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WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
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"Even those who have not gone to Israel, but have
taken up residence in Western Europe?"
The policeman seemed to have an
answer for everything: "Those Jews know how hard life is in Israel, and they
would rather have an easier time of it in Germany or France, where they can
make lots of money."
The argument continued after we returned to the
police station. Then a high-level civil servant took over and told me bluntly:
"What you have done is a very serious matter. You are a foreigner, and
yet you have made a protest against a democratic country. You will have to
appear before a tribunal. You are likely to get two or three years."
"Do whatever seems right to you."
My resoluteness seemed to
embarrass him. He left me to myself for over two hours. When he returned he
said:
"We have decided to expel you. We have taken into consideration
everything you have done before you made such a mistake today."
I was
taken to the airport in a police car. There was a choice of flights to
Frankfurt or Paris. I would have preferred to go straight to Germany to meet up
with Serge and Arno, but the formalities of getting an exit visa took so long
that we missed the plane to Frankfurt.
They took money out of my purse
and paid for my ticket to Paris with it. The officer then turned me over to the
French pilot. I left Warsaw in the pilot's cabin of a Caravelle.
A few
minutes later the crew invited me into the first-class cabin and offered me a
glass of champagne in celebration of my lucky expulsion. Serge and Arno reached
Orly a few hours after I did, and I therefore could celebrate Arno's birthday
in the bosom of my family.
We did not have to wait long for the first
reaction from the press. A West German Christian Democratic paper wrote:
This young female globe-trotter in the
cause of socialism and anti-fascism is perhaps a little eccentric. It is
possible to laugh at this battle happy amazon, but she is always consistent in
her political convictions. She is not narrow minded; she uncovers flaws in
communist countries, and she exposes them.
I went back to
Berlin, for I wanted to strike while the iron was hot, convince East German
youth, and learn what East Berlin's
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WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
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