A. In Pfaffenhofen on the Ilm I was looking for a room. I was advised to take a room with a family who were from Franconia because I myself was from Franconia. This family had a small meat factory outside of Pfaffenhofen on the Ilm. The family’s name was Haberkern. That was in 1926.
Q. Is that the later Gau Inspector Haberkern who was the owner of the “Blaue Traube” where the club table [Stammtisch] was that was supposed to have been the basis for your political position of power?
A. That is correct. That is the same Haberkern who later on became Gau Inspector of Nuernberg or more correctly was working with Gauleitung of Nuernberg.
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Q. On 1 May 1947 [30 April 1947], the witness Elkar[228] called you, and I quote, “the highest authority on legal questions in the Gau of Franconia.” (Tr. p. 2896.) A little later he calls you “the Spiritus Rector in the NSRB.”
Doebig says you had been the leading spirit in the NSRB. (Tr. p. 1775.)
What influence did you exert on the NSRB as a whole?
A. First of all, may I say in general, particularly to the introductory question, that I consider that those opinions expressed about me are considerable exaggerations. As for having been an authority on legal questions, that is out of the question. I have always found that other people found it a great deal easier; they always dealt with problems far more quickly, particularly those who passed these opinions. In effect, the way with us was that questions which concerned my Gau group, that is to say, the judges and prosecutors’ groups, were passed on to me. I then gave my opinion on those questions. My opinion was passed on to the Gauwalter and he then passed the matters on in the routine way which is the custom in every state; it was just passed on then to the next authority.
I really don’t think that at any time or at any place I had to cope with a problem of world importance.
Q. Did you receive immediate instructions from the NSDAP and the Gauleitung concerning your work in the NSRB?