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The Holocaust History Project.
The Holocaust History Project.

WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
 
 
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August 15. While I let out great cries that belie my reputation for courage, my little Lida-Myriam utters her first roars. Dear God, how happy I am at the birth of this little ball, the best of gifts. All those around me except Serge are thinking: with two babies, no more politicking. They forget that we began our campaign after the birth of Arno. That first birth gave us the sense of collective responsibility. Children are the future; we are struggling not for the past, but for the future.

November 1973. I have been responding to new invitations to lecture on our concern in the principal cities of France, Switzerland, and Belgium. This is not the only work that is being done. Along with Julien and Henri, Serge continues in Germany on the trial of the principal criminals who had operated in France. We build up dossiers for the judiciary phase. Again and again our determination is put to the test. Serge comes back from Israel with a returning French delegation – a group from LICA headed by Jean Pierre-Bloch and some Israelophile members of Parlement. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs he learns that the Israelis have intervened with Bonn, but are without hope of success. Where to apply pressure now? Serge will take the risk of going to Cologne with an unloaded revolver. His intention is to prove to the German authorities that if we were motivated merely by vengeance we could easily accomplish our goal; we may in fact resort to this, but only if ratification is not approved, or if, after ratification, German justice shows itself to be lenient with Lischka and his accomplices.

Serge opts not for what is easy but for the greater danger. He could take a criminal by surprise who is not yet on guard. But, on the contrary, he decides to confront Lischka, though knowing him to be armed and knowing that he himself is known to Lischka as well as to the Cologne police. Serge arrives in Cologne on December 7, in 4° below. He stands waiting for a long time near Lischka's car. When at 4 P.M. Lischka walks through the snow and opens the car door, Serge rushes out of a doorway and points his gun at Lischka, right between his eyes. Lischka, wide-eyed, falls on the hood of his car screaming. He is staring death in the face, like many of his victims. It is a busy street; dozens of persons look on but do not intervene. Serge fingers the trigger a yard away from Lischka, who is paralyzed with terror. Serge bursts out laughing and runs away toward the station by a roundabout route,
     
   
 
WHEREVER THEY MAY BE
© 1972, The Beate Klarsfeld Foundation
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