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WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
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Mr. Chairman, Honorable Judges, German, not
anti-German. She is merely anti-Nazi. Categorically anti-Nazi. And this, Mr.
Chairman, Honorable Judges, is the true and basic motive underlying her
activities. For Beate Klarsfeld and her friends, more than any other
national public or individual factor, have shattered the impasse and
complacency existing in this country and its legislative body. It is they who
have planted the black flag of protest on the soil of Germany: It is they and
their activities that focus public opinion on the remnants of a malignant
cancer that spread throughout this nation's lifeblood only one generation
ago.
And I respectfully submit to this Court that in assessing
motivation and punishment, if any, the outstanding issue in question is not one
of individual personality or personal frailties. No, Mr. Chairman, Honorable
Judges, these are but minor considerations in the scheme of things that
confronts us. It is the acts of Beate Klarsfeld, her overt acts, as related to
the obvious aim of remedying a terrible and deadly wrong – it is this act
and its implication that deserve the Court's foremost attention and scrutiny...
.
Mr. Chairman, Honorable Judges, an absolute acquittal or symbolic
punishment in this case means much more than deciding the fate of Beate
Klarsfeld. For much more than the liberty of Beate Klarsfeld is at stake in
this trial. For here, you as judges of post-war Germany have a unique
opportunity to proclaim a juridical and formal protest against the perpetuation
of this deadly lacuna, which has turned your country into a law-protected haven
for mass-killers. Here, for the first time, you have the opportunity to voice
your legitimate protest by employing concise words deploring the state of
affairs to which your legal framework has exposed you. You can, of course,
avoid this issue, you can deal harshly with Beate Klarsfeld. You can also
mitigate the punishment on grounds of Beate Klarsfeld's personality and
background. You, of course, are entitled, in a legal sense, to confine
yourselves to the dry facts of the charge sheet. But that, Mr. Chairman,
Honorable Judges, would not be a mere evasion of the cardinal issue, but, in a
way, a mute consent to and compliance with the existing state of affairs.
Mr. Chairman, Honorable Judges, when a doctor is summoned to treat a
patient suffering from a light disease and encounters next to him a man in need
of immediate cure in order to remedy a serious and deadly illness, the doctor,
if he is true to his oath, will not disregard the man whose life is in danger
– on the formal pretext that he has been summoned to deal with another
case. Your position, Mr. Chairman, Honorable Judges, is somewhat similar. You
have been called by the legal apparatus of this country to set down facts and
apply the law specified in the charge sheet. But you have next to you, Mr.
Chairman, Honorable Judges, on the very doorstep of these proceedings, ample
proof of a poison that has permeated the pores of your legal system. I
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WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The
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