|
|
 |
WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
| |
|
| |
 |
Back |
 |
Contents |
Page 125 |
|
Home
Page |
Forward |
 |
| |
| |
which was celebrated officially on October 23, 1970,
at United Nations headquarters in Geneva.
I made up my mind in West
Berlin, where I got a telephone call from Michel Lang's mother, who told me of
the rumor in German radical circles that I was a CIA agent. I was dumfounded
[sic] . But when I thought it over I could see the logic of it. The manner in
which both the capitalist and the communist systems protect themselves against
persons who disapprove of their excesses is the same everywhere. Two years
earlier the reactionary press had stated that I was in the pay of Walter
Ulbricht. It went on to say that on each of my trips into the Democratic
Republic I got instructions straight from him. Now in the liberal West German
circles an attempt was being made to discredit me. For the disciplined
militants of the communist countries, the mere statement that I was in the
employ of the CIA might be enough to convince them without a further
examination of the facts, just as they passively accept a number of
improbabilities, contradictions, and flagrant deceptions. I was not going to
let that slander pass. I would reply in my own way, by a simple, clear, public
appeal for support that would prove I had not changed my tune.
To
accomplish what I had in mind I needed pamphlets and two big flags – one
for each of the two Germanys.
I found the address of a flag
manufacturer in the telephone directory, and was considerably surprised when he
delivered to me two flags, each about seven feet long by five feet wide. I had
intended to tack them to a couple of broomsticks, but I had to abandon that
idea and buy six foot poles. Everything got even more complicated when I
boarded the train for Geneva in Berlin the following day, for my long package
would not fit upright in the compartment. I had to hold it across my knees, to
the considerable discomfort of the other passengers. At the Swiss border a
suspicious customs officer wanted to know what was in my cumbersome bundle.
"My country's flags," I told him calmly. "I am going to take part in an
international youth congress."
At Basel I had to change trains in the
middle of the night. I went to sleep on the platform, my head on my suitcase
and my body braced by the enormous package that I would not let go of for one
second.
About 6 A.M. my train pulled in, and I hurried aboard so that
|
|
| |
| |
| |
WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation |
|
Back |
Page 125 |
Forward |
|
|
