INDICATIONS FROM GERMANY ABOUT A FIRST STATE OF A COMPROMISE RESULTING BETWEEN MERTEN AND GREEK PERSONALITIES ACCUSED BY HIM

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06766021
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: March 9, 2023
• Document Release Date: May 14, 2021
• Case Number: F-2015-02367
• Publication Date: December 9, 1960

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Translated by
December 9, )60
December 7 1960
INDICATIONS FROM GERMANY ABOUT A FIRST STPE OF A COMPROMISE RESULTING
BETWEEN MERTEN /ND GREEK PERSONALITIES ACCUSED BY HIM.
1. For some days now there have been imlications.and reports among
the top circles of the newspaper Athinaiki - which circles have been
inciting the rekindling of the MERTEN charges in Germany against KARAMANLIS-
MAKRIS-DOXOULA-THEMELIS through the pertinent lawsuit which BAKLATZIS filed
against MERTEN - that there has come about - at first - some kind of tgaporary_.
compromise among the above plaintiffs and this is the reason why MERTENS'
silence and inactivity has been noted during the present stage of the affair.
. _
These indicatigns_are_as-folleas,_____
a. The prominent law office of the eminent lawyer SEGELKEN is handling
the case of BAKLATZIS1 lawsuit against MERTEN and the German publications
Der Spiegel and Hamburger Echo in Hamburg, Germany. But as it is known, from
my previous'report,,BAKLATZISI lawsuit.in a lower court was ttr_nell_out-by--the
_
sfrik.
rt
District Attorney of Hamburg because it was not ja6 BAKLATZIS' legal ad,krgie .
to file this.
- �
1). SEGELKEN--ncitiTted- BAK1ATZIS (located in Athens) that an appeal
could be made against the District Attorney's decision but there were on.w
slight hopes that the appeal would be taken into consideration. BAK1ATZIS
insisted to exercise the right to appeal even if this was going to be rejected.
Therefore the right to appeal was exercised at the Court of Appeals of Hamburg
in order to incite the affair and to keep it alive.
EST AVAILABLE "
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c. During these understandings (telephone and correspondence) between
. .
SEGELKEN and BAKLATZIS on the question to exercise the right to appeal or not,
in which the German correspondent of Athinaixi, NIKOL/IDIS, alsp_took_an. .
important part, the following interesting confidential indications were
communicated te-bWKINTZIS bY SEGELKEN and NIKOLAIDIS:
I. That the German government had exerted strong pressure upon
. the court officials of Hamburg so that a way could be found to throw out or
t-aside-BkKLATZISs-lawsuit.. That the leadership of the Socialist-Democratic
Party of Germany and especially Berlin Mayor Willy BRANDT, who had visited
Athens a few weeks ago, had also exerted similar pressure upon MERTEN that
he shut his moutfor a hile...and-that-he-come.some compromise with the
accused.
II. That there was some understanding �etween the Hamburg District
Attorney and MERTa that MERTEN file zflawsui for perjury against DOXOULA MAKEI
--s that - after this ha. �een done - the �amburg District Attorney, fortified
-
behind formal legal procedure fa--fetched interpretations of pertinent
penal provisos, could throw out KLATZIS lawsuit by threatening MERTEN
that -. ma contrary situation/- he would � him before a. regular hearing
and trial. After the above/MERTEN -DISTRICT ATTORN egotiations, MERTEN filed
the suit against DOXOULAyon whom a hearing. is already bei held by the Greek
court, and the Hamburg/District Attorney threw out the BAKIATZIS.lawsuit.
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III. Parallel to this, Greek Justice, being aware of the
machinations going on over a compromise, did not proceed to take any steps
to German Justice for the examination of the accusers being sued by MAKRIS
apd TREKELIS, that is, MERTEN, the responsibles of the German publications
and their witnesses propased by them, because there is no desire for a trial,
even in Greece, against HERTEN and his accomplices over the lawsuits, supposedly,
which MAKRIS-THEAELIS filed merely for the eyes of the world. Furthermore it
was made known that HERTEN had promised not to appear before any German or
Greek interrogator for questioning if a final compromise is reached.
Besides all the above behind-the-scenes official actions)
Messrs A GERTS and KONIORDOS, well-known economic collaborators of the Germans
during
4 he Occupatii o who became rich by their collaborations, were sent some
weeks ago to Germany on behalf of the accused Greeks. Both of these men are
personal friends of the KARAKANLIS clan and the first one is reported as
building a luxurious villa at Montreux, Switzerland for KARAMANLIS (see -my other
report). KONIORDOS, one of the KONIORDOS brothers, is a beverage industrialist
who during the Occupation stole the current production of the Peloponese together
with the Germans, turned it into cognac, etc. for-the-Germans, and send it all
to Germany for the needs of the army and the people; he made huge sums of money
from this collaboration which he surely divided with top German officials of the
Occupation.
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V. The above economic collaborators and now financiers of the
KARAMANLIS clan came to extensive agreements in Germany with MERTEN mainly
and they discussed the terms of the compromise which MERTEN puts down.
The first stage of en agreement resulted and the sum of about 100.000 dollars
was payed to MERTEN mainly from KONIORDOS; other assurances were also given
to him about a review of his sentence with the intervention and strong
support of the Greek government also. Thus MERTEN'S present inactivity was
secured. But there is information that the money demanded by MERTEN and
his accomplices, the directors of the German publications, is much more and
that is why a final agreement has not been reached yet and it is not excluded
that this affair may be started up again in case all the demands of the German
accusers are not satisfied and the process to review MERTEN'S conviction, to
which MERTEN attaches special importance, is not started. In the meantime
there are indications that middle-men GERTSOS and KONIORDOS are having
difficulties finding and disposing the necessary extra amount of money for
bribery and compromise which, it seems, is quite large. Naturally the visible
and invisible forces of opposition against the Government are working real hard
for the MERTEN affair to flare up again and the most important work is being
directed to the magazine Der Spiegel so that this magazine will start its
articles again against the Greek personalities in question.
VI. Of course it is self-explanatory that - if a final compromise
is reached because of the payment of all the required money and Spiegel's
Silence is ensured - then all lawsuits filed on both sides will be covered
up with various excuses and no trial will be held, either in Greece or in
Germany.
I V I LE CC ri
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d. The above reports appear to be true in connection with the
wilfull silence marked several weeks ago by the former crowing German
accusers, but also in connection with the audacious announcement made by
MAIMS a few days ago in Parliament that the charge a gainst him had
supposedly collapsed and that nothing had been proven from this charge.
It is asked: How does it happen that the MERTEN charge against MAKRIS
and DOXOUIA has collapsed when no trial has intervened until today? It is
_obvious that MAKRIS is insinuating the first stage of the compromise which
has resulted, by which he hopes that no trial will be held ultimately because
.if a trial had been held it would not have been certain if MAKRIS and his
DOXOULA would have come out of this unscarred.
. .
2. ' Sources Of Infortations.
I had all the above information from Panos SOTIROPOULCS, distinguished
lawyer, one time deputy and now BAKLATZIS legal counselor in the MERTEN affair.
He received and receives knowledge of all information transmitted from Germany
to BAKLATZIS, either from SEGELKEN or from NIKOLAIDIS, and he advises and
directs BAKLATZIS accordingly.
b. From Ioannis MOSOROPOULCS, diplomatic employee, embassy advisor,�
first class, who, because he knows German fluently, translates all pertinent
correspondence from SEGELKEN as a favor for BAKLATZIS or translates from the Greek
into German all of BAKLATZIS' correspondence with SEGELKEN, and who is fully
informed on the entire affair. I had several reports from MOSCHOPOUICS himself
which allows me to corroborate SOTIROPOULOSI information whose statements I do not
always consider as accurate.
1 W.-
11.r:
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c. But that which made me believe in all the things stated in
the present report is: That Mr. KYROU of Estia also has similar information
about the first stage of a compromise with MERT5I on the above basis from
Germany but also from more positive sources in Greece. I got the facts of
the present report from the information of these three sources.
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