Max Strauss, the son of Bavaria's famed ex-President, is about to go on trial in Augsburg to answer charges of massive tax dodging. Max's father, Franz Josef Strauss, was the president of Bavaria for many years. He died in 1988 but is still well remembered in the German free state for being a bit of a star. It's Franz Josef's status which makes son Max's dodgy dealings such a big issue. The Abendzeitung has already called this "the trial of the century". I don't know how they can be so sure seeing as there are another 96 years of this century still to come, but anyway. This story is set to run and run on the front pages of the Munich local papers over the next few weeks, so here's a brief overview of what you need (or don't need) to know. Read on...
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Franz Josef Strauss
First a quick recap of who Franz Josef Strauss was, for those who don't already know. Franz Josef was born in Munich in 1915. After studying at Munich university and then fighting in the second world war, he pursued a brilliant career in politics. He never quite rose to take the chancellorship of Germany. He did, however, remain a very popular president of Bavaria from 1978 until his death in 1988. He died a couple of days after collapsing whilst out hunting with the Duke of Thurn and Taxis.
Franz Josef Strauss was a brilliant rhetorician and is considered Bavaria's most memorable president ever. The Munich International Airport was even named after him in 1992.
He had three children, the oldest of whom is the chubby faced Max - now 44 years old.
The Max Strauss Tax Scandal
The trial starts next week (Tuesday 20th January 2004) in the Augsburg district court. The charges are that Max failed to pay tax on €2.6 million worth of income. This money was allegedly paid into an anonymous Swiss bank account in the name "Maxwell". What makes the dealings even more dodgy is that this money came from a weapons handler called Karlheinz Schreiber. Apparently the payment was for a delivery of AirBus aircraft, or something like that. Schreiber is currently living in Canada trying to escape a German arrest warrant.
The first set of hearings will last about 20 days. The massive nature of the fraud means that Max Strauss, if convicted, won't just be fined. Instead he faces up to a maximum of 5 years in jail.
In a further twist to the saga, Max suffered from a nervous breakdown in October 2003. He was admitted to a psychiatric clinic for medical care. He claims that he is still unfit to stand trial. His doctors, however, disagree and the judge has now ordered that he must come to court.
Max Strauss
Famed former president of Bavaria
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What this little ditty doesn't mention is that papi Franz Josef Strauss, whilst possibly being loved in Bavaria, was a well dubious character in some respects, feathering the nests of friends and family to an almost incalcuable extent during his stint as chancellor. His only saving (possibly overriding all else) grace was his great skill as a politician, which is exactly what germany needed at the time.