Arno Klarsfeld, son of Nazi hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, reportedly is a leading candidate to join the new French government. Media reports suggest that the post of minister of immigration and national identity in President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy’s government will go either to Klarsfeld or Sarkozy spokeswoman Rachida Dati. Klarsfeld refused to comment.Sarkozy, who won elections Sunday, has revealed little about his government, which will be presented around May 20.Klarsfeld, a 41-year-old lawyer, undertook several projects for Sarkozy when the latter was interior minister, dealing with France’s colonial past, the homeless and illegal immigration issues.Klarsfeld heads the association of Sons and Daughters of Deported French Jews. In 1998 he represented the association that sought damages at the trial of Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon. He also has been engaged in humanitarian causes in Rwanda and Kosovo.In 2002, Klarsfeld moved to Israel and joined the Border Police, where he served at a checkpoint near Bethlehem for nearly a year. In 2004 he wrote in Le Monde, “If the persecuted Jews of Germany, Poland, Hungary and Romania had been permitted to immigrate to Palestine… it is certain that the number of Jews exterminated would have been far less.”
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