Why did Jack Smith release this image?

[wnylib]

81. True enough. Prussia was very militaristic.

My great grandfather was a general in the Prussian Army. He fled the German Empire, but for political reasons at the time. There was a German Kaiser, Frederick, who ruled briefly for a few months in 1888 and then died of cancer. He was married to Queen Victoria's daughter and planned for political, social, and financial reforms for Germany. My great grandfather was among the handful of military people plus some landed gentry and politicians who supported Kaiser Fritz's reform plans.

When Fritz died, his son, Wilhelm II, halted all the reforms and charged people who had supported his father with treason. My great grandfather was warned by friends that he would be arrested. They helped him get out of the country with his very pregnant wife and 3 young children aged 5, 3, and 1. Two weeks after they arrived in Buffalo, my grandfather was born.