Serge And Beate Klarsfeld
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Serge Klarsfeld (born 17 September 1935) is a Romanian-born French activist and
Nazi hunter A Nazi hunter is an individual who tracks down and gathers information on alleged former Nazis, or SS members, and Nazi collaborators who were involved in the Holocaust, typically for use at trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against hum ...
known for documenting
the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
in order to establish the record and to enable the prosecution of war criminals. Since the 1960s, he has made notable efforts to commemorate the Jewish victims of
German-occupied France The Military Administration in France (; ) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western France. This so-called ' was established in June 19 ...
and has been a supporter of Israel.


Early years and later life

Klarsfeld was born in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
into a family of
Romanian Jews The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...
that migrated to France before the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
began. In 1943, his father was arrested by the ''
Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (; ; SS; also stylised with SS runes as ''ᛋᛋ'') was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II. It beg ...
'' in
Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionAlois Brunner Alois Brunner (8 April 1912 – December 2001 or 2010) was an Austrian officer who held the rank of (captain) during World War II. Brunner played a significant role in the implementation of the Holocaust through rounding up and deporting Jews in ...
. Deported to the
Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...
, Klarsfeld's father died there. The young Klarsfeld was cared for in a home for Jewish children operated by the Œuvre de secours aux enfants, a French Jewish humanitarian organisation. His mother and sister also survived the war in
Vichy France Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...
and were helped by the underground
French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...
beginning in late 1943. Klarsfeld married Beate Künzel in 1963 and settled in Paris. Their son, (born 1965), became a human rights attorney and worked for
Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...
while he was minister of the interior. Klarsfeld helped found and led the Sons and Daughters of Jewish Deportees from France (''Association des fils et filles des déportés juifs de France,'' FFDJF). It is one of the groups that has documented cases and located former German and French officials for prosecution, such as
Klaus Barbie Nikolaus Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German officer of the ''Schutzstaffel'' and ''Sicherheitsdienst'' who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortu ...
, René Bousquet, Jean Leguay,
Maurice Papon Maurice Papon (; 3 September 1910 – 17 February 2007) was a French civil servant and Nazi collaborator who was convicted of crimes against humanity committed during the occupation of France. Papon led the police in major prefectures from ...
, and
Paul Touvier Paul Claude Marie Touvier (; 3 April 1915 – 17 July 1996) was a French Nazi collaborator and war criminal during World War II in Occupied France. In 1994, he became the first Frenchman ever convicted of crimes against humanity, for his parti ...
, who had been implicated in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of French and foreign Jews during the Second World War. The Klarsfelds were among organised groups who filed cases decades after the war, sometimes as late as the 1990s, against such officials for crimes against humanity. In the years before 1989 and the
dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
, Klarsfeld and his wife frequently protested against the
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
's support for the
Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...
and
anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the Palestine (region) ...
.


Activism


Early activism

In 2012, the archivist of the
Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...
revealed that
Beate Klarsfeld Beate Auguste Klarsfeld (née Künzel; born 13 February 1939) is a Franco-German journalist and Nazi hunter who, along with her French husband, Serge, became famous for their investigation and documentation of numerous Nazi war criminals, inc ...
's attack on
Kurt Georg Kiesinger Kurt Georg Kiesinger (; 6 April 1904 – 9 March 1988) was a German politician who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1 December 1966 to 21 October 1969. Before he became Chancellor he served as Minister-President of Baden-Württembe ...
, the then German chancellor, by publicly slapping him on 7 November 1968, was carried out in agreement with and the support of the government of
East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
, which was conducting a campaign against West German politicians ('' Braunbuch''). Klarsfeld's wife was paid 2,000 DM by the Stasi for her actions. Both Klarsfelds were revealed to have been regular
Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...
contacts. According to the State Commissioner for the Stasi Archives of
Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
, they cooperated with the Stasi in the 1960s in
blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...
ing West German politicians for Second World War activities. In 1974, the Klarsfelds were convicted in West Germany on
felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "''félonie''") to describe an offense that r ...
charges of the attempted
kidnapping Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...
of Kurt Lischka, a former
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
chief whose prosecution in Germany was prevented by legal technicalities, in
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
in order to transport him to France for prosecution. After conviction of felony charges, they were each sentenced to two months in prison. Following international protests, the sentence was suspended. Activism by the Klarsfelds and by descendants of Lischka's victims eventually resulted in changes to the laws. In 1980, Lischka was convicted of a felony in West Germany and sentenced to prison, together with his co-defendants: Lischka to ten years of imprisonment, Hagen and Heinrichsohn to twelve and six years respectively. The Klarsfelds' activities and methods also generated controversy. On 9 July 1979, the Klarsfelds were the targets of a car bombing at their home in France. No one was in the car when the bomb detonated, and no one was injured in the vicinity of the blast. According to the Klarsfelds, individuals purporting to represent the Nazi
ODESSA ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...
claimed responsibility for the attack.


Later activism

The Klarsfelds are notable in the postwar decades for having been involved in hunting and finding German Nazis and French Vichy officials responsible for the worst abuses of the Holocaust, in order to prosecute them for alleged war crimes. Several officials were indicted due in part to the work of the Klarsfelds. They included
Klaus Barbie Nikolaus Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German officer of the ''Schutzstaffel'' and ''Sicherheitsdienst'' who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortu ...
(convicted in 1987), Jean Leguay (died in 1989, with French judiciary officially stating after his death that his involvement in crimes against humanity had been ascertained beyond doubt), René Bousquet (assassinated while set on trial in 1993),
Paul Touvier Paul Claude Marie Touvier (; 3 April 1915 – 17 July 1996) was a French Nazi collaborator and war criminal during World War II in Occupied France. In 1994, he became the first Frenchman ever convicted of crimes against humanity, for his parti ...
(convicted in 1994), and
Maurice Papon Maurice Papon (; 3 September 1910 – 17 February 2007) was a French civil servant and Nazi collaborator who was convicted of crimes against humanity committed during the occupation of France. Papon led the police in major prefectures from ...
(convicted in 1998). In the 1970s, the Klarsfelds considered kidnapping Barbie in much the same way the
Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...
did
Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ;"Eichmann"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 19 March 1906 – 1 Ju ...
but the plan fell through. They decided instead to bring international pressure to force his extradition. By 1995, only four senior French Vichy officials had been indicted for war crimes, and only Touvier had stood trial. The Klarsfelds continued to publicize the wartime activities of prominent politicians in Germany and Austria. In 1986, the Klarsfelds campaigned against
Kurt Waldheim Kurt Josef Waldheim (21 December 1918 – 14 June 2007) was an Austrian politician and diplomat. Waldheim was the Secretary-General of the United Nations#List of secretaries-general, secretary-general of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 a ...
, a former
United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...
who was elected
president of Austria The president of Austria () is the head of state of the Austria, Republic of Austria. The office of the president was established in 1920 by the Constituent National Assembly (Austria), Constituent National Assembly of the First Austrian Repu ...
amid allegations that he had covered up his wartime activities as an officer in the ''
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
''. In 1996, during the warfare in the
former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...
, the Klarsfelds joined the outcry against
Radovan Karadžić Radovan Karadžić ( sr-Cyrl, Радован Караџић, ; born 19 June 1945) is a Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian Serb politician who was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal ...
and Ratko Mladić for alleged
war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...
and
genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
of
Bosnian Muslim Islam is the most widespread religion in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was introduced to the local population in the 15th and 16th centuries as a result of the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Muslims make the largest religious co ...
s. In December 2009, Klarsfeld defied an existing consensus within the Jewish community by saying that the
beatification Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the p ...
of Pope
Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...
was an internal matter of the Church. He said that Jews should not get too involved in the process. Many protested the beatification on the grounds that Pius XII had contributed to the persecution of Jews throughout Europe, and had not brought the power of the Church against the Nazis.


Activism in France

In 1979, the Klarsfelds created the Sons and Daughters of Jewish Deportees from France (FFDJF). It defends the cause of the descendants of deportees, to have the events recognised and to prosecute people responsible. In 1981, the association commissioned a memorial in Israel to the deported French Jews; it bears the name, date and place of birth of 80,000 French victims of the Nazi extermination. About 80,000 trees were planted to shape a forest of remembrance. Klarsfeld is also vice-president of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah. In 1989, FFDJF was one of the groups to file a case against René Bousquet, head of the French Police in the Vichy government, for crimes against humanity. He was indicted by the French government in 1991 but was killed in 1993 shortly before his trial was to begin. Former French president
Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, ; ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Pari ...
acknowledged the nation's responsibility for the fate of Jews in its territory during the Second World War, and the government passed a law on 13 July 2000 to establish compensation for orphans whose parents were victims of antisemitic persecution. The Klarsfelds' work on behalf of the descendants of Jewish deportees had been formally recognised by Chirac in a 1995 speech when he was president. In January 2012, the Klarsfelds, along with prominent French-Armenian singer
Charles Aznavour Charles Aznavour ( ; ; ; born Shahnur Vaghinak Aznavourian; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a Armenians in France, French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent. Aznavour was known for his distinctive vibrato tenor voice: clear and ringi ...
, director
Robert Guédiguian Robert Jules Guédiguian (; born 3 December 1953) is a French film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. Most of his films star Ariane Ascaride and Jean-Pierre Darroussin. Life and career Guédiguian is the son of a German mother and an Arm ...
, and philosophers
Bernard-Henri Lévy Bernard-Henri Georges Lévy (; ; born 5 November 1948) is a French public intellectual. Often referred to in France simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the " Nouveaux Philosophes" (New Philosophers) movement in 1976. His opinions, politi ...
and Michel Onfray, signed an appeal to the French Parliament to ratify a bill to establish penalties for people who deny the
Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
. After six decades, the Klarsfelds were noted for their swing away from Nazi hunting to a more-general push for social justice (fight for human life, freedom, and social protection) in opposition to the modern right and
neo-fascism Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology which includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, ultraconservatism, racial supremacy, right-wing populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xe ...
. In 2022, Klarsfeld co-signed an article in ''
Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...
'' headlined "No to Le Pen, daughter of racism and antisemitism". In an interview to ''
La Stampa (English: "The Press") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin with an average circulation of 87,143 copies in May 2023. Distributed in Italy and other European nations, it is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. Until the late 1970 ...
'' ahead of the
2024 French legislative election Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 30 June and 7 July 2024 (and one day earlier for some voters outside of metropolitan France) to elect all 577 Deputy (France), members of the 17th legislature of th ...
, Klarsfeld stated that both he and his wife had voted for
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
to stop the far-right party of
Marine Le Pen Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician of the far-right National Rally, National Rally party (RN). She served as the party's president from 2011 to 2021, and ran for the French presidency in ...
in 2017 and 2022 but that, while he would keep voting for Macron's party in the first round, he would vote for Le Pen and the
National Rally The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right politics, far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and French nationalism, nationalist. It is the single largest Nat ...
, a party founded by former members of the collaborationist Vichy regime, against the left-wing alliance, the
New Popular Front The New Popular Front ( , NFP) is a broad Left-wing politics, left-wing electoral alliance with centre-left politics, centre-left and far-left politics, far-left factions in France. It was launched on 10 June 2024 to contest the 2024 French leg ...
, which condemned the
2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinians, Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 ...
. He argued that the National Rally was no longer a far-right party but a populist group that supports Jews and Israel, and claimed that the New Popular Front was dominated by
La France Insoumise La France Insoumise (LFI or FI; , ) is a left-wing political party in France. It was launched in 2016 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, then a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former co-president of the Left Party (PG). It aims to implement th ...
and
Jean-Luc Mélenchon Jean-Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon (; born 19 August 1951) is a French politician who has been the ''de facto'' leader of La France Insoumise (LFI) since it was established in 2016. He was the Deputy (France), deputy in the National Assembly ( ...
; he claimed that the radical left had moved to antisemitism and
anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the Palestine (region) ...
, and that this represented "a danger", saying that Mélenchon was antisemitic and against Israel, and that he was "sure of this". In a
La Chaîne Info La Chaîne Info (LCI; English: "The News Channel") is a French free-to-air news channel. It is part of TF1 Group. History TF1 had shown intentions of launching a news channel in 1991, which was one of the potential candidates for a new Astra sat ...
interview, Klarsfeld confirmed that he had made up his mind if he were forced to choose between the two, saying: "The National Rally supports the Jews, supports the State of Israel, and it's quite normal given the activity I've had over the past 60 years, that between an antisemitic party and a pro-Jewish party, I'll vote for the pro-Jewish one." ''
Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
'' headlined "Serge Klarsfeld short-circuits history to turn it upside-down", an article written by academic Michèle Cohen-Halimi, author Francis Cohen, and movie director Leopold von Verschuer. The article called his "unexpected legitimization of the National Rally" a betrayal of the victims of the Nazis that his own research had uncovered.


Works

In 1978, Klarsfeld published ''Mémorial de la Déportation des Juifs de France'' (Memorial of the Deportation of the Jews of France), a book listing the names of more than 80,000 Jews deported from France to
Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...
or killed in France. Copies of the original lists that were typed up for each deportation train, found by the Klarsfelds in an archive of the Jewish community in Paris, were the basis for the name, place, date of birth and nationality of all deportees, who were listed according to each deportation train. The book records more than 75,700 Jews who were deported to the concentration camps from France and establishes that just 2,564 of the deportees survived the war. Most of the deportees were sent from the transit camp at
Drancy Drancy () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris in the Seine-Saint-Denis department in northern France. It is located 10.8 km (6.7 mi) from the center of Paris. History Toponymy The name Drancy comes from Medieval Lati ...
, ranging in age from newly born to 93 and originating from 37 countries, the most from France (22,193) and Poland (14,459), with a small number from the United States (10) and even one from
Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...
. In 2012, Klarsfeld published an updated version of the Memorial of the Deportation of the Jews of France, adding women's maiden names, deportees last address in France, and the transit or internment camp they went through. This list is sorted in alphabetic order. From 2018, this memorial is available as an online search engine. Klarsfeld also wrote a preface to ''Une adolescence perdue dans la nuit des camps'' by Henri Kichka. Klarsfeld and his wife co-wrote an autobiography, ''Hunting the Truth: Memoirs of Beate and Serge Klarsfeld'', published in 2018.


Cooperation with the Stasi

Since the reunification of Germany and the opening of Stasi files, Lutz Rathenow, the State Commissioner for the Stasi Archives of
Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
, stated in 2012 that Klarsfeld's wife had cooperated with the
Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...
of
East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
in the 1960s. They gave her material containing incriminating information about the wartime activities of West German politicians. The cooperation of both Klarsfelds with the Stasi and their status as contacts was documented in a book by former Stasi officers Günter Bohnsack and Herbert Brehmer.


Honours

Recognition for the works of the Klarsfelds included France's
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
in 1984. On 7 July 2010, Klarsfeld was awarded the title of Commander of the Legion of Honour by the then French prime minister
François Fillon François Charles Amand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a French retired politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of The Republicans (previously known as the Union ...
at
Hôtel Matignon The Hôtel Matignon (, ) is the official residence of the Prime Minister of France. It is located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, at 57 Rue de Varenne. The name Matignon is often used as a metonym for the governmental action of the French p ...
, the official residence of France's prime minister. In January 2014, the Klarsfelds' Legion of Honour ranks were upgraded as he became Grand Officer. In May 2015, the Klarsfelds received the
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...
(Federal Cross of Merit, first class) in recognition of their efforts to bring Nazi war criminals to justice. On 26 October 2015, the UNESCO designated the Klarsfelds as "Honorary Ambassadors and Special Envoys for Education about the Holocaust and the Prevention of Genocide". On 20 November 2015, Klarsfeld was made the Officer of the
Order of Saint-Charles The Order of Saint Charles (; Monégasque: ''U̍rdine de San Carlu'') is a dynastic order of knighthood established in Monaco on 15 March 1858. Award This order rewards service to the State or Prince. In particular cases, it may be grante ...
. On 27 May 2024, French President
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
promoted him to Grand-Cross of the Legion of Honour.


Representation in other media

The Klarsfelds' activities related to finding Nazi war criminals were the subject of '' Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story'' (1986), an American made-for-TV film. The 2001 documentary ''
Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however, Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...
: Her Own Song'', a Turner Classic Movies Production about Dietrich mentions her support of Klarsfeld's anti-Nazi activities, while the 2008 drama ' (''La traque'') was a French made-for-TV film, written by Alexandra Deman and Laurent Jaoui and directed by Laurent Jaoui, based on the Klarsfelds. The documentary ''La traque des nazis,'' (2007) studied
Simon Wiesenthal Simon Wiesenthal (31 December 190820 September 2005) was an Austrian Holocaust survivor, Nazi hunter, and writer. He studied architecture, and was living in Lwów at the outbreak of World War II. He survived the Janowska concentration camp (la ...
's and the Klarsfelds' activities.Vodeo.tv


See also

* Michel Thomas *
Efraim Zuroff Efraim Zuroff (; born August 5, 1948) is an American-born Israeli historian and Nazi hunter who has played a key role in bringing Nazi and fascist war criminals to trial. Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center office in Jerusalem, is th ...


Notes


Bibliography of works in English

*''The Children of Izieu: A Human Tragedy''. New York: Harry N. Abrams Publishers, 1985. Translation of ''Les enfants d'Izieu'' (1985) *''French Children of the Holocaust: A Memorial''. New York:
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
Press, 1996. Translation of ''Le mémorial des enfants juifs déportés de France'' (1995)


External links


The Klarsfeld Foundation (biographies and chronology of activities)
;1986 film * * :2008 film * {{DEFAULTSORT:Klarsfeld, Serge And Beate Nazi hunters Writers about the Holocaust Romanian emigrants to France Romanian Jews People from Bucharest Married couples Commanders of the Legion of Honour Die Linke politicians Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Jewish anti-fascists Jewish socialists Stasi informants French Zionists 1935 births Living people