This contention was acceptable to judges of the People’s Court. On 12 August 1942, three Polish defendants, Mazur, Kubisz, and Nowakowski, pursuant to an indictment signed by the defendant Lautz, were sentenced to death by the People’s Court for preparation of high treason and attempting to separate a portion of the Reich by force. They had left their factory in Thuringia and proceeded across the Swiss border, where they were apprehended by Swiss officials and returned to the Reich. As reasons for their escape the defendants cited the hard working conditions to which they had been exposed. Kubisz testified that the meals consisted only of soup. Mazur stated that his work in the quarry was so hard that he feared he would not survive the winter. The defendants stated they had hoped to find better working conditions in Switzerland. They denied having had any knowledge of the existence of a Polish Legion in Switzerland. The prosecution offered no evidence to impeach these statements in any way. Nevertheless, the People’s Court found that the defendants’ statements were mere excuses, that the existence of a Polish Legion in Switzerland was “generally known,” and that the defendants intended to join this legion. This judicial assumption was buttressed by a physician’s certificate which showed all three defendants to be in excellent health and qualified for active service. Therefore, the court “was convinced” that the defendants had discussed the fate of Poland and her people with their camp mates in the factory barracks and had decided to join the Polish Legion in Switzerland. The court said that it knew of a pact with Russia that the Polish government in exile had formed, and that this fact had been broadcast by the British radio. The court knew, furthermore, that in the past Polish workers had repeatedly fled to Switzerland where they were recruited for the Polish Legion, and I quote a portion of the court’s decision: “These circumstances force the court to the conclusion that the defendants intended to join the Polish Legion in Switzerland.” With regard to verbal remarks deemed seditious or deleterious to the “German people’s defensive strength,” People’s Courts sentences were not only outrageously unjustified, but reached the climax of judicial caprice. The Austrian taxicab driver, Rudolf Kozian, pursuant to an indictment signed by Lautz, was sentenced to death on 26 June 1944 for making certain uncomplimentary remarks concerning Hitler and the progress of the war. In the course of conversation while driving a female customer, who later denounced him to the Gestapo, he made remarks typified by the following: