Address to Jessup Competitors
Helmuth James wrote almost daily to Freya, at home in Kreisau, using careful language which revealed his feelings but no military secrets. He wondered how he could take tea in a warm apartment while horrors were going on in East- ern Europe. His luck ran out in 1944. He was ar- rested. Freya said that even in SS prisons, there were helpful people. Probably the famous von Moltke name helped. So she travelled to his jail, bringing sausages and vegetables and letters. The prison chaplain, Harald Poelchau, carried in the food for the guards and carried back letters. His correspondence with Freya is in those days truly inspiring. In January 1945, Helmuth James was tried before the Volksgericht or People’s Court not for plotting assassination but for ex- posing evil and making plans for a new Germa- ny. He was judicially executed on January 25, 1945, I believe the last English barrister to suffer that fate.
So even in atrocious circumstances the truth can be heard. The public international lawyer does not need a machine gun or armour in order to speak up. Just commonsense plainly-stated may be enough. The voice of conscience may be lonely, even solitary, but often the speaker will not be the only one to think that way. The good example can often bring out a good reaction.
I quote a letter from Von Moltke :
“Strange how infinitely many things sud- denly depend upon a single decision. Those are the few moments when one man can suddenly count in the history of the world. Everything before, everything that follows is based on mass, anonymous forces and men. And then suddenly one feels that all these forces are holding their breath, that the gi- gantic orchestra that has played so far has fallen silent for one or two bars, to let the soloist set the tone for the next movement. It is only one heartbeat of time, but the one note, which will sound out alone and soli-
tary, will establish the next movement for the whole orchestra. And all await that tone.”
There were other men who realised the truth about their life and the reality of their circum- stances. Consider reading the poems written by another prisoner, Albrecht Haushofer, who had also been close to the centre of power but who had failed to speak out. He was imprisoned in Moabit Prison in Berlin. There he composed what are known as the Sonnets of Moabit. In translation the most famous one, number 38, reads “Ich musste Schärfer Unheil Unheil nen- nen”, “I should have more sharply called evil evil”. Haushofer wrote on scraps of paper filched from different sources in prison. On what was to be his last night, he and his cellmate, a young Com- munist called Herbert Kosney, shared some bread as they were summoned out of their cells by men in uniform. It turned out to be an execu- tion squad. All the prisoners were taken out of the prison. Haushofer was killed. His cellmate was shot, but not fatally, and crawled through the chaotic streets of Berlin to his home. In hos- pital, he discovered in his pocket a blood-stained piece of bread, and he remembered the man with whom he shared his last food. Haushofer’s body was found some days later, in his hand the bundle of paper on which the poems were writ- ten. Dramatic and poignant stuff indeed.
Both men teach us that good men and women exist in evil lands and times. Haushofer we re- member as a man who spoke too late. Von Molt- ke we remember as a model of our honourable calling and its role in the world.
Not just to win, but to guide. Not just to defend, but to inform. Not just to clarify, but to warn. These are the duties of the legal profession. Be- lief in the cause by the lawyer is useless with- out clarity. Truth and wisdom are fine, but to be heard they need to be conveyed in proper form. Rigour in exposition assists clarity, and is con- sistent with an edge of passion. That is true in
ILSA Quarterly » volume 20 » issue 4 » May 2012
37
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96