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KIDNAP THAT FAILED
AT THE BEGINNING of 1971, Beate Klarsfeld and her husband Serge decided that Kurt Lischka, the war-time chief of the Gestapo's Jewish section in France, should be kidnapped from his home in Cologne, where he lived under his own name, and brought to justice in France. In 1950 a French court had condemned Lischka in absentia to life imprisonment, and that sentence could be enforced if he were apprehended on French soil. But the Klarsfelds need help to carry out their plan. In addition to their old friend Marco, they enlist Eli, a young Jewish photographer whose mother was deported by the Germans. He reasons that the enterprise is not criminal, since there is no intention to hurt Lischka, just to bring him to justice. The third accomplice is David, a Jewish doctor, who is especially valuable to the group because he will be able to chloroform Lischka during the abduction. As it happens, the mild-man=nered David is also a judo expert. But at the first meeting of the four, when he is asked to demonstrate his skill against Eli, it is he who is toppled. It seems that even Judo cannot offset the considerable weight advantage Eli has over him. And Lischka, the intended victim, is a six-footer weighing 220 pounds. Eli decides that the only way to subdue Lischka in the initial assault is lay 'means of a blackjack. The conspirators know nothing about blackjacking, but Eli assures them that he can lay low an elephant with his little jack. The assault weapons are thus two blackjacks, one of them made by Eli himself. The whole group bursts into laughter when, during a demonstration, the cop flies off Eli's jack and gouges a deep hole in the door of the room. This is not the only time that the conspiracy has its lighter moments. The group also has an old pistol, with its firing pin removed, which may be used to intimidate Lischka. In case things go wrong, the missing pin will prove that they had no intention of causing serious harm, they reason. As it turns out Marco forgot in the heat of the action that he had the pistol stuck in his belt and asked David to hand it to him. The surprised (David told him: "But you've got it right there, In your belt." 'Serge had also bought a pair of handcuffs, to be used on Lischka after the kidnapping. On Saturday night, March 20, the five leave Paris in a rented Renault-16. Beate is driving. They plan to reach Cologne about three o'clock in the morning. (Delayed by their ignorance of the maze of one-way streets in Cologne, they arrive late at the flat which friends have put at their disposal. They keep on telling each other that they must get a good night's rest and remain calm. But. often, just looking at each other is enough to make them burst into nervous laughter. At nine o'clock on Sunday morning, they find that the standard four-door Mercedes 220 they had reserved from the Hertz agency had been rented to another customer. They troop to the Avis bureau, where they are asked too many questions. Back at Hertz they finally get a huge, cream-coloured, automatic Mercedes which, however, has only two doors. The problem is how to get the heavy Lischka into the back seat through the one door? The plan is to transfer the captured Lischka to the Renault, which is to be waiting in a secluded little wood on the outskirts of town. Stuffed into the trunk of the Renault, the chloroformed Lischka is to be driven over the nearby Belgian border and then into France. The group spends most of Sunday reconnoitring the street on which Lischka lives and the planned escape route. They even practise transferring the victim from the huge Mercedes into the trunk of the Renault. David plays the role of Lischka. Marco grabs him under the arms, while Serge and Eli take hold of his feet. All goes well until the trunklid is closed on David/Lischka. Suddenly there is a muffled cry from inside the trunk. "But I have the car keys in my pocket." There is a moment of panic, until it is realised that the trunk opens automatically, without the keys. That evening the conspirators are told that they will have to change quarters, since the owner of their flat has returned home unexpectedly. Beate succeeds in renting two rooms in a small hotel, where the night clerk turns out to be sympathetic to their cause. They don't have to register their names. After a night of fitful sleep, Beate awakens her friends at six o'clock. David, who is Orthodox, says his morning prayers. Eli, who is always hungry, complains about having to go into action on an empty stomach. They arrive on Lischka's street at seven o'clock and wait near the station where he usually boards the streetcar on his way to work. Beate, who knows Lisch-ka from an earlier meeting, is to raise her fur hat to signal that he has left his house. It Is raining. The street is full of people and cars — contrary to •what Beate had predicted. Beate raises her fur hat. They all see Lischka walk towards them, past the Mercedes. At this moment, Eli was to grab Lischka from behind. He does not move. Lischka walks past the other three men. The opportunity has been missed. The crestfallen conspirators drive in silence to a little restaurant opposite the Cologne Cathedral, where Serge tries to revive their spirits. He explains that the main thing is to attempt the kidnapping. Even if It fails, the resultant publicity will make their effort worth while, Beate knows that Lischka returns from work at 1.25 in the afternoon. The conspirators are back at their stations 40 minutes before that, determined to act this time. They pretend to themselves that they are police officers, about to make an arrest. Housewives watch the group from behind window curtains; children, sniffing excitement, hang about. A streetcar stops at the station every 10 minutes. Will Lischka be on the next one? Suddenly, he is there, Marco and Serge grab him by the arms Marco yells: 'Komm, komm." (Come along). David and Eli rush up. Eli removes Lischka's hat and conks him over the head. Lischka continues a few steps and yells: "Hilfe, Leute, Hilfe," (Help, people, help) and falls to the ground. At this moment he must have believed in the existence of "avengers" come to kill him. A large group of people gathers quickly. A short man waves a police identification disk under the noses of the conspirators. He is off-duty and unarmed. Perhaps he takes them for fellow officers engaged in making an arrest. They shout at him, in French, to mind his own business. Marco forgets about his revolver, which could have driven off the crowd. Curious drivers stop their cars. The street is beginning to become blocked. If one of the by-standers were to take the keys out of the idling Mercedes, which is standing unattended 30 metres away, the conspirators are trapped. Serge cries: "To the car." The four men run to the car Eli still holding Lischka's hat. The little policeman runs after him, shouting: "Den Hut, bitte, den Hut." (The hat, please, the hat). Eli doesn't understand, but turns round. The policeman points to the hat Eli hands it to him. He remembers distinctly hearing the policeman say: "Danke schoen." (Thank you). The group doesn't have Lischka, but Serge and Beate have their propaganda coup. They reach the car and within three minutes are in the little wood, where they switch to the waiting Renault. They are to pick up Beate at the road junction with the Autobahn. But hearing police sirens they breeze past the pick-up point. On the road to Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) and the Belgian border they jettison their chloroform vials and syringes. They cross the Belgian border and reach Paris without incident. Beate has been left behind to face the German authorities. |
