Arbeit macht frei: - Fredrick Töben

those questions directly. He is not here to make speeches. If you want to
lead evidence from him to further explain any question which he has
answered, and which he has not answered fulsomely, or which may lead to
some misunderstanding, you can re-examine, as is the procedure, in any
other hearing. Yes, Mr Margo.
MR PERKINS: If your Honour pleases.
MR MARGO: Dr Toben, I take you back to the document that was
tendered this morning. You say in the second last paragraph: Note: court
orders must be obeyed without exception even if they are unreasonable
and absurd. Do you see those words?
Dr Töben: Indeed.
MR MARGO: I put it to you that you meant to imply by the words, ‘even
if they are unreasonable and absurd,’ that the orders you are required to
obey are unreasonable and absurd?
Dr Töben: I wrote this because I was advised that – and Mr Charman did
this – if the court orders I have to follow them no matter how – they’re
actually his words – how absurd, I have to follow them. And I said, ‘I’ve
been doing this. I’ve been trying this.’ That’s all I’m expressing here.
MR MARGO: Do you regard the orders you are required to obey as
unreasonable and absurd?
Dr Töben: Yes. Yes, I do.
MR MARGO: And that’s what you meant to convey when you wrote that
on the website, isn’t it?
Dr Töben: That’s if you wish to
MR MARGO: – there are a lot of things to be read into this, but you are –
sorry, oops. You are not prepared to answer that question with a no?
Dr Töben: Sorry, ask again, please.
MR MARGO: You said that you regard the orders you are required to
obey as unreasonable and absurd, and I put it to you that that’s what you
intended to convey when you wrote on this document, published on the
website, the sentence I referred you to: Court orders must be obeyed
without exception even if they are unreasonable and absurd.?
Dr Töben: Well, this is my understanding …
MR MARGO: You meant to convey that meaning?
Dr Töben: This is my understanding. This is what I wish to convey, and I
went on to say that I linked it to the Nuremberg war crimes trials, and it
went on. Not just this one sentence here, you have to see it in context. It’s
not – I don’t operate on a yes/no dialectic. For me it’s telling the truth and
obeying the law. It’s a difficult, difficult thing to do, because telling the
truth means one has to have a moral dimension. And the law, you can
always say, it’s the – well, somebody handed down the law. I try to
internalise all these things.
74