Defending Nazis in Postwar Czechoslovakia

The Life of K. Resler, Defence Counsel ex officio of K. H. Frank

Jakub Drápal

Translated by Anna Barton

Published by Charles University

Karolinum Press

www.karolinum.cz

ebooks@karolinum.cz

Edited by Alena Jirsová

Cover by Jan Šerých

First English edition

© Karolinum Press, 2017

© Jakub Drápal, 2017

© This English edition is a revised version of Poslušen zakonů své země a svého stavu (Auditorium, Prague 2014), translated from the Czech by Anna Barton. Photography © Archival fonds of Prague City Archives; National Museum; and Václav Trojan and Eliška Trojanová (heirs)

This book is published with the support of Foundation Hugo Grotius, Law firm VKS Legal and Czech Bar Association. The publication of this book was also supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports - Institutional Support for Longterm Development of Research Organizations - Charles University, Faculty of Law, PROGRES Q05.

ISBN 978-80-246-3730-3 (print)

ISBN 978-80-246-3731-0 (pdf)

ISBN 978-80-246-4230-7 (epub)

ISBN 978-80-246-4229-1 (kindle)

CONTENTS

1. Acknowledgements

2. Preface

3. Foreword

4. Introduction: The final hours before the execution

5. Photographs of Frank’s family

6. 1. The First Republic

1. Defence of Antonín Kiesewetter in a treason case

2. Childhood and education

3. As a soldier

4. JUDr. Kamill Resler’s legal practice

5. The Sokol’s reaction to Resler’s defence of Kiesewetter

6. In the Sokol

7. Codex mejdanensis

8. Clubs and associations

9. Legal practice during the First Republic (1918–1938)

10. Resler’s other clients

1. Defence of doctor Arnošt Dvořák

2. Defence of Bedřich Kalda vs. the Czechoslovak state

3. The case of the Mánes artistic association

7. 2. After Munich

1. Salute the Flag! and other wartime books

2. In politics

3. Resler’s family

4. Role in the Bar Association

5. Protection of Jews during the war

8. 3. During the War: 1939–1945

1. Resler’s “protectorate fun”

2. Wartime conditions and the resistance

3. František Bidlo and his Zderaz sketches

4. Court cases and disputes during the war

5. Defence of those on death row

1. František Beran

2. Irena Bernášková

3. Anna Doušová

4. Gisela Goldschraisátová

5. Josef Hojný

6. František Korda

7. Adolf Plachý

8. Ladislav Rašín

9. Jana Tuhá

6. Resler’s stories of a colleague in Berlin

7. Ordinary disputes

8. After the war

9. The attempt to convict traitors

9. 4. The Karl Hermann Frank Case

1. The ex officio appointment

2. Representation before the special courts

3. The events of the trial

4. The defence and the court proceedings

5. The closing defence speech

6. Reasons for conviction and acquittal

7. The plea for mercy

8. Financial and emotional consequences of the defence

9. Frank’s opinion of his defence

10. The significance of Resler’s defence and reactions to it

11. The media’s attitude to the trial, and Resler’s later talks on the trial

12. Visiting President Beneš

13. Resler’s intention to publish a book

10. 5. 1946–1948: Entering the Twilight

1. Defence of Richard Bienert

2. The National Court

3. Defence of Jiří Stříbrný

4. Cases before and after the renewal of the Extraordinary People’s Courts

1. Kelemen Alexander

2. Prof. Miloslav Hýsek

3. Zlatko Bilian

4. Hugo Sonnenschein-Sonka

5. Marta Bidlová

6. Karel Královec

7. František Valach

5. Key events of 1946 and 1947 and Resler’s everyday work

6. Zikmund Stein

7. One insignificant case

8. The end of Resler’s career as a barrister

11. 6. Artist and Artists’ Lawyer to the End

1. Work for the Neumann family

2. Copyright disputes

1. Stanislav Kostka Neumann

2. Franz Kafka

3. Resler’s literary activity

1. Articles

2. Biographies

3. As a translator and publisher

4. New Year cards

4. His own library

5. Karel Dyrynk’s magical experience in Kamill Resler’s library

6. Encounters with the regime

7. Employment and Resler’s financial situation

8. Kamill Resler’s death and will

12. Afterword

13. References

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In Spring 2012 I asked Prof. Jan Kuklík, professor of legal history and dean of the Law Faculty at Charles University, to give a short talk about post-war society before a screening of the film Ex offo. He kindly agreed, and was delighted with my interest in Kamill Resler.

The matter didn’t end there – subsequent discussions with him led me to decide to write this book, and Prof. Kuklík was extremely supportive in helping me to access the archive materials relevant for my research, discussing the book with me, and providing me with some materials he had in his collections that related to the K. H. Frank trial. There is little a student could want more than that his teacher welcome his ideas, support him in them, discuss them with him, and eventually help him to bring them to the wider world. My heartfelt thanks therefore go to Prof. Kuklík. Without him, this book might never have been possible; certainly, it would not have taken shape so soon.

Many thanks are also due to the VKŠ law firm, in particular to Dr. Buzková and Dr. Tyll, to the Hugo Grotius Foundation and to the Czech Bar Association and its president JUDr. Martin Vychopeň, whose generosity enabled this book to be translated into English. Annie Barton translated it splendidly and the publisher Karolínum helped me to further improve its structure.

I wish to extend my thanks, too, to my Czech language and literature teacher at secondary school, Eva Podzimková, for having awoken my interest in literature and history, over the five years that she taught me, together with a desire to interpret literary texts and apply literary characters’ experiences to real-life situations. If she had studied law, I believe that with her enthusiasm for work, literature and ethics she could well have resembled a modern-day Kamill Resler. Instead, as a teacher she has succeeded in inspiring hundreds and thousands of students to pursue their projects, of which this book is one.

While working for barrister Pavel Čižinský for eighteen months I learned what great things a barrister can achieve, and that even today there are barristers who dedicate themselves to pursuing justice even when that means defying public opinion and the national authorities. Interesting though it was to observe Čižinský defend a murderer, what really caught my attention were the small, everyday cases at which he defended foreigners, often enabling them to stay in the country and giving them – sometimes for the first time in their life – an understanding of what justice is. This book is therefore dedicated to Pavel.

I am grateful to the staff of the Literary Archive at the Museum of Czech Literature, The Prague City Archives, the Archives of the National Museum and of the National Museum Library, the Archive of Charles University, the East Bohemian Museum in Pardubice, the Central Military Archive and the Archives of the Czech Bar Association, for their exceptional willingness to assist me. Furthermore, my thanks go to Pavel Muchka, who wrote a bachelors dissertation on Kamill Resler, for his kind help.

Last but not least I am grateful to my parents, who encouraged me to write this book, and in particular my mother, who read and commented on my manuscript at many stages.

Jakub Drápal

PREFACE

It is a great pleasure indeed to contribute this foreword to the English edition of “Poslušen zákonů své země a svého stavu: Kamill Resler – obhájce K. H. Franka”, a book written by one of our faculty’s promising graduates, Jakub Drápal, that looks at the life and work of the eminent Czech defence lawyer Kamill Resler.

I would like to make use of this foreword to introduce new readers to this book that they have just opened, in a few words. The first thing worth noting is how it came into existence. It is certainly not a common occurrence that a master’s student should write such a highly acclaimed book that the university publishing house decides not only to publish it in the Czech original, but subsequently also to publish it in English translation. I am delighted that this has happened to a student of the law faculty and I am pleased to have been able to contribute to the book’s progress and watch it take shape right from the beginning. I first met Jakub to discuss his academic writing essays and our paths crossed again at a screening of the film Ex Offo, which brought Kamill Resler’s story to the screen back in 1998. Jakub impressed me not only with his stylish writing, but in particular with his desire to see K. H. Frank’s defence counsel in a broader context and on several levels. Resler’s life interested him sufficiently that he was willing to give up most of his free time to undertake detailed research using the relevant literature and archival materials. The results of this research were turned first into his dissertation and subsequently into a stand-alone book – the first complete book-length biography of Resler, which was not only favourably reviewed in the legal press, but was also praised by the Rector of Charles University as one of the best academic monographs written by researchers from Charles University in year 2014.

The second thing to note concerns the chosen topic and the character of Kamill Resler in particular. He is not particularly well known in Czech circles, and very little known in the wider world. When he is mentioned, it is usually as defence counsel to K. H. Frank in his trial before the Extraordinary People’s Court in spring 1946: part of the so-called post-war retributional trials, which took place at a time when overblown nationalist passions were still rife. Resler was a well-respected Prague barrister with high moral credit, who had been involved in the home resistance movement during the Second World War. He became an enemy to the Czech State literally overnight when he became (not through his own decision but as an ex officio allocated defence counsel) the legal representative to K. H. Frank, “executioner of the Czech nation,” the man responsible for the Lidice extermination and a symbol of the break-up of the Czechoslovak state in 1938 and its occupation during the Second World War. Jakub Drápal also takes this powerful motif as the starting point for his book, but he is not only interested in the historical context of the war crime trials, but also in the right of any defendant to a fair trial, and the principle of a thorough defence even in cases when the public is convinced of the defendant’s guilt and extends its negative attitude to the defendant’s legal representative. Similarly, Jakub Drápal looks at barristers’ professional ethics, examining how Resler carried out the defence as his professional honour dictated, even in the case of a war criminal, and how this paradoxically led to him being hated by his fellow citizens, damaged his reputation forever, lost him several friends and even caused problems within his own family. Resler himself put it thus: “A barrister must forget his own feelings and attitudes, give up his own character and, however hard it might be, carry out his duty thoroughly.” All this is, moreover, intensified by the fact that K. H. Frank and Kamill Resler stood on opposite sides during the war, and, had his anti-German activities been revealed, Resler could well have been arrested and tried for them and thus the two men’s roles would have been reversed. What is more, Resler’s engagement in the post-war retribution was by no means over with K. H. Frank; as a barrister he was involved in several other no less sensitive cases involving political collaboration that were heard before the National Court.

Although these post-war retributional cases are no doubt among the most interesting for the reader, Jakub Drápal looks beyond these at the other aspects of Resler’s life and work. Resler is, after all, connected with the eventful fate of the independent Czechoslovak state in the first half of the twentieth century. He was active at the time of its establishment and as a leading lawyer became involved in the legal, political and artistic life in Prague. He represented both left-wing intellectuals and, in 1935, German banker Kiesewetter, who was accused under the law on the protection of the Republic of plots against the Republic (i.e. treason) and acquitted thanks to Resler’s excellent defence. As you will read later in this book, Resler was already called a traitor to the Czech nation as a result of this trial, and it eventually led to him ending his long-term involvement in the Czech national sporting association Sokol.

Personally, I think that Resler’s attempt to prevent the anti-Jewish measures from being implemented at the Czech bar shows his great determination, and is nowadays rather forgotten. The Munich agreement of 1938, which not only led to the forced cession of the borderlands and their minority German population to Germany but also put an end to the liberal parliamentary democracy of the inter-war period, affected Resler deeply; this is evident, too, from the fact that he put together a book of poems related to Munich (which was published only after the war). The undemocratic post-Munich regime known as the Second Czechoslovak Republic was marked by a growing wave of antisemitism and anti-Jewish measures, introduced following the German example but well before the Nazi occupation began. It was at this time that the Bohemian Bar Association, together with the Medical Chamber, took it upon themselves to prevent Jews from practising their professions, and it was none other than Kamill Resler who stood up against this oppression and defended his Jewish colleagues. He even proposed openly suing the group of so-called Aryan barristers for their anti-Jewish attacks, and pursued this even after 15th March 1939, when the Germans made what remained of Czechoslovakia into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Under the Protectorate, Resler continued to represent a number of Jewish clients and besides his resistance activities fearlessly took on the defence of more than 60 Czech patriots who had been sentenced to death by German courts, including courts established under martial law.

Resler’s strength of character is further demonstrated by the fact that, after the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia came to power in February 1948, he did not hesitate in suing two editors of the party’s newspaper Rudé právo and successfully demanding his name be cleared of the defamation published in their articles.

Kamill Resler was an interesting character for many other reasons, too: he wrote poetry, had his own private publishing house, and collected books. This book, then, is one that you should not miss if you are interested in twentieth century central European history or legal history. Even small countries in central Europe have their great heroes, albeit underappreciated and rather forgotten ones.

Jan Kuklík

FOREWORD

A hunched figure, sitting smoking a cigarette in a dim room, pondering impending difficulties; yet someone of immense inner strength and courage. Those were my first impressions of Kamill Resler – as portrayed in the excellent film Ex offo produced by Czech Television.

After seeing the film, I immediately wanted to know more about Resler, and so I read Ladislav Tunys’ fine book K. H. Frank – Noc před popravou (K. H. Frank – the Night before the Execution), part of which describes Resler’s character. From the references in the book it was evident to me that there must be more material on Resler than had so far been processed. And so it was that I decided to go to the archives and research Resler’s life academically, in greater detail.

Studying Resler’s legacy led me into the lesser known aspects of his life, and many of the documents I found positively surprised and even touched me – in particular the final letters Resler received from those condemned to death during the Second World War and passed on to their families, and his descriptions of some of the circumstances of his relations with K. H. Frank. It gradually became clear to me that Kamill Resler was not only an extremely active and able man, but also very modest. He did not boast about his successes, and never expected recognition for them. In some cases he received the recognition he deserved only after his death.

Every profession, in any era, needs people who serve it as examples, perhaps even heroes, even though they are not perfect; it is constantly on the lookout for such figures, and consciously or subconsciously appreciates them. Kamill Resler could serve many as an example to the legal profession, in the way he understood justice and worked to achieve it, in the meaning that the barrister’s profession had for him, and in the fact that he was able to find happiness elsewhere once he ceased practice in the profession.

Before I begin to describe Resler’s life in detail, I would like to warn my readers of one thing: Resler once mentioned that as a barrister he always stood on the defendant’s side, whether he liked it or not. In the course of writing about a defence lawyer whom I consider a role model and perhaps even a hero, I naturally tend to see things from the defence side more than that of the prosecution, however hard I attempt to give a neutral and objective account of the facts. I trust that my readers will forgive me, therefore, if I have inadvertently not remained entirely unbiased in my account.

Jakub Drápal

Prague, 12 November 2016

INTRODUCTION:

THE FINAL HOURS BEFORE THE EXECUTION[1]

Just three hours passed between the pronouncement of the verdict and the execution itself. Karl Hermann Frank, the highest ranking Nazi in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia during the Second World War, spent almost all of that time with lawyer Kamill Resler and his assistant Drahoslav Kroupa.[2]

It was 1946 and the Czechoslovak retributional courts had just passed sentence in their most important case. They had judged a man who was hated by all the Czechs – including the judges, the prosecution and even his own defence lawyer. Despite that, the trial was carried out fairly and the quality of the defence was particularly remarkable. Despite his distaste at having to defend Frank, defence lawyer Kamill Resler managed to bring himself to provide his client with both legal and personal support, in particular during Frank’s final hours.

Once the full sentence had been pronounced, Frank was taken to the photographer and Resler then went to meet him in his cell. He took up the guardian role that he had to play for the following three hours even before he had reached the cell: a group of women accosted him and asked him to find out some details from Frank about a certain case. He promised them that he would pass their request on to Frank, adding that he did not want to bother him in the final hours of his life.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Foreword

Introduction: The final hours before the execution

1. The First Republic

Resler’s other clients

2. After Munich

3. During the War: 1939–1945

Defence of those on death row

4. The Karl Hermann Frank Case

5. 1946–1948: Entering the Twilight

Cases before and after the renewal of the Extraordinary People’s Courts

6. Artist and Artists’ Lawyer to the End

Copyright disputes

Resler’s literary activity