Evening star., 1947-08-09

treasure disappeared, submitted tc
truth serum.
The serum was injected by a
doctor flown here from Weisbaden
and 1t knocked me out for six
hours" he said. "All I could tell
them was that there were two keys
to the trunk and I always kept both
of them with me on single string.
"One day between morning and
night I lost one of those keys out
of the brief case I was carrying with
me. and that night I noticed that 20
of the best pieces were gone"
"Gestapo" Methods Charged.
The prince said American CID
agents had used "Gestapo methods
in questioning me and my wife" He
referred to his divorced wife. with
whom he recently became recon-
ciled.
Ferdinand said the agents ques-
toned them for hours at q time.
However, O. r, Carluggi of Bloom
field, N. j., director of the CID. de-
MED the princes charge, saying I'VE
treated the prince very kindly"
He submitted to the truth serum
test voluntarily after consulting his
doctor, and when his wife took the
injection, she had her lawyer pres
ent," he said.
MISUNDERSTANDING to un-
ravel the rnystery-have encoun-
tered a maze of intrigue involving
fortune-tellers, characters from the
Berlin underworld and persons of
half a dozen nationalities, includ-
ing an unidentified American civil
ian in whose house Ferdinand
with his million dollar trunk"-was
a guest for short period.
Death Announced Yesterday. :.
The death of Princess Hermine
so, was announced yesterday by the
Soviet controlled German news
agency.
The Princess was the late Kaiser's
second wife. They we're married in
1922, after Wilhelm had gone into
exile at Doom, Holland. She lived
there until his death in June, 1941.
Hermine left Doom IN August, 1941,
to live on an estate in Silesia and
after the war was taken to Frank
furt, in the Russian zone.
IN April, when she was interviewed
by American correspondents, Her.
mine said she was not permitted by
the Russians to leave Frankfurt.
There she lived in a six x.room apart
ment, sharing 1t with her 3-year -old
grandson, Franz Friedrich, Prince
OF Prussia; a secretary, a chauffeur
and his family and Russian woman
who served as interpreter and
guardian.
The Princess was considered a
shrewd businesswoman and helped
the former Kaiser administer the
fortune which he took into exile.
This included private investments in
banking, shipping and industrial
undertakings estimated to have
brought in a revenue of some $1,000
600 annually. Prussia also paid Will
helm $7,500,000 on his abdication as
King and there was rental income
from Hohenzollern lands.
AS a young woman, the Princess
managed Silesian estate of about
10000 acres at Saabor, controlling it
with a firm hand. A German book,
Wilhelm II and Hermine," pub
lished in 1880, said she made only
one bad bargain: she was induced by
an Austrian to invest in perpetual
motion" machine in 1929. The for
mer Kaiser was reported to have
been furious on learning OF this and
tightened the purse strings.
Hermine was a young widow with
five young children when she mar
ried Wilhelm. She was said to have
admired the then Kaiser when she
was a young girl, and the romance
was revived through congratula-
tory letter written to the former
Emperor by her 13-year-old son.
Hitler telegraphed Hermine his
condolences on the death of Will
helm. However, she told the Ameri-
can newspaper correspondents that
her husband "despised and dis
trusted" the Fuehrer, even during
the height of the Nazi successes on
the western front in 1910.
1.-THE Kaiser was afraid for Ger
many and the world and despised
Hitler" she said. She added that
when the Germans conquered the
Netherlands, I'VE were practically in
termed at Doom" and suffered
badly"
One of the few occasions in which
Hermine figured in the news since
the war was when she was held up
and robbed of her fur coat and
handbag In Frankfurt last February.