WHEREVER THEY MAY BE © 1972, The Beate Klarsfeld Foundation     Back   Contents Page 51 Home Page  Forward         all the people who suffered under Nazism, especially those in the East, will have good reason to be wary of the Germany governed from Bonn. For the sake of peace, freedom, and socialism in Europe, and for the honor of Germany, Kiesinger and his accomplices must be removed. I was immediately aware that Berlin was under tight police control with reinforcements from the Federal Republic. At the Republican Club, the meeting place of the Extra-Parliamentary Opposition (APO), the atmosphere was gloomy. The young people drinking beer and reading political magazines did not hide the fact that they had been expecting huge demonstrations, but the police had mounted too strong a protective front for them to oppose. So the Congress would be held after all, in spite of the opposition's claim that it would prevent that "illegal" assembly – illegal because West Berlin was politically distinct from the Federal Republic. I left the huge, imperial-style apartment on Wielandstrasse just off the Kurfürstendamm. I wanted to maintain my determination. The police lines didn't impress me. A young woman can find their weak spots and penetrate them more easily than full battalions. I would get through and I would win simply because I was weak and alone. "We can't do much for you." I didn't take that well. I had expected at least some help from the young anti-fascists. "Not even a ticket to the Congress. The police lines don't give us a chance." I didn't know where or when the sessions would be held. Or where I would sleep that night. I didn't want to go to my mother's for fear the police would descend on her after my gesture. So I accepted the offer of a young revolutionary: "I'll lend you my cellar. You can stay as long as you want." For the first time I would stay in a commune of young people – a two story house in a residential section near Berlin-Wannsee, surrounded by a large, unplanted garden. Two young couples, one with a child, lived on separate floors. The cellar had been turned into a small apartment. It was well heated, and it had running water. I was satisfied despite the train trip I would have to make every morning and evening.   WHEREVER THEY MAY BE © 1972, The Beate Klarsfeld Foundation  Back Page 51 Forward
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