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WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
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impatient and stopped me with a remark that delighted
the commentators: "That will do. You have already shown that Kiesinger was one
of the activists of the Nazi regime."
Very quickly the arguments got on
to the political level. I explained the meaning of my act. Serge, who had been
admitted as an assistant to my lawyers, testified that inasmuch as he was a Jew
he was completely behind me. When Billig was called as a witness, the court
concentrated entirely on Kiesinger's record.
President Taegener asked
whether the witness could verify his statement that Kiesinger knew what was
going on in the concentration camps. In due time, therefore, the Chancellor
himself became the defendant.
Billig, who was born in St. Petersburg,
had become a French citizen and had received his doctorate from the University
of Berlin. He was an embarrassing witness. Not only did he speak perfect
German, but he also had a formidable accuracy that delighted the audience. He
gave Taegener a real education on the organization of the Foreign Ministry
under Hitler.
It became clear that the court wanted to get the business
over with in a hurry. Early in the afternoon the hearing was adjourned to the
following day.
Then, surprise of surprises! The next morning my lawyers
had not even gotten their papers out when the president of the tribunal
announced that the trial was postponed to a distant date on the grounds that
the court had little time at the moment and that Kiesinger could not appear to
testify in person.
Before we could react, the judge and his associates
vanished through a little door. The hearing ended like a farce, with a great
burst of laughter, but it had achieved its purpose. The press now had plenty of
material for long stories: "Beate's Slap Shakes Chancellor," and "Kiesinger
Retreats Before Beate Klarsfeld," and "The Slap that Caused a Political
Crisis." They would have an effect, I hoped, on some voters' consciences.
April 29. I faced my Württemberg-Baden constituency for the
first time in the little town of Rheinfelden. Gunnar Matthiessen, an ADF
official from Bonn headquarters, was with me. He was a very good speaker and
very cautious in his political selections. There were only a few people in the
back room of the restaurant, which was generally used for wedding banquets and
political rallies.
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WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation |
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Page 80 |
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