Herbert Elzer Anklage gegen die Bundesregierung: Der Fall Hertslet-Strack und das Verhältnis von Politik und Justiz in der Ära Adenauer

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Chancellor Konrad Adenauer is deservedly famous for his Treaty of Indemnification with Israel signed on 10 September 1952. However, leaders of the German Foreign Office like the Undersecretary of State Walter Hallstein and Head of Department Herbert Blankenhorn acted relentlessly against influential people regarded as (possible) opponents to this arrangement, sometimes even discarding the rules of law. Hans Strack, responsible for Middle Eastern Affairs in the Ministry of Economy, and the unfathomable wholesaler Joachim Hertslet suffered damage due to this determination. Claims for compensation, calumny, corruption or high treason belonged to the torts discussed in law suits lasting 20 years. The Regional Court of Bonn grappled with these subtle topics of political importance and slipped in the role of custody for the newly founded German democracy as the example of this stumbling episode teaches. The ramifications of these quarrels are told in this book thanks to a thorough scrutiny of archival documents of partly secret character. Legal Authorities overtook willy-nilly the function of controlling the Federal Offices in Bonn while Western Germany developed from an authoritarian to a liberal democracy – to analyse this evolution is not the least objective to be realized by this study.