Bavaria casino scandal

From 1954 until 1957, Wilhelm Hoegner became the minister president of Bavaria for the second time and leaned on the parliamentary majority within the framework of a four-party coalition, which included the Bavaria Party (BP). The fifth party in the Bavarian parliament was the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), which represented the strongest faction but still faced opposition.

On April 21, 1995, spurred by the BP, the parliament approved the issue of licenses for the operation of casinos to private persons. As a result, casinos began operations in Bad Kissingen, Bad Reichenhall, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and in 1957, the casino in Bad Wiessee also opened for business. Shortly thereafter, rumors began to emerge that these licenses were illegally obtained and that politicians were accepting large payouts from casino lobbyists.

According to an article in Munich's Abendzeitung (evening paper), an investigative committee was formed to clarify accusations of bribery in connection with the licensing of Simon Gembicki for the casino in Bad Kissingen.

Alois Hundhammer (CSU) served as chairperson of the 1955/56 investigative committee for the clarification of events in which members of government in high positions of the four-party coalition were involved, including Minister of the Interior August Geislhöringer (BP) and deputy minister president Joseph Baumgartner (BP). The investigative committee was not successful. The state government emphasized that the minister in question did nothing wrong and successfully filed defamation lawsuits against his accusers.

Months later, it became clear how meaningful the statements of Baumgartner and Geislhöringer statements in police interrogations truly were. Rudolf Hanauer (CSU) know that Baumgartner had long-standing business and familial contacts with licensee Karl Freisehner (1903–1967), a skilled butcher from Gmünd, Austria, long before the casino scandal. Committee chairperson Hundhammer was informed by Geislhöringer of details on constitutional defense regarding the job candidate, Gembicki. Subtle questions within the investigative committee both negated BP politicians and certified their statements.

In the time thereafter, the CSU intriguingly attempted to remove the Bavaria Party from the four-party coalition. Because of its license allocations, the Bavaria Party was burdened by a reputation of bribery, and the Bavarian casino scandal brought moral disrepute upon the coalition.

On October 8, 1957, Minister President Hoegner resigned in tandem with his cabinet and eight days later, Hanns Seidel (CSU) became his successor at the forefront of a coalition government comprising the CSU, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), and the All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights (GB/BHE). The Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Bavaria Party became their opposition.

Under unchanged political auspices, the approved licenses again became a source of contention. The parliamentary elections of November 23, 1958 bestowed the CSU with a clear increase in the share of the vote, meaning that smaller parties suffered a loss.

In 1959, Karl Freisehner confessed to bribery in a voluntary disclosure as part of a secret agreement with the CSU. As a result, unusual circumstances began to come to light. Freisehner – businessman, butcher, taxi driver, and roulette player – offered the then-general secretary of the CSU, Friedrich Zimmermann, proof of bribery payments made to the Bavarian Party minister. He hoped for further casino licenses in exchange for his cooperation. CSU co-founder Josef Müller kept Freisehner's written confession safe for several months. Following an ordinance mandating the merger of the casino businesses of Bad Wiessee and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Freisehner paid off the lobbyist group for their company shares. When Freisehner received his final payments, his written confession surfaced in the district attorney's office. The receipts for alleged bribery thereby provided were evaluated by handwriting experts and deemed "most probably forged," but was later regarded as authentic by a court of law.

In the proceedings, which took place before the Landgericht München I (Munich State Court I), Joseph Baumgartner and August Geislhöringer were depicted as revered and strong figureheads of the Bavaria Party. In the process, the certified statements made before the investigative committee in 1955 and 1956 again became a topic of discussion.

It came out that Baumgartner was paid 2,900 DM between July 11, 1953 and November 2, 1954, and that he was friends with Freisehner until 1955. Geislhöriger claimed to have had no unfavorable knowledge of Gembicki at the time; he was, however, aware that Gembicki, a Jew, was convicted of fleeing Germany in 1938. As a result of Freisehner’s receipts, Max Klotz, the former deputy party whip of the Bavaria Party in the parliament, was accused of receiving a total of 24,000 DM from Freisehner. The statement of the former CSU parliamentary delegate, Franz Michel, that he did not exchange written correspondence with Gustavus regarding licensing applicants, could be refuted by presenting the letters in question.

On August 8, 1959, the court convicted several defendants of perjury. The former leader of the Bavaria Party, Joseph Baumgartner, was sentenced to two years in prison, and Max Klotz was sentenced to prison for two years and nine months.

Ex-Minister of the Interior Geislhöringer was convicted of perjury before the parliamentary committee and was sentenced to 15 months in jail; he was acquitted of accusations of bribery. Franz Michel received two years in prison. Karl Freisehner received 22 months in jail for perjury. On August 10, 1959, the Süddeutsche Zeitung (South German Newspaper) ran the headline: „Draconian punishments in casino trial“. Even former CSU minister president and attorney general Hans Ehard later called these verdicts “barbaric,” because “they should have allowed both politicians to admit to negligence before the investigative commission. It doesn’t really matter if he was wearing yellow or red boots.”[1]

The CSU general secretary Friedrich Zimmerman, who was also accused in the casino scandal, was convicted of making negligent, false statements in following court proceedings in 1960 and was sentenced – in contrast to the sentences levied against Bavaria Party officials – to a relatively mild four-month prison sentence. He denied having contact with any licensee other than Freisehner, which was refuted. Another court later repealed his sentence on the basis of a medical report, however, the court expressed in its overall assessment, that “one cannot deny that the defendant’s guilt was clearly proven.” According to the medical report, he had debilitating hypoglycemia on the days of his unreliable statements and therefore suffered reduced mental capacity as a result of thyroid hyperactivity. According to Der Spiegel, Zimmerman himself told the expert assessor, that „the report was acquired by my defense; I saw it for the first time in the courtroom.“ As a result, Zimmerman received the nickname „Old Schwurhand“ (“old oath hand”), which followed him for the rest of his life.[2]

After half a year, the Federal Supreme Court repealed the legally punishable perjury verdicts against members of the government and requested a new trial. The verdict against Karl Freisehner remained legally valid.

Even today, the exact background of the casino scandal is considered only partially clarified and riddled with doubt. Due to Geislhöringer’s death, a new trial was not completed. Political observers saw a power struggle in the arranged scandal between the CSU and the Bavaria Party.

On August 11, 1960, the Bavarian Ministerial Council decided not to allow any more casinos in Bavaria and to allow the already-distributed licenses to expire in 1965 without extension. In February 1961, the Bavarian parliament, which had a CSU majority, decided to close the casinos. This decision was, however, never implemented, and four years later, the Free State of Bavaria nationalized the casinos. Private licensees and business owners were bought out in 1961.

• Treff im Café Annast. In: Der Spiegel. No. 42, 1955 (online – October 12, 1955).
• Das Spenden-Roulette. In: Der Spiegel. No. 22, 1959 (online – May 27, 1959).
• Weiße Manschetten. In: Der Spiegel. No. 6, 1960 (online – February 3, 1960).
• Die Meineid-Fälle. In: Der Spiegel. No. 10, 1960 (online – March 2, 1960).
• Sogenannte weiße Weste. In: Der Spiegel. No. 37, 1970 (online – September 7, 1970).
• Narren gefressen. In: Der Spiegel. No. 39, 1970 (online – September 21, 1970).
• Ungeheure Macht. In: Der Spiegel. Nr. 30, 1971 (online – July 19, 1971).
• Drei kleine Zettel. In: Der Spiegel. Nr. 17, 1974 (online – April 22, 1974).
• Gehandelt wie die sizilianische Mafia. In: Der Spiegel. Nr. 33, 1988 (online – August 15, 1988).

• Bavarian Party on the Bavaria casino scandal (German)