Berlin, 30th July 1930
IT was a relatively simple case of theft. The case has started on the Monday with the preamble from both sides, and then the prosecution had stated their case against the defendant; Meyer’s first client, Peter Vogel.
Vogel had been accused of stealing a pocket watch from Kristian Amsel, an official of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft, the German state railway. The alleged offence took place during the disembarking of passengers on the Munich to Berlin express in the Anhalter Bahnhof on Askanischer Platz.
The prosecution had made their case against Peter Vogel in three main arguments. The first was that Peter Vogel had a criminal record from his youth which had included petty theft amongst some other misdemeanours. The second was the circumstantial evidence of Vogel being in the crowd that left the train and was pushing past Kristian Amsel as he was checking his watch. But the third and most damning of the arguments was the incontrovertible truth that when Vogel was apprehended at the station, in his pocket was part of the watch chain from Amsel’s watch.
Meyer had arrived in high spirits each day at the Bauer & Bauer office on Potsdamer Platz as he and Deschler, now working as Meyer’s assistant as promised, prepared themselves for his first case. Although Deschler did run some of the checks and background work that an assistant would be expected to do, in fact most of this work was passed to clerks and assistants borrowed from other lawyers. Instead, Deschler helped Meyer formulate the strategies for the defence, guided Meyer through the interview with Peter Vogel, and made sure that the case that the defence would be presenting was as clear as possible to both the lawyers and their client, and was designed in such a way as to be as easy as possible for the jury to understand.
The prosecution had been very clear in their arguments and stated their case as if the verdict was a forgone conclusion. Meyer’s usually high spirits had dropped as the prosecution summed up their case against Vogel.
“You don’t play cards do you?” Deschler whispered to Meyer.
Meyer thought that Deschler was going to berate him for showing his disappointment in the way the case was going in his facial expression. “No, Herr Deschler.”
“I can see you are becoming downhearted. You are familiar with the concept that one person holds a hand of cards which you cannot see and you hold a hand which they cannot see?”
“Of course.”
“Then do not forget that as the prosecution lays their cards on the table one by one, we can see in our hand that we have a higher card which will trump theirs. As the defence, we have the added advantage of seeing their cards before they see ours, and, if required, we have a couple of aces hidden up our sleeves.”
Meyer forced a smile. He knew that they had built an excellent case for Vogel, and that in all but the very first case where Meyer had been assisting, they had always won. But the Prala Weide case still preyed on Meyer’s mind.
Deschler had provided the jury with the best arguments possible in Weide’s defence. Meyer had been in awe of the way he had torn the prosecution’s arguments apart and dropped in that special trick of his; the alternative suspect. And yet, the jury had still found Weide guilty. Not because of the evidence, in fact they had found him not guilty of theft, which to Meyer’s mind should have precluded him from the guilty verdict for murder, but because of who he was. Because he was a Gypsy. Because the Färbers were a respectable middle-class German family. When Meyer had discussed this with Deschler during the preparation for the Vogel case, Deschler had provided Meyer with one of the aces to be kept up his sleeve.
When they arrived on the Wednesday, Meyer’s nerves were obvious. Throughout the officiousness of the Clerk of the Court getting the court ready and the arrival of the Judge, Meyer’s hands trembled visibly, as he checked his opening statement again and again.
Deschler sat quietly, allowing Meyer to read over his notes and prepare himself for the first time he would need to speak in court. Yet he was concerned about Meyer’s apparent anxiety.
The Clerk of the Court announced the start of the defence case and looked towards Meyer. Meyer took a deep breath and readied himself to stand. He feared stumbling as he stood; he thought that he might spill his papers on the floor or be unable to speak once he was standing there. What if he lost his train of thought, what if his mind went entirely blank?
The Clerk of the Court looked over in Meyer’s direction and widened his eyes in a motion which unmistakably indicated that he felt that Meyer was taking too long to get to his feet. The judge looked up from the papers on his desk and peered over his pince-nez glasses. For the first time, Meyer felt the eyes of court on him and found the strength to take to his feet.
Deschler thought that he could see the Clerk of the Court join him in breathing a sigh of relief. Deschler watched Meyer stand with the notes to his opening statement in his hand. It seemed an eternity passed as he watched him scan over the papers without saying anything. The silence of the court was oppressive and bore down on Deschler. He was about to lean forward and ask Meyer if he wanted him to make the opening statement when he saw Meyer lick his lips and heard his voice break the silence.
As Meyer and Deschler had already discussed that morning, Meyer opened with a rebuttal of Peter Vogel’s early criminal record. This was at a time, he argued, when circumstances had been very different for Herr Vogel than how they stood now. It was a time before the war, when, as a young man, he had made an error of judgement which had attached a label to him for the rest of his life. Who could say that in their youth they had not also made errors of judgement? Whether it was the justice system which had amended Peter Vogel’s behaviour, or whether it was the maturity that going to war brings, between that time and now, Peter Vogel had not had any dealings with the police. This was a youthful mistake which had no bearing on the current case at all.
As Meyer laid out this argument, he kept a close watch on the faces of the jurors. He was certain that he could see that this line was making an impression. He was almost certainly sure that he could even see one of the men nodding his head in agreement. Meyer suddenly felt himself fill with self-confidence, and realised that at that particular moment the court was his; everyone would be waiting for his next word, his next sentence, his next argument. And he felt himself relax. His nerves left him and for the first time that day, he felt that he was the one who was controlling this session.
Deschler had asked Meyer to open with the argument against the earlier criminal convictions for three reasons. The first was that this was something that had to be done and removed from the minds of the jurors as quickly as possible. More importantly, Vogel’s war record had not been mentioned yet, and this was one of the aces which Deschler had placed up Meyer’s sleeve. But most importantly of all, this fairly straightforward and simple argument could be given in the opening statement without intervention by any of the other members of the court and Meyer would be able to gain the confidence he required in speaking on the floor of the court for the first time. Deschler watched anxiously as Meyer spoke, and as the seconds went by and the sentences were communicated, he could feel and hear Meyer’s confidence grow. When Meyer had finished his opening statement and called for his first witness, Deschler could hear the voice of a lawyer in the court.
Meyer’s first witness was Frau Engel, a plump, middle-aged woman with a ruddy complexion and greying hair scraped back into a bun on the top of her head. Frau Engel took her seat in the witness box and made her oath, before blowing her nose on a cotton handkerchief.
“Frau Engel, I see you have a dreadful case of the cold. I will keep this as short as possible,” began Meyer. Frau Engel smiled and finished wiping her nose, which was a painful red around her nostrils.
“Frau Engel, can you tell me, were you on the Munich to Berlin express on the second of May this year?”
“Yes, it was a Friday. I had been in Munich visiting my sister,” replied the woman, her voice thick with the cold.
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“Can you tell me what time the train arrived at Anhalter Bahnhof?”
“It was sixteen minutes past four exactly when the train pulled into the station,” she said, confidently.
“You seem very sure about that, it was several months ago. Can you be certain?”
“Absolutely. The train is supposed to take six hours and forty minutes to make the journey. I checked the time just as we were arriving to ascertain if the estimate had been accurate.”
“And had it been, Frau Engel?”
“Yes. As accurate as you would expect. Not that it mattered that much anyway,” came the reply.
“And why was that?”
“Well, although the train had left Munich on time and had arrived in Berlin on time, the passengers were not allowed to leave the train straight away. In fact, we all had to sit for a further twenty minutes.” Frau Engel’s voice was full of the indignity born of being trapped on a train which had been on time.
“Do you know the reason why you were being restricted from leaving the train?”
“It was something to do with the work which was being done on the platform. When we got out, finally, there was a large section which was cordoned off.”
“Can you describe the feelings of your fellow passengers as they waited to be let off the train?”
“Well, some seemed to take it very well and sat and read the paper, but most were anxious to get off the train. Some were furious that the doors to the carriages had remained locked.”
“And which carriage were you in?”
Frau Engel produced a train ticket from her handbag and held it out for the Clerk of the Court to examine. “It was carriage four, section B,” she said confidently.
“This was the same carriage and section as the defendant. Did you notice him during the train journey?” asked Meyer.
“Yes, of course. He sat opposite me in the compartment, although we didn’t really talk to each other until we found we were unable to leave the train.”
“And once it was indicated that you were able to leave the carriage, since you were sitting near each other, did you leave together?”
“I found myself standing behind Herr Vogel in the corridor, along with the other passengers that were in my compartment, once we were told we could leave.”
“And did you stay behind Herr Vogel as you disembarked from the train?”
Frau Engel blew her nose and apologised before confirming that she had been behind him as they left the carriage.
“And did you follow him along the platform away from the train?”
“Yes, I had no choice. We were packed together like cattle. It was outrageous.”
Frau Engel was about to start veering off on a rant about the experience, but to Deschler’s delight Meyer noticed this and brought her straight back under the control of his questions.
“Frau Engel, can you describe what was happening as you stepped off the carriage please, right at the point of you leaving the train?”
“Well, half of the platform was cordoned off, and there was only enough space for about three people abreast. It was difficult to get off the train, as the passengers from the other carriages were already pushing past ours. Herr Vogel got off the carriage and held the people from the rest of the train back so that I had time to get off. So initially, he was behind me, but in the crush I was held back and he was pushed forward, so I was directly behind him again.”
“Directly behind him?”
“Directly.”
Meyer used Deschler’s technique of turning over a piece of paper to reinforce the finishing of that stage of questioning. He hoped that this would help the jury keep in mind how close Frau Engel had been to Peter Vogel as they exited the train and made their way along the crowded platform.
“Can you describe the way the crowd of passengers were behaving as they left the platform?”
“Everyone was very polite, and thankfully no-one was pushing or attempting to get out faster than anyone else or there may have been a terrible accident. It was awful. People should never be treated this way.”
Meyer hemmed Frau Engel back in again. “As you neared the end of the train and the opening out of the platform into the main concourse, did you notice anything or anyone in particular?”
“Yes, I certainly did. One of the guards from the train was watching as we were funnelled like rats along a pipe. I was going to make a complaint to him about the state of the platform and...”
“Frau Engel, where was this guard standing?”
“He was leaning out of the guard's door at the very front of the first carriage, looking across the heads of the passengers. Then, and I mean with great difficulty because of the flow of people, he managed to get down onto the platform.”
“Was he being jostled as he was standing there?”
“Absolutely. He had a hold of one of the handles of the carriage with one hand and he was checking his pocket watch with the other.” Frau Engel gave her nose another wipe.
Meyer waited as she returned her handkerchief to her handbag.
“Did this guard have the watch in his hand all the time?”
“Well, I couldn’t always see him, but it looked like he was checking his watch and then returning it to his pocket only to take it out again a few seconds later.”
“And how long do you estimate it took you to travel from your carriage, past the guard, to a more open area?”
Frau Engel thought for a moment. “A good five minutes, maybe slightly longer.”
“Did you see anyone bump into this guard?”
Frau Engel let out a small laugh. “Yes, everyone that was next to the carriages did. He was jostled the whole time I was there. I bumped into him myself.”
“Did you notice if he had his watch in his hand as you bumped into him?”
“He didn’t, but he was checking his inside pocket at that moment. Shortly afterwards I heard a shout, and he pushed through the crowd and called to two policemen on duty there.”
“What happened next?”
“He indicated that Herr Vogel should be stopped by the police, which he was, very quickly.”
“Was this because they were near to Herr Vogel?”
“No. It was because Herr Vogel stopped walking and waited for them.”
Meyer left a long pause after that answer. He wanted it to sink in.
“One final question, Frau Engel. Did you see Peter Vogel steal the guard, Kristian Amsel’s, watch?”
Frau Engel cleared her throat and she turned her head to the jury. “No,” was her reply.