I shall never forget the pathetic sight presented by a worthy old fellow who was interned with us for many months. He was Professor Franz Mehring, a gentleman seventy-one years of age. In April, 1915, Mehring issued a proclamation in favor of an immediate peace. The proclamation contained not only his signature, but also those of Rosa Luxemburg and de Ledebour. This was sufficient to merit a taste of the Stadtvogtei. Mehring, like Borchardt, belonged to the Spartacus group. A very learned man and a fine talker, he enabled us to spend with him many interesting and never-to-be-forgotten hours. These names of Mehring and Borchardt, of which I had guarded but a slight remembrance, have become of great importance since the revolution broke out in Germany. Mehring remained for some time in the jail. After his liberation he became a candidate for the seat left vacant by Liebknecht at Potsdam. He was defeated, but his subsequent candidature had a happier sequel in his election, for another constituency, to the Prussian Diet. He was returned by a large majority and at the time of writing is a member of the Prussian Parliament. CHAPTER XXX AN ALSATIAN NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER In a preceding chapter, I referred to an officer at the Kommandantur by the name of Wolff. He was a German Jew who could “give points” to Prussians! He displayed a large number of decorations, among which one noticed the emblem of a Turkish Order worn in the centre of the abdomen! Amongst ourselves we frequently made fun of this barrel-bellied officer, carrying a kind of crescent on his front! I wish to relate here an incident in which I was a participant: Every Tuesday and Friday, during the last year of my captivity, I was allowed, as the reader knows, to take a walk in the Tiergarten accompanied by a non-commissioned officer of the jail. Orders had been given, however, that my escort was never to be a non-commissioned officer named Hoch, an Alsatian. In the course of my conversation with Hoch, I had frequently expressed a desire to have him some day for my walking companion. He was quite willing, but the sergeant-major, in this instance, had the whole say and Hoch was not called upon for a long time to be my guardian. In the month of August, 1917, however, Hoch was requested to accompany me on my promenade in the park. The instructions which had been given to the jail officials concerning me were very strict. I was not supposed to know that, but I knew it perfectly well. The non-commissioned officer, it had been ordered, was to leave the jail with me at two o’clock, proceed to the nearest urban railway station–that is to say about 300 feet from the jail–then board a train and go direct to the park. The promenade was to be made “inside” the park. I was not to be allowed to walk “outside,” neither to talk to anyone nor enter any other place.