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WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
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oreign affairs committee, which, in cooperation with
the judicial affairs committee, was supposed to study the Franco-German accord.
These dossiers were to be given to the members of the two committees. A few
days later we learned that Achenbach had been named to be the reporter of the
foreign affairs committee on the accord. No doubt our dossiers were read, but
Achenbach was all-powerful. He represented big industry and he was also head of
the lobby for amnesty of war crimes.
While Serge was at the Bundestag,
I went to the Knesset in Jerusalem, where I campaigned for Israel to put
pressure on Bonn to ratify the accord. Since most of the Jews deported from
France were stateless, it seemed only right that Israel should be concerned to
honor their memory and keep watch on their murderers.
My lawyer, Shmuel
Tamir, obtained a pass for me. But my arrival was delayed two hours by the
police because I had a German passport and I had not known I required a visa. I
was being met by Akiva Nof and Ehud Olmerd, of Likud, the opposition party, and
also by our friend Eli Ben Gal, who had just returned to Israel from France
after having represented the Mapam, one of the parties in power. To give my
action the greatest weight, I had chosen to come to Israel the day after Brandt
had arrived for an official visit. I cannot say I was given the same kind of
welcome as that accorded to members of the German delegation. It appeared
rather that I was an embarrassment and that I would be prevented from attending
any official reception where the German delegation was expected.
In
Israel that hot month of June 1973, seven months pregnant, I realize how small
is the minority of Germans I represent, even though the battle I am waging is
also that of Israel, and even though I am a better friend of Israel than a
great number of Herr Brandt's friends.
But there were some who were
interested to meet with me: Benjamin Halevi, a member of the Knesset and one of
the three judges in the Eichmann trial, became the spokesman for our cause and
intervened effectively with Golda Meir and Abba Eban. So did Haika Grossman,
member of the Knesset for the Mapam. Menachim Beigin, the former commander of
Irgun and now minority leader of the Knesset, invited me to his modest
apartment in Tel Aviv and gave me warm assurances of his movement's support for
diplomatic intervention with Bonn. The former Resistance and partisans gave a
dinner in my honor at Tel Aviv
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WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation |
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Page 286 |
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