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Niall Mcnamara writes from Ireland, Tuesday, August 15, 2000
A Comment on Judge Gray’s Judgment in D J C Irving vs Penguin Books & Lipstadt (subject to appeal) A JUDGE can consider his court as a personal bailiwick. In doing so, they can satisfy their self-indulgent, gratuitously offensive opinions in areas of law and prejudice, especially in a “gray” area. Their verdicts can be surprising and, may even be published as a polemic. Professor Hilberg (right) All this changed when the bigoted Justice Dr. Rothaug, the presiding judge of the local special court, ordered that the case be brought before him. Rothaug, conducted a show trial, and indulged his anti-Jewish hate when giving his verdict. Katzenberger was sentenced to death and Seiler received a prison sentence. The verdict, pronounced in March 1942, was one “which kicked up a lot of dust in the judiciary”. Even the Führer Adolf Hitler, then planning his 1942 spring offensive, got to hear of the case. Hitler protested to Justice Rothaug that he had ordered that no woman could be convicted for Rassenschande. Rothaug excused himself by stating he had convicted the woman for perjury. But Rothaug had heeded the message. Six months later, Frau Seiler was freed. If a relatively lowly judge would try and circumvent a Führer Order, with how much more ease could very powerful Nazi Ministers, acting secretly and with extrajudicial powers, do the same? Niall Mcnamara * Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of European Jews. New York; London: Holmes & Meier,1985. Abridged ed. See pp.45-7. |
gives an example of such a judge in his book, The Destruction of European Jews.(1) In 1935, The Protection of German Blood and Honor Law was passed, prohibiting sexual relationships between Aryans and non-Aryans. For offences relating to Rassenschande [race defilement] only the man could be punished for violations of the law in cases of extramarital relationships. A case of race defilement was to be heard in the ordinary criminal court in Nuremberg involving a Jew, Herr Katzenberger and an Aryan woman, Frau Seiler. The state prosecutor had anticipated a “moderate” sentence against Katzenberger.
