The Lawyers

The documentary follows the road taken by three German lawyers. Otto Schily, Hans-Christian Ströbele and Horst Mahler. In the early seventies they moved in the same circle. They were the lawyers of the extraparliamentary left opposition. Schily and Ströbele defended Mahler in court. In those years one aim united the three of them. They wanted to build a different republic. They regarded Federal Germany as an oppressor of political freedom. They saw the country as dependent on the United States. In the years since, the three went to separate places. Schily served as interior minister and came to a conservative position. Ströbele became a member of parliament from the left wing of the Greens. Mahler came before the courts again over his far right activity. Otto Schily and Hans-Christian Ströbele speak in the ninety two minute documentary. It is a German production Birgit Schulz finished in 2009.