Testimony - Beate KLARSFELD (FRANCE)
Beate Klarsfeld is an activist of German origin dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust who, for several decades, has fought against the presence of former Nazis among German political leaders, for the prosecution of war criminals, against antisemitism, and for the defense of Jewish communities around the world, alongside her husband, the Frenchman Serge Klarsfeld.
Testimony 4 : Beate KLARSFLED, Holocaust remembrance activist and “nazi hunter”, born in Germany
Short biography of Mrs Beate KLARSFELD
Born Beate Künzel on February 13, 1939, in Berlin into a Protestant family, she moved to Paris as a young au pair, where she met and married Serge Klarsfeld in November 1963. The father of Serge had previously been murdered at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. While working as a secretary at the Franco-German Youth Office, Beate was dismissed in 1967 after exposing the Nazi past of West German Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger. She became internationally known for publicly slapping Kiesinger in November 1968. As a leading figure among youth protesting against the complacency of part of German society regarding its Nazi past, she also carried out several protest campaigns in Eastern Europe and in Arab countries to denounce antisemitism and express her support for Israel, while pursuing former Nazi criminals with her husband Serge. In 2012, Beate was chosen by the party “Die Linke” as a candidate in the German presidential election. In 2015, Beate and Serge were appointed honorary ambassadors and special envoys of UNESCO for Holocaust education and genocide prevention. Beate is the author of Wherever They May Be, Special Edition, 1972, and, with Serge Klarsfeld, Memoirs, Fayard/Flammarion, 2015, translated into several languages. Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story, an American television film by Frédéric Hunter and Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 1986.
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