Home Up One Level What's New? Q & A Short Essays Holocaust Denial Guest Book Donations Multimedia Links

The Holocaust History Project.
The Holocaust History Project.

WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
 
 
Previous Page Back  Contents  Contents Page 195 Home Page Home Page  Forward Next Page 
     
criminals, except for one female spy who had been in the employ of the Democratic Republic and who took her walks alone. Most of the women were prostitutes. They were even allowed to wear transparent blouses and tight pants. There was a lot of talk during our walks, which allowed them to keep in shape. Plenty of advice on techniques and prices was exchanged.

They also asked me for legal advice. Generally speaking, they were all very nice to me and knew very well who I was. I had slapped the fellow at the top. I had not been afraid to attack the S.S. and, to top it off, I had been in jail before.

The thing that bothered me most was that there was no handle on the cell door. I kept wondering how I would get out if there were a fire. In spite of everything, I felt cut off from the world.

During my first days I had no contact with anyone from the outside except my lawyer, Klaus Himmelreich, a young CDU member whom I had chosen by chance when I was arrested. Horst Mahler, my usual lawyer, could not recommend anyone to me because he himself had been in Berlin's Moabit Prison for six months.

The first time my lawyer visited me, I felt there was little communication between us, for he wanted to submit a colorless brief. He specialized in automobile accident cases, and although he was very dapper and pleasant, he took a dim view of my case. He changed his attitude after he met with Serge – in Belgium, because there was also a warrant out for Serge's arrest. Himmelreich once got a death threat over the telephone with a shouted: "How dare you defend that Klarsfeld woman!"

I had no contact with Serge and really felt a little lost, for I had never been away from Paris for any length of time without telephoning him once a day. Now suddenly here I was, cut off from the rest of the world without any idea of what was going on or if anyone was trying to get me out. I could consider the whole thing a rest cure, and indeed I did relax after so many weeks of tension. But I was afraid I might have to stay in jail for a long time, and I was worried about Arno, whom I had left in Paris with chicken pox.

One or two days after my arrest, I was summoned into court for examination. Facing me sat Bellinghausen and his assistant, Wissborn. Bellinghausen was forty-five years old, short, and very well dressed; Wissborn, who was perhaps thirty-five, was sloppily dressed in a jacket and pants that were much too small for him. Wissborn's chief responsibility was pornography, and he was in
    
   
 
WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
Previous Page  Back Page 195 Forward  Next Page

   

Last modified: April 7, 2008
Technical/administrative contact: [email protected]