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Neo-nazi Group Claims Responsibility for Bombing Klarsfeld’s Car

July 10, 1979
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
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A neo-Nazi group calling itself “Odessa” claimed today that it had bombed last Friday the car of Nazi-hunter Serge Klarsfeld and also threatened Klarsfeld’s life. An anonymous letter received by the French news agency, Agence France Presse, warned that unless “The Jews stop persecuting our comrades we shall have to envisage an extreme solution” for Klarsfeld.

Klarsfeld and his wife, Beate, have been active for years in tracking down wanted Nazi war criminals and have campaigned vigorously for elimination of the statute of limitations on the prosecution of Nazi war criminals in West Germany. The statute was abolished by a majority vote of the Bundestog last Tuesday. The Bundesrat acted similarly last Friday. (See P.4)

Klarsfeld said the bomb, which wrecked his car in an underground garage of the building where he lives, was probably “retaliation” for his activities against the statute of limitations. He and his wife have since left their flat and are staying at an undisclosed address under police protection. “Odessa” was the code name of a secret organization that smuggled wanted Nazi war criminals out of Europe in the immediate post-war years. The group that adopted that name here is unknown to police.

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