Oldest Gebauer son , Robert , entered the German Navy in 1906-07 and , judging by the words on his sailor ’ s cap in the photo on left , served on board the cruiser , SMS Roon ( pictured at bottom ). He spent nearly 20 years away from Samoa . The photo top right was taken in Altona , Hamburg , in about 1920 .
In the First World War Robert was apparently captured by the Russians while serving in the German Army . After learning to speak colloquial Russian without a German accent he and another prisoner escaped from internment in Russia . The second German spoke Russian with a German accent so pretended to be a deaf mute . Robert recalled many years later that his fellow escapee nearly gave the show away when he burst into laughter after a Russian they met cracked a joke . The two eventually escaped back to Germany , perhaps East Prussia .
Naval photo on left by photographer Anna Koch , Luneburg , Germany ; photo top right taken by Sonderegger , Altona , Germany , Spemann Family Collection ( restored T . Brunt ). SMS Roon photo in Public Domain .
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