THE RUDOLF REPORT

11. HUNTING GERMAR RUDOLFcriminal trial against his client, I well knew the client for whom Iwould be acting. It was clear to me that there was a danger thatRemer’s political opinions and activities could rub off on ‘his expertwitness’, if the witness came to a ‘politically incorrect’ conclusion.Why I nevertheless decided to proceed is as follows.In a state under the rule of law, a witness, including an expert witness,can not be punished for what he says before the court or for whathe presents in writing to the court, in good conscience and to his bestunderstanding.Also, in civil law an expert witness is only liable if it can beproven that he violated the rules and accepted practices of his professionin producing his report and in so doing caused someone bodily ormental harm.Therefore, when an expert witness through painstaking effortevaluates all available sources and interprets them in a technicallysound manner, in good conscience and to his best understanding, theneven if the conclusions of the expert report were wrong he could not bemade liable for any gross negligence.Consequently, he could defend himself at law against any civildisadvantages that resulted from the presentation of a possibly politicallyincorrect expert report because a witness—here an expert witness—maynot be made to suffer for having testified in good conscienceand to his best understanding.Though I could see there were storms threatening to come myway, I looked on them placidly since I believed that having the law onmy side gave me the upper hand.May one publish expert opinions?It was intended from the beginning that the expert report arisingfrom this request of Remer’s attorney would be published. It is unusualto publish expert reports from judicial proceedings, but it does happenwhen the subject is of public interest. Expert reports drawn up for severaltrials against supposed National Socialist war criminals, for example,were later made available to a wide public for educational purposes.The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial is a prime example of this. Theexpert reports produced during this trial by scientists at the Institut fürZeitgeschichte were later published as a collection. 545545 H. Buchheim et.al., Anatomie des SS-Staates, Walter, Freiburg 1964.317