Szöllössi-Janze
48 that explain the reason for Robert’s release viz, ‘as a result of
the direct intervention by Haber in exchange for the release of a German
interned in England.’
49
At the time, and stimulated by the overcrowding caused by the breakdown
of exchange negotiations, German policy began to move slowly in the
direction of releasing a small number of ‘suitable’ internees to their former
occupations—if asked to do so by their previous employers.
50 Haber probably
took advantage of his senior position within the Reich, together with his
connections with Koppel and the ‘Auer’, to exploit this avenue on behalf of
Le Rossignol. In this regard Robert’s release would certainly have been supported by Ambassador Gerard who at the time recalled with some concern
how even ‘… men of education … were compelled to sleep and live six in a
box stall …’ at Ruhleben.
51 Haber’s successful intervention at a time when
exchange negotiations had faltered, undoubtedly reflected the high regard he
had developed for Robert over the previous eight years. It is quite remarkable
that he found time to lobby on his behalf and arrange the detail of the
exchange when otherwise fully engaged with matters of national importance
such as the preparation for the gas attack at Ypres/Langemarck. Even so,
Robert was now ‘free’, but Szöllössi-Janze also records that for the remainder
of the war, ‘his trace was lost …’.
52 This ‘disappearance from the scene’ was
far from a lack of appreciation for Haber’s help however, but a practical
expedient. Le Rossignol was widely associated with Haber at the time, but to
sustain a relationship with a serving officer who by now had become so
prominently involved in the mobilisation of German science to support her
war effort would have been impossible to justify to His Majesty’s Government
(HMG) in the UK after the war. So, on his release Robert returned to the
‘Auer’ to ‘do what he liked’ (Chap. 1) which, because the tungsten ductility
problem had by now been solved by Coolidge, meant investigating new ways
of exhausting lamps. The war therefore broke the working relationship
between the two men and Robert stepped ‘into Haber’s shadow’. To history
he has remained there, maybe not out of choice, but certainly due to
circumstance.
14.3 Wartime at the ‘Auer’
At the ‘Auer’, the friendship between Robert and Mayer grew. In conversation with Chirnside (Chap. 1), Robert described Mayer as being ‘extremely
kind to me’, so much so that the two men agreed to build and share a house
together in Berlin after the war. Over the eighteen months following his
288
D. Sheppard
48 that explain the reason for Robert’s release viz, ‘as a result of
the direct intervention by Haber in exchange for the release of a German
interned in England.’
49
At the time, and stimulated by the overcrowding caused by the breakdown
of exchange negotiations, German policy began to move slowly in the
direction of releasing a small number of ‘suitable’ internees to their former
occupations—if asked to do so by their previous employers.
50 Haber probably
took advantage of his senior position within the Reich, together with his
connections with Koppel and the ‘Auer’, to exploit this avenue on behalf of
Le Rossignol. In this regard Robert’s release would certainly have been supported by Ambassador Gerard who at the time recalled with some concern
how even ‘… men of education … were compelled to sleep and live six in a
box stall …’ at Ruhleben.
51 Haber’s successful intervention at a time when
exchange negotiations had faltered, undoubtedly reflected the high regard he
had developed for Robert over the previous eight years. It is quite remarkable
that he found time to lobby on his behalf and arrange the detail of the
exchange when otherwise fully engaged with matters of national importance
such as the preparation for the gas attack at Ypres/Langemarck. Even so,
Robert was now ‘free’, but Szöllössi-Janze also records that for the remainder
of the war, ‘his trace was lost …’.
52 This ‘disappearance from the scene’ was
far from a lack of appreciation for Haber’s help however, but a practical
expedient. Le Rossignol was widely associated with Haber at the time, but to
sustain a relationship with a serving officer who by now had become so
prominently involved in the mobilisation of German science to support her
war effort would have been impossible to justify to His Majesty’s Government
(HMG) in the UK after the war. So, on his release Robert returned to the
‘Auer’ to ‘do what he liked’ (Chap. 1) which, because the tungsten ductility
problem had by now been solved by Coolidge, meant investigating new ways
of exhausting lamps. The war therefore broke the working relationship
between the two men and Robert stepped ‘into Haber’s shadow’. To history
he has remained there, maybe not out of choice, but certainly due to
circumstance.
14.3 Wartime at the ‘Auer’
At the ‘Auer’, the friendship between Robert and Mayer grew. In conversation with Chirnside (Chap. 1), Robert described Mayer as being ‘extremely
kind to me’, so much so that the two men agreed to build and share a house
together in Berlin after the war. Over the eighteen months following his
288
D. Sheppard