In 1933, Germany effectively lost the rule of law when Hindenburg signed Hitler’s emergency decree the day after the Reichstag fire, but in many ways it still remained a nation where, at least in the courtroom, the Reichstag president, Hermann Göring, and the working-class arsonist were essentially on equal footing. Acting as his own lawyer, the brilliant Dimitroff, who later became Bulgaria’s prime minister, could openly taunt and ridicule the vain, red-faced Göring and get away with it.
