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when lawyers say that conditions like that are a disgrace.
Complaints to the management don’t have the slightest ef-
fect, but the lawyers are strictly forbidden to alter anything
in the room at their own expense. But even treating the law-
yers in this way has its reasons. They want, as far as possible,
to prevent any kind of defence, everything should be made
the responsibility of the accused. No a bad point of view, ba-
sically, but nothing could be more mistaken than to think
from that that lawyers are not necessary for the accused in
this court. On the contrary, there is no court where they are
less needed than here. This is because proceedings are gen-
erally kept secret not only from the public but also from the
accused. Only as far as that is possible, of course, but it is
possible to a very large extent. And the accused doesn’t get
to see the court records either, and it’s very difficult to infer
what’s in the court records from what’s been said during
questioning based on them, especially for the accused who
is in a difficult situation and is faced with every possible
worry to distract him. This is when the defence begins.
Counsel for the defence are not normally allowed to be
present while the accused is being questioned, so after-
wards, and if possible still at the door of the interview room,
he has to learn what he can about it from him and extract
whatever he can that might be of use, even though what the
accused has to report is often very confused. But that is not
the most important thing, as there’s really not a lot that can
be learned in this way, although in this, as with anything
else, a competent man will learn more than another. None-
theless, the most important thing is the lawyer’s personal

1 The Trial