Weltbühne trial
The outcome of the trial raised a considerable outcry among the German political left and in the foreign press, which saw it as evidence that Germany was returning to its prewar militarism.
These paramilitary associations, which had emerged from the Freikorps of the immediate postwar period and were also referred to as the Black Reichswehr, were a constant source of insecurity in German domestic politics.
Pacifist and anti-militarist circles in the Weimar Republic saw the behavior of the Reichswehr as a danger to internal peace as well as to the foreign policy of the German Reich.
A story in the Weltbühne about the Feme murders committed by the Black Reichswehr against those they considered traitors led to several criminal proceedings against the perpetrators.
Among the journalists who paid particularly close attention to the clandestine buildup of the German military, and specifically to the air force, was aircraft designer Walter Kreiser.
Against the contemporary political background, it is not surprising that the article Windiges aus der deutschen Luftfahrt (‘Stormy Matters from German Aviation’) published under the pseudonym Heinz Jäger in the Weltbühne on 12 March 1929 aroused the displeasure of the Reichswehr.
It was working with Lufthansa at its special flight center on the coast, and with the German Research Institute for Aviation at the Johannisthal-Adlershof airfield, where it had a secret military department.
Taking strong action against the author and publisher was on the other hand tantamount to admitting that the German Reich was indeed violating the terms of the Versailles Treaty and secretly building up an air force.
The foreign office, on the other hand, had to consider the fact that the Reich's negotiating position in the upcoming Geneva Disarmament Conference would be threatened by a public trial.
The fact that the start of the trial was delayed for so long is attributed to the resistance of the foreign ministry, which was led by Gustav Stresemann until his death in October 1929.
Reich attorney Paul Jorns, under whose direction the indictment against Ossietzky was drafted, had been involved in the investigation of the murders of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg and had destroyed evidence.
[3] The chairman of the fourth criminal senate, Alexander Baumgarten, had presided over the Ulm Reichswehr trial in the fall of 1930 at which Adolf Hitler had made his 'declaration of legality'.
Finally, on 24 August 1931, under pressure from General and later Reich Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher, the foreign office prepared a written opinion that was read during the trial.
The trial ended on 23 November with von Ossietzky and Kreiser sentenced to the 18-month prison terms demanded by the prosecution for crimes committed under the law against betrayal of military secrets.
Second, one should assume that the government, or at least the foreign office, would not approve of this ruling, since it draws public attention to events that might otherwise have long ago been forgotten or overlooked.
Germany, whose argument before the Geneva Disarmament Conference was always that the conditions of the Versailles Treaty had been fulfilled and that it had completely disarmed, will now have to defend itself against renewed accusations that it is maintaining a prohibited air force.
It is characteristic of the tenor of German courts that National Socialist traitors are always sentenced more leniently, usually with a custodial punishment, while a liberal critic of militarism is imprisoned with common criminals.
For his part Ossietzky argued: There is one thing about which there should be no mistake, and I emphasize this for all friends and opponents and especially for those who will be looking after my legal and physical well-being during the next eighteen months: I am not going to prison for reasons of loyalty, but because I am most inconvenient when incarcerated.
The Reich court had established its own legal system, which was not based on laws and the constitution, but on unclear concepts ("treason against the fatherland", "the citizen's duty of loyalty", "the welfare of the state").
In so doing it had made its contribution to the 'creation of the new law, for which alone the safeguarding of the German people forms the standard.’ In somewhat different words, Ossietzky defender Olden described the same thing: ‘From here comes that rottenness of law and of the sense of justice which leads the supreme court to the National Socialist twisting of all legal concepts, to the legitimization of murder when it serves the 'welfare of the state.’’”[8] After his conviction, Ossietzky conceded that the Republic had at least preserved "the decorum of legal procedure”.
He wrote, however, in the Weltbühne of 1 December 1931: “Once the Third Reich is governed according to Boxheim's platform [1931 plans for a Nazi takeover crafted by German lawyer Werner Best], then traitors like Kreiser and I will be shot without a fuss."
