“The parties argued the case in contentious fashion.”[1]

On May 11, 1953, Henry Ormond, the attorney for the plaintiff, and I.G. Farben’s lawyers, Alfred Seidl, Hellmuth Dix, and Jakob Wilhelm Flesch, representing the defense, delivered their final summations in Wollheim v. I.G. Farben. While Henry Ormond’s speech is available in written form, that of the three I.G. Farben lawyers is not accessible. To understand their line of reasoning, therefore, we have to fall back on contemporary accounts such as those analyzed by Joachim Rumpf in his dissertation on the Wollheim lawsuit.[2] Ormond needed three and one-half hours for his closing argument; the summation of the opposing side lasted two and one-half hours.

(SP; transl. KL)

Sources

Proceedings, 3rd Civil Chamber of the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court, May 11, 1953. HHStAW, Sec. 460, No. 1424 (Wollheim v. I.G. Farben), Vol. III, p. 422.

Henry Ormond, summation in trial court, May 11, 1953. HHStAW, Sec. 460, No. 1424 (Wollheim v. I.G. Farben), Exhibits, Vol. II, 49 pp.

Literature

Rumpf, Joachim R.: “Der Fall Wollheim gegen die I.G. Farbenindustrie AG in Liquidation.” Unpublished dissertation, Leibniz University, Hanover, 2007.