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WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
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Page 129 |
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Early in 1971, attacks on Jews increased in
Czechoslovakia. The Bratislava Pravda had just attacked "intellectual
Jews who have succeeded in getting increasingly important positions in
Czechoslovakian cultural life." Radio Prague broadcast the conclusions of the
Central Committee of the Czechoslovakian Communist Party on December 10, 1970,
in which Zionist elements were accused of having played a sizable part in the
incidents that provoked Soviet intervention. When a former leader of Jewish
origin was mentioned, the radio adopted the usage of following his name with a
"born Ben- . . . ," or added such phrases as "an admirer of Lev Davidovitch
Bronstein, better known as Trotsky." A trial of twenty-six young Trotskyites,
which had been postponed several times, was held on February 8. They were
charged with having tried "to overthrow the socialist regime not only in
Czechoslovakia, but in other socialist countries, of which the USSR is one." It
was a monumental accusation. About half of the defendants were Jews, and their
names, which were frequently repeated, gave the people the idea that
"deviationists" from the right or the left were being actually encouraged by
"Zionist" elements.
I therefore decided to go into action in court on
the day the trial opened. I had noticed in Neues Deutschland that East
German Prime Minister Willi Stoph was leaving on February 7 for a rest cure at
Karlovy Vary in Czechoslovakia. There was no doubt that Husak, the First
Secretary of the Czech Communist Party, who had met me in East Berlin, the
Czechs, and especially the Soviet experts who directed their technical bureaus
would look to the East Germans for guidance. I was almost certain that they
would not want their young people demonstrating on my behalf if I were found
guilty and imprisoned. They would not be able to hide the truth because of the
television broadcasts that originated in the Federal Republic. And that truth
would incite vigorous protests from young East Germans, especially students,
for they were very sensitive to the problem of anti-Semitism.
I figured
that as Stoph would be right there, he would have something to say, for I knew
from a Dutch reporter that until the Polish incident he had been quite
appreciative of my efforts. Whatever happened, he and the other East German
leaders would have a conflict of conscience to resolve: whether to let a German
woman who was speaking the truth go to jail, or intervene in her behalf in
spite of all the trouble she was causing them.
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WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation |
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Page 129 |
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