Serge And Beate Klarsfeld
Serge (born 17 September 1935, Bucharest, Romania) and Beate (born 13 February 1939, Berlin, Germany) Klarsfeld are activists known for documenting the Holocaust to establish the record and enable prosecution of war criminals. Since the 1960s, they have been notable for their activism against former Nazis, efforts to commemorate the Jewish victims from France of the Occupation, and for their support of Israel.
They helped found and have led l'Association des fils et filles des déportés juifs de France (Association of the sons and daughters of Jews deported from France), or FFDJF. It is one of the groups that has documented cases and located for prosecution such German and French former officials as Klaus Barbie, René Bousquet, Jean Leguay, Maurice Papon, and Paul Touvier, who have been implicated in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of French and foreign Jews during World War II. The Klarsfelds were among organized groups who filed cases decades after the war, sometimes as late as the 1990s, against such officials for their crimes against humanity.
In the 1960s, Beate Klarsfeld publicized the wartime activities of West German politicians; on one occasion, she slapped Chancellor Kiesinger in public in protest. After the German reunification and the opening of Stasi records of East Germany, in 2012 it was revealed that both Klarsfelds had been regular Stasi contacts during the 1960s. Beate had received materials on the politicians and pay for her actions against West German leaders.
In the years before 1989 and the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Klarsfelds frequently protested against the Eastern Bloc's support for an independent Palestine and criticisms of Israel.
Recognition for their work has included France's Legion of Honour in 1984. In 1986, their story was adapted as an American television movie starring Tom Conti, Farrah Fawcett, and Geraldine Page. In 2008, a French television movie was made about them.
In 2012, Die Linke ("The Left") nominated Beate Klarsfeld as a candidate for President of Germany in opposition to Joachim Gauck, a rights activist and Lutheran pastor from the former East Germany. Gauck was the consensus candidate and won overwhelmingly.
Read more about Serge And Beate Klarsfeld: Early Years, Marriage and Family, In Germany, Cooperation With The Stasi, Later Years in Germany, Representation in Other Media
Famous quotes containing the word serge:
“Ah, my dear Madam, ah, “Mr.” Serge Solntsev, how easy it is to guess that the author’s name is a pseudonym, that the author is not a man! Every sentence of yours buttons to the left.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)