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WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
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would be just as possible to force Achenbach to give
up his international ambitions. Wouldn't appointing a former Nazi diplomat
contribute to the restoration of Nazism and put the Europe of 1970 under the
aegis of the swastika that aimed at enlisting Europe in a crusade against
bolshevism, Anglo Saxons, democracy, Jews, freedom?
The newsweekly
Der Spiegel wrote that Achenbach's candidacy was the result of a bargain
made the day after the September 1969 elections between FDP president Walter
Scheel and the right wing of his party. Achenbach represented important
industrial interests – he was the Essen lawyer for the big industrial
interests of the Ruhr – and his appointment to Brussels was one of the
conditions the right wing of the party had made for helping Brandt become
Chancellor. Der Spiegel reported that Scheel, who had become Foreign
Minister, had sent an emissary to Paris in March 1970 to allay any French
reservations. "If the French will agree, the Dutch and the rest will follow
suit," Scheel is supposed to have said.
That very day Serge and I went
to the Library of Contemporary Jewish Documents (CDJC). Every time I cross the
square in which stands the monument to the Unknown Jewish Martyr, I am inspired
anew by the words of Edmond Fleg inscribed on that white monument that points
skyward in the old section of Paris: "Before the Unknown Jewish Martyr bow your
head in tribute to all martyrs, and march with them along their sorrowful way,
for it will lead you to the mountaintop of justice and truth."
The CDJC
was our first recourse, for we knew that it had several boxes of source
material from the German Embassy. There were, however, only a few odds and ends
about Achenbach. We'd be sunk if now in 1970 we could not show what this Nazi
diplomat's real job had been in 1943. We had to collect convincing data quickly
and make it public.
Fifteen hours of work at the CDJC and the Library
of Contemporary International Information gave us enough material to allow us
to spend the night of April 1 compiling a six page memorandum in French and
German. This became the basis for my open letter to Achenbach published in the
Frankfurter Rundschau on April 4, and in Combat on April 8:
Your actions during the Third Reich, your
beliefs at that time, and the part you played at Nuremberg and in the Naumann
case do not recommend you as a representative of the Federal Republic
....
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WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation |
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Page 93 |
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