claimed that the driver, who had been ordered to shoot all the prisoners en route, disregarded the order and continued toward Dachau but was stopped by advancing Allied troops to whom he released the prisoners, including Rudolf. The American investigator in charge of the case did not credit any of this testimony, which he regarded as mere cover for the unlawful activity of all three. He noted that both Rudolf's wife and his brother Adi testified that Rudolf had worked for the Gestapo. The investigation ground on for nearly a year. During the time it became apparent that it was not possible to hold all the prisoners for a detailed examination of the case, and the authorities decided to release all persons not deemed to be a security threat. Accordingly, Rudolf was released on 31 July 1946. Before Rudolf was released, Adi himself had to appear before the denazification panel. The result was announced on 13 July 1946: Adi was declared a Belasteter, the second most serious category of Nazi offenders, which included profiteers, and subjected the convict up to 10 years in prison, but the immediate threat was that he would be removed from management of the firm. His early membership in the Nazi Party and the Hitler Youth were not contestable. But on appeal he amassed a portfolio of testimony attesting to his good conduct during the war. Adi's staunchest supporter was Herzogenaurach's mayor, whom the Allied forces trusted. A nearby mayor, who was half-Jewish, testified that Adi warned him of a potential Gestapo arrest and hid him on his own property. A longtime Communist party member testified that Adi was never involved in political activities. Adi moreover showed that, far from profiting from the forced weapons production, the firm lost 100,000 marks. Despite Adi's evidence, the committee did not acquit him. Instead, they reclassified him as Minderbelasteter (Lesser Offender), a category of lesser culpability resulting in probation of two to three years with various conditions but still requiring that Adi not operate Dassler Shoes. Adi hired counsel to appeal the decision; Rudolf, who had just been released, saw this as his opportunity to wrest control of the business from Adi. In the course of the appeal proceedings Rudolf Dassler inserted statements that claimed that Adi Dassler had organized the production of weapons himself and for his own profit and that Rudolf would have resisted the change in