Strafsache van Geldern

Summary

Case Van Geldern

Lawyer Paulus van Geldern has bad luck in gambling and in love. His wife Martha, who runs a successful fashion business, lives separately from him and his gambling addiction has driven Paulus to the brink of ruin. In order to pay off his debts, he meets Martha one evening in her apartment. Until now she has always brusquely refused his requests for a loan. But soon the housekeeper Minna hears loud screams and when she comes into the room she sees Paul on the floor, bent over the dead Martha. A valuable piece of jewellery is also missing. He is arrested immediately. Then the criminal Willi Vogel hears about the story in prison and remembers that the lawyer helped him to get a substantial mitigation of punishment. He wants to break out and prove that van Geldern did not commit the murder. But he dies in a car chase and only at the very last minute does it come to light in court that Nikolaus Bavaritse, a creditor of van Geldern's, is the real murderer and jewel thief.