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WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
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Our research was entirely conclusive. Achenbach had
lied. He had tried to pass off as an act of resistance his share in the
decision made by Kurt Lischka on the day after the murder of February 13, 1943,
that led to the arrest of two thousand Jews, their shipment to Drancy, their
deportation to Auschwitz, and the extermination of every single one of them on
March 8, 1943. It had taken less than one month to do away with more than two
thousand men.
Achenbach admitted his personal participation in that
episode, and he tried to disguise it as a bluff that amounted to nothing
drastic. It was actually a bloody tragedy in which his role coincided perfectly
with his theories about the policy of collaboration. Not only did he send Jews
to their death, but he used them as a means of avoiding friction with the
French people as a whole.
We rushed the results of our research to
Brussels. On April 11, German Commissioner Wilhelm Haferkamp issued a statement
in his own name in which he announced that he would resign if Achenbach were
appointed.
Arno Scholz, publisher of the Telegraf, Berlin's
social democratic daily, helped me get an appointment with Conrad Ahlers, the
government spokesman, to deliver the results of our research. Achenbach had to
take a stand. "Attacked though I may be," he said, "I cannot withdraw. Scheel
has given me his word."
But the coalition was very tactful with
Achenbach, and the wheels were well oiled for the fateful day of April 16 so
that no irreparable mistake would be made. Ahlers would not get the report of
the inquiry, many excerpts from which were to be published in Der
Spiegel on April 20, until 6 P.M. Brandt had already made a public
statement designed to soothe Achenbach and keep him from going over to the
Christian Democrats.
That was the end of Achenbach's candidacy. In May,
parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Ralf Dahrendorf was appointed to
the EEC. On May 29, when Dahrendorf's appointment was confirmed, the government
had to decide who was to succeed him as foreign secretary. Eager for revenge,
Achenbach surfaced again, and once more unofficially declared his candidacy.
Fortunately we had kept a spare weapon handy – a document dated
February 11, 1943, marked "Secret." The signature on this memorandum to S.S.
Obersturmführer Röthke matched Achenbach's. The document gave the
Gestapo the green light for "proceeding against Jews in the newly occupied
zone."
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WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation |
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Back |
Page 110 |
Forward |
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