Speaker 1: newly founded republic following their losses in World War One. Okay,
Speaker 1: with the historical context and memoir disclaimers out of the way,
Speaker 1: let's get into the good parts the story. In nineteen
Speaker 1: oh four, Harry Damola was born into a small agricultural
Speaker 1: town on the border of the Russian Empire. Today, the
Speaker 1: area known as Corland resides within the country of Latvia,
Speaker 1: but as Damala came of age in the midst of
Speaker 1: World War I, the area in and surrounding Courland essentially
Speaker 1: made up the Eastern Front, seemingly surrounded by war at
Speaker 1: every turn. At fourteen years old, Damala joined the Free Corps,
Speaker 1: a private militia group fighting under the German Empire against
Speaker 1: Baltic rebels. Ousted from his home in the fallout of
Speaker 1: the Bolshevik Revolution, Damala found a new place to call
Speaker 1: home among the ranks of other Free Corps soldiers. It
Speaker 1: was during this time when he spent his nights huddled
Speaker 1: around campfires with other young men, telling stories that Damala claims,
Speaker 1: quote it was here I learned all about lying and bragging,
Speaker 1: the sort of lying and bragging that hurts nobody, and
Speaker 1: which would only take in somewhere even more stupid than
Speaker 1: oneself end quote. Of course, simple lies that have no
Speaker 1: consequences except for those stupid enough to fall for them.
Speaker 1: It's a wonder Damla didn't succumb to altitude sickness from
Speaker 1: the height at which he stood atop his own pedestal.
Speaker 1: But I digress. When the war ended, the Free Corp
Speaker 1: dismissed Damla on account of his being underage and now
Speaker 1: without a home left to go back to, he set
Speaker 1: off for Germany to start a new life. Unfortunately for him,
Speaker 1: without German citizenship or any papers at all to identify himself.
Speaker 1: Damlo is left with few to know resources at his disposal.
Speaker 1: Should he try to get work, he would be turned
Speaker 1: away for not having German papers. Then, unable to make
Speaker 1: a livable wage, he was forced to starve on the
Speaker 1: sleeping in train stations to keep warm until police would
Speaker 1: arrest him and subsequently detain him for not having papers
Speaker 1: proving his identity. Eventually he would be released and the
Speaker 1: cycle would start over again. During these years, he would
Speaker 1: run into a motley crew of interesting characters that sort
Speaker 1: of seem like they're out of an edgy Dickens novel
Speaker 1: from a cocaine addict named Wolf who took Domila under
Speaker 1: his wing and taught him how to survive on the
Speaker 1: streets of Berlin. To a man who called himself Baron Luderates,
Speaker 1: who was, in fact, in case you hadn't guessed, not
Speaker 1: a baron at all. The man who Damala described as
Speaker 1: quote looking like a scarecrow with worn shoes and an
Speaker 1: eclectic wardrobe that hung limply off his frame, seemed to
Speaker 1: make his living selling pamphlets, and after attempting to sell
Speaker 1: Domila some of his wares, the two shared a meal together,
Speaker 1: after which the man came clean about his true identity.
Speaker 1: Quote my name is simply Luderates. But since old Baron
Speaker 1: von Rothschild addressed me in Vienna as her baron, I
Speaker 1: am a baron who's going to stop me? Titles of
Speaker 1: nobility have been abolished by the constitution of the right,
Speaker 1: So I am a baron end quote. Initially Domila laughed
Speaker 1: at his odd counterpart, but throughout the meal the quote
Speaker 1: baron had taken to calling him her graff, insisting you
Speaker 1: look like a count ergo you are one. And while
Speaker 1: the quote Baron's words had first made Domila scoff, after
Speaker 1: their meal, Damila's laughter seemed to die on his lips.
Speaker 1: In his own words, quote was he so wrong? After all? Should?
Speaker 1: Did I not have had a much easier time as
Speaker 1: a nobleman? Endote? You can probably guess what happened next.
Speaker 1: After his introduction to Baron Ludertz, Damila began to adopt
Speaker 1: his own self imposed honorary titles, often passing himself as
Speaker 1: Baron Korff during his travels. This worked with varying degrees
Speaker 1: of success, until after winning a lucky hand of cards,
Speaker 1: Damila decided to travel from Berlin to Heidelberg, and his
Speaker 1: career as a fraudulent noble took on a life of
Speaker 1: its own. A few decades before all of this, in
Speaker 1: nineteen o six, a con man named Wilhelm Voit famously
Speaker 1: used a cobbled together military uniform and pretended to be
Speaker 1: a captain, And he actually got a number of soldiers
Speaker 1: behind him under his command, and he enacted a robbery
Speaker 1: under the guise of official duty. It was a famous case.
Speaker 1: While Voight was arrested and imprisoned, he became something of
Speaker 1: a folk hero in Germany, as the quote captain of
Speaker 1: Copenick Kaiser Wilhelm second would actually pardon him. There was
Speaker 1: a silent movie made about Voight in nineteen twenty six,
Speaker 1: the year before Damila's impersonation, and you have to wonder
Speaker 1: whether maybe Damla either saw the movie or felt something
Speaker 1: in the air, the sense that maybe confidence could be key,
Speaker 1: and that pretending to be somebody powerful might actually make
Speaker 1: you powerful. Upon arriving in Heidelberg, Damala decided to wander
Speaker 1: the historic university town and introduce himself to the known
Speaker 1: aristocratic student social group, the Saxo Borussia. He'd known royals
Speaker 1: from Courland who had taken part in the famous group,
Speaker 1: and upon finding them, he introduced himself as Prince Levin
Speaker 1: Lieutenant in the fourth Reichwack Cavalry Regiment Potsdam. The effect
Speaker 1: he had on the students was instantaneous. Members of the
Speaker 1: Saxo Barassia began tripping over themselves to buy him drinks,
Speaker 1: take him out to the most exclusive clubs and shows,
Speaker 1: and generally flaunt their wealth and status in front of
Speaker 1: a figure that represented a time and way of living
Speaker 1: that had been lost after the war, but which they
Speaker 1: still romanticized. For Domila, this was his first real taste
Speaker 1: into how the other half lived and how out of
Speaker 1: touch they seemed to be with the plight of the
Speaker 1: working class. When passing a local soup kitchen at the university,
Speaker 1: one member of the Saxo Borussia scoffed at the very
Speaker 1: thought of disenfranchised students being able to get free food.
Speaker 1: In return, Domila, with what I imagine to be a
Speaker 1: golden halo of purity and righteousness adorning his now saintly visage,
Speaker 1: retorted quote, it must make you feel damned uncomfortable to
Speaker 1: live up there in such a fine core house without
Speaker 1: a care in the world, while your fellow students down
Speaker 1: here don't know how they are meant to keep themselves alive.
Speaker 1: The next day, according to Damila, he soon tired of
Speaker 1: the Saxo Barosia fawning over him and decided to turn
Speaker 1: over a new leaf, leaving his persona of Prince Levin
Speaker 1: behind in Heidelberg as he set out for Irfurt, only
Speaker 1: to check into his hotel hell there as Baron Korff. Apparently,
Speaker 1: the judgment he felt in regards to his counterparts in
Speaker 1: Heidelberg wasn't enough to fully convert back to a life
Speaker 1: of being simply Harry Domila in any case, similar to
Speaker 1: his experience with the members of the Saxo Berusia, Damiala's
Speaker 1: noble alter ego soon took on a new life of
Speaker 1: its own, unrelated to his new identity. In airport, Domiala
Speaker 1: happened upon an old friend who knew him as Harry, and,
Speaker 1: upon visiting him at the hotel where he was staying,
Speaker 1: asked him a question that would go on to shape
Speaker 1: the rest of Domila's life. Quote, I say, Harry, do
Speaker 1: you know whom they are taking you for? Here? For
Speaker 1: Prince William of Prussia. Damila laughed in turn, telling him quote,
Speaker 1: don't make silly jokes, my friend. But unbeknownst to rumors
Speaker 1: around the hotel had spread that quote, baron Korff was
Speaker 1: a fake name. But it was a fake name being
Speaker 1: used by Prince Wilhelm of Prussia in disguise, wishing to
Speaker 1: keep a low profile during his travels. Of course, we
Speaker 1: know Bhon Korff was actually a penniless nobody named Harry Damila.
Speaker 1: But who was he to correct them? And so Damala
Speaker 1: chose to embrace his newly bestowed identity writing quote. Odd
Speaker 1: glances were directed toward me. It gave me quite a turn.
Speaker 1: Everything that I had of the simple Harry Damila dropped
Speaker 1: away from me. I felt so isolated, so grand, and
Speaker 1: seemed to be raised above all ordinary creeping mortals. As
Speaker 1: I'm sure you can tell, the abundance of attention wasn't
Speaker 1: at a going to his head. And it's here that
Speaker 1: I'd love to make just a small personal interlude. When
Speaker 1: I was still in college, I spent a summer interning
Speaker 1: at the television show on TBS Conan Conan O'Brien's talk show.
Speaker 1: It was filmed at the Warner Brothers lot, and at
Speaker 1: the same time Warner Brothers lot also had the show
Speaker 1: Pretty Little Liars filming. The lot also had tourists come
Speaker 1: on sort of extended golf carts weaving away around the
Speaker 1: lot with tour guides pointing out various things that were
Speaker 1: filming in stages. My fellow interns and I, young women
Speaker 1: in our late teens early twenties, loved the feeling of
Speaker 1: putting on baseball caps while we were walking to the
Speaker 1: commissary for lunch and shield holding our faces as the
Speaker 1: tour groups went by, hoping desperately that they would think
Speaker 1: that we, any random trio of young women in athe
Speaker 1: leisure with our faces hidden, were actually the Pretty Little Liars.
Speaker 1: And people did snap pictures, and yes it was intoxicating.
Speaker 1: So this is just to say I understand, but for
Speaker 1: better or for worse. With Harry Damola, he was an
Speaker 1: Icarus and he decided that he wanted to continue to
Speaker 1: fly in style. Wanting to get a wardrobe that fit
Speaker 1: his new princely persona, Damla left for a day trip
Speaker 1: to Berlin, only to lose his bag with money on
Speaker 1: the train ride there. Upon going to the station master
Speaker 1: for help. He was almost immediately cast off with little
Speaker 1: patience from the man behind the counter and given a
Speaker 1: form to fill out. Damala smugly wrote Prince Wilhelm of
Speaker 1: Prussia when asked for his name, and he watched the
Speaker 1: station master's eyes nearly bulge out of his head when
Speaker 1: he realized his mistake. After leaving the train station with
Speaker 1: the station master's personal wallet gifted to him and what
Speaker 1: I imagined to be a jaunty skip in his step,
Speaker 1: not unlike Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, Damila later found
Speaker 1: his own purse in his pants pocket. How very convenient.
Speaker 1: When he was set to return to Rfort, the station
Speaker 1: master had organized a personal escort for him, and I
Speaker 1: feel like I should note this is just the beginning
Speaker 1: of the ridiculous hijinks Domla would revel in in his
Speaker 1: all too brief tenure as Prince Wilhelm. From that trip on,
Speaker 1: Damila would be treated to luxury suites, box seats at
Speaker 1: the opera, which he would critique as being overacted by
Speaker 1: performers too awestruck at his presence to do their job well,
Speaker 1: and taken out to such lavish dinners and parties he
Speaker 1: could barely go a step without unwonted attention. There's not
Speaker 1: nearly enough time for me to go into even half
Speaker 1: of the stories Domala felt necessary to put in his memoir,
Speaker 1: And if I'm being honest, only a quarter of them
Speaker 1: are really worth mentioning anyway. But there is one story
Speaker 1: I feel best encapsulates how exactly Domila was able to
Speaker 1: carry on his charade for as long as he did.
Speaker 1: One night, Doamala went out to dinner with the proprietor
Speaker 1: of the hotel he was staying at. The man whom
Speaker 1: Domla calls the counselor, mentioned that he saw something weighing
Speaker 1: on the young man's mind. Obviously, Domila couldn't answer with
Speaker 1: the truth that what was weighing on his mind was
Speaker 1: that he was a nobody parading as a prince and
Speaker 1: abusing everyone's good will for his own selfish gain. So
Speaker 1: when he didn't respond, the man continued, quote, the world
Speaker 1: lies open before you. Who knows how the future of
Speaker 1: our people will shape itself? Who knows what you may
Speaker 1: some day be called on to do. Many people see
Speaker 1: in you the future emperor and king. So you must
Speaker 1: learn to realize during the years of hoping and waiting
Speaker 1: what mistakes the old regime made. Remember the old national hymn,
Speaker 1: Neither horses nor men can keep secure the steep heights
Speaker 1: where princes stand end quote. The emotion with which Damila
Speaker 1: writes the old man speaking is likely the true reason
Speaker 1: he was able to carry on his farce for as
Speaker 1: long as he did. People want to believe it. Despite
Speaker 1: the high esteem Domla no doubt held himself in. I
Speaker 1: don't think his skill as an actor is what sold
Speaker 1: his persona as the deposed German prince. Really, I think
Speaker 1: it had little to do with Domola at all. Inside
Speaker 1: by side comparisons between the two men. Other than being
Speaker 1: white and young and having generally slender builds, they're not
Speaker 1: really twins. But what Damila and Prince Wilhelm did have
Speaker 1: in common was what their presence meant to the people
Speaker 1: who met them. After the devastating losses of World War One,
Speaker 1: the German Republic not only lost an entire generation of
Speaker 1: young men, but their sense of nationalism. They were eager
Speaker 1: for civil national pride wherever they could find it. The
Speaker 1: monarchy may have no longer served a purpose in the
Speaker 1: German government, but its presence remained a symbol of hope
Speaker 1: and pride, especially for upper class German citizens. While men
Speaker 1: like these self proclaimed baron ludates used noble titles as
Speaker 1: a way to patchwork together respect in a time when
Speaker 1: Germany's social hierarchy was in tatters, men like the Counselor
Speaker 1: saw the deposed monarchs as vestiges of a time when
Speaker 1: all of their lives had significance before the war and
Speaker 1: ultimate financial crisis all but stripped them of their finances
Speaker 1: and yes, social status. The truth was, Harry Damla likely
Speaker 1: wasn't the best actor, nor did he look particularly close
Speaker 1: in relation to the Prince of Prussia. He did, however,
Speaker 1: give the people of the upper class a reason to
Speaker 1: flaunt their wealth and status. Again. He reminded them of
Speaker 1: life before the war, before Germany had lost everything, and
Speaker 1: after losing his home, fighting in a war and ending
Speaker 1: up on the streets all before turning seventeen, who was
Speaker 1: Harry Damila to turn away the affections of those who
Speaker 1: were gullible enough to believe him. In the end, Damila's
Speaker 1: run as Prince Wilhelm of Prussia couldn't last forever. Eventually,
Speaker 1: the imposta prince got tired of the attention given to
Speaker 1: him in airport, and decided to leave for France to
Speaker 1: join the Foreign Legion in early nineteen twenty seven. Though
Speaker 1: the timing of his newfound apathy happened to coincide with
Speaker 1: reports being made about the quote unquote Prince's adventures in
Speaker 1: Heidelberg some weeks before, likely caused Damila to begin to
Speaker 1: feel the fragile walls he had constructed begin to close
Speaker 1: in on him. Before he even made it out of
Speaker 1: the country, he was intercepted on the train to France
Speaker 1: and was apprehended by police for his crimes. From there,
Speaker 1: he was transferred to the prison in Cologne, where he
Speaker 1: would spend seven months in a sell a, waiting trial
Speaker 1: and writing what would go on to become a best
Speaker 1: selling memoir. When his case finally made it before a judge,
Speaker 1: the jury surprisingly acquitted Damola of all charges, with one
Speaker 1: source writing of their decision quote. While he had taken
Speaker 1: advantage of prominent members of society, his scheme had been
Speaker 1: mostly harmless end quote. Upon his release, Damila received his
Speaker 1: first advance for his memoir, which would go on to
Speaker 1: sell over two hundred thousand copies worldwide and be adapted
Speaker 1: for both stage and screen. With that money, he would
Speaker 1: send Crown Princess Cecil, Prince Wilhelm's mother a bouquet of
Speaker 1: flowers with a note that read to her Imperial Highness,
Speaker 1: the Crown Princess Cecil, I was honored to be taken
Speaker 1: for your son. Ultimately, Damala wouldn't stay in Germany for long,
Speaker 1: with fascism on the rise in Berlin. Some sources claim
Speaker 1: that Damala's homosexuality was the reason for his departure, though
Speaker 1: as I mentioned before, there are no real accurate sources.
Speaker 1: When it comes to Harry Damila, I will say that
Speaker 1: his memoir does go into detail about many of his
Speaker 1: relationships with men, and while on the page they were platonic,
Speaker 1: there were significantly fewer, if any, anecdotes about any relationships
Speaker 1: or friendships at all with women. Regardless, by nineteen thirty three,
Speaker 1: Damila fled for the Erlands and eventually South America, where
Speaker 1: he would live the rest of his life in relative
Speaker 1: obscurity until his death in nineteen seventy nine. On paper,
Speaker 1: Damila's life seems almost unbelievable. To have paraded around as
Speaker 1: a deposed German prince for months and gotten away with it.
Speaker 1: It seems too good to be true. But in the
Speaker 1: months the young Quote Prince spent pretending to be something
Speaker 1: he wasn't, people who believed him were to an extent,
Speaker 1: participating in their own folly, falling over themselves to serve
Speaker 1: a royal whose throne technically no longer existed. They were
Speaker 1: just trying to have a taste of the life that
Speaker 1: they had before their country had lost everything, to still
Speaker 1: pretend that these structures of monarchy and privilege still mattered. Or,
Speaker 1: in the words of Harry Domoala quote, the sort of
Speaker 1: lying and bragging that hurts nobody and which would only
Speaker 1: take in someone even more stupid than oneself. That was
Speaker 1: the unbelievable life of Harry Damala, the Fake Prince of Prussia.
Speaker 1: But stick around after the sponsor break to hear a
Speaker 1: little bit more about the stage and screen adaptations of
Speaker 1: The Sham Prince. After his release from prison, Harry Damila's
Speaker 1: memoir The Sham Prince became more than just an international bestseller.
Speaker 1: Before long, playwrights and filmmakers were eager to get their
Speaker 1: hands on the story, and you better believe Damila wasn't
Speaker 1: going to miss his chance to get into the spotlight
Speaker 1: In December of nineteen twenty seven, just months after being
Speaker 1: released from prison, Damla would star in the silent film
Speaker 1: adaptation of his life's story titled The False Prince. A
Speaker 1: quick note here, we have scoured the internet and haven't
Speaker 1: been able to find it. So if you were listening
Speaker 1: to this podcast and have ever come across that Silent film,
Speaker 1: or if you ever do come across it in the future,
Speaker 1: please let me know. If you take nothing else from
Speaker 1: this episode, let it be remembered that no one has
Speaker 1: ever manifested their main character energy harder than Harry Damola.
Speaker 1: He literally became the main character of the movie made
Speaker 1: about his life, and if that wasn't enough in the
Speaker 1: case of stage adaptations, some sources say that Damala sued
Speaker 1: one of the productions that refused to cast him in
Speaker 1: the title role. Of course, this is not confirmed, but
Speaker 1: considering his track record, I really don't think it's completely
Speaker 1: out of the realm of possibility, because if there was
Speaker 1: ever one person who would take someone to court over
Speaker 1: the right to impersonate his own likeness, it would be
Speaker 1: Harry Domela. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and
Speaker 1: Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky Noble Blood is created
Speaker 1: and hosted by me Dana Schwort, with additional writing and
Speaker 1: researching by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zuick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender,
Speaker 1: and Lori Goodman. The show is edited and produced by
Speaker 1: Noemi Griffin and rema Il Kahali, with supervising producer Josh
Speaker 1: Thain and executive producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.