The five defendants who have been on trial here for more than ten months in connection with charges against the former “Jewish Restitution Bank” are making their final statements this week. The verdict is expected in about 10 days.
Joseph Klibansky, one of those in the dock and perhaps Germany’s best-known Jewish attorney, wound up two days of legal argument on his own behalf today. He castigated the indictment as legally untenable, motivated in part by anti-Semitism and in part by a desire to eliminate a defense counsel who, in the eyes of the state and the district attorney, had been a troublemaker. He himself condemned the violations of the law of which the Bank’s two founders and directors had been guilty, but insisted that as legal adviser he could not be held responsible for the acts of his clients.
Dr. Paul Haag, Klibansky’s attorney, described the measures taken against Klibansky as “monstrous, unprecedented and deliberately humiliating.” After a sharp retort by the public prosecutor, Dr. Haag added that he would not withdraw a single word. As a member of the presidium of the Frankfurt Bar Association, he was well aware of the significance of his statements, and he was willing to prove their veracity if the public prosecutor sued him for libel and false accusation, he said.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
