Burkmen, Josefina

Josefina Burkman, whose name is also recorded as Josefina Burkmen, is a little-documented South African woman identified as an extraterrestrial contactee in the published contact reports associated with Swiss UFO contactee Billy Meier. The principal reference appears in Contact Report 38, dated 13 November 1975. In a conversation between Meier and the extraterrestrial visitor Semjase, Burkmen is identified as a woman from the African region who had allegedly been granted permission to fly aboard a spacecraft. The same passage states that her alleged extraterrestrial visitors were like those associated with American contactee Daniel Fry. It also claims that South African contactee Elizabeth Klarer had somehow acquired knowledge of Burkmen's experiences and presented them as her own. These statements occur within Meier's claimed extraterrestrial communications and have not been independently substantiated. Little reliable biographical information about Burkman has been located, and the available material does not establish the circumstances, dates, or details of her alleged encounters.

Biographical data

Very little independently verifiable information is available about Josefina Burkman. The surviving references identify her as South African, with one passage in Meier's contact reports suggesting that she lived in Johannesburg or elsewhere in South Africa. Her full name, date of birth, occupation, family background, and other biographical details have not been established in the sources located for this entry.

Her name appears in a list of alleged contact persons reproduced in material associated with Meier's contact reports. The list gives her name as Josefina Burkmen and identifies her country as South Africa. The spelling Burkmen appears to be the more directly documented form in these sources, although the variant Burkman is also used in references to the case.

The available record is unusually sparse even by the standards of historical contactee cases. Unlike better-known South African contactees such as Elizabeth Klarer, Burkman does not appear to have left a readily accessible published account of her own experiences. The principal information about her comes from a third party's claimed extraterrestrial communications rather than from a documented interview, book, or independently recorded testimony.

Alleged encounters

The reference in Contact Report 38

The central source is Contact Report 38, dated 13 November 1975. It is published by FIGU, the organization associated with Billy Meier. The report presents a purported telepathic conversation between Meier and Semjase, a female extraterrestrial whom Meier claimed to know personally.

During the conversation, Semjase provides a list of people she allegedly identifies as having had some form of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. Burkmen appears at entry 117. The following two entries state that she had been permitted to fly and that the extraterrestrials involved were the same as those associated with Daniel Fry, an American contactee. The report adds the parenthetical remark that she had maintained silence about the experience.

This is the clearest surviving description of Burkmen's alleged experiences. It suggests that the claimed contact went beyond seeing unidentified objects and included a flight aboard an alleged extraterrestrial craft. However, the report provides no date, location, description of the spacecraft, account of the flight, or direct testimony from Burkmen herself.

The connection with Daniel W. Fry

The reference to Daniel W. Fry is potentially significant. Fry was an American contactee who claimed that he had encountered an extraterrestrial intelligence and had been taken on a flight aboard an unmanned spacecraft near White Sands, New Mexico, in 1950. He subsequently became a prominent figure in the American contactee movement.

Meier's report associates Burkmen's alleged visitors with the same extraterrestrials attributed to Fry. It does not explain whether this means that the visitors supposedly belonged to the same species, originated from the same location, or merely operated similar spacecraft. Nor does it establish whether Burkmen's alleged flight resembled Fry's experience in any specific way.

Consequently, the connection should be recorded as a claim made in Meier's report, rather than as evidence that the two contactees encountered the same beings.

The connection with Elizabeth Klarer

The most striking part of the passage concerns Elizabeth Klarer, the well-known South African woman who claimed to have encountered extraterrestrials and developed a relationship with a visitor called Akon, associated with the Alpha Centauri system.

In Contact Report 38, Meier asks Semjase about a woman in Africa whose name he believes he already knows. Semjase identifies her as Josefina Burkmen. Meier then suggests that he had assumed the woman was Klarer. Semjase responds by asserting that Klarer had not experienced genuine extraterrestrial contact, despite having apparently acquired information about Burkmen's experiences. The report offers the extraordinary explanation that Klarer had somehow accessed Burkmen's subconscious and appropriated her experiences.

These allegations are important to the history of the case, but they require careful handling. They are claims made within Meier's purported extraterrestrial communications. No independent evidence has been identified to establish that Klarer knew Burkmen, obtained information from her, or misrepresented another person's experiences as her own.

The passage therefore documents an allegation about Klarer rather than demonstrating that the allegation was true. It should not be used as evidence against Klarer's credibility without corroboration from independent sources.

Assessment

Josefina Burkman is an unusual entry in the history of South African contactee claims because the available account is so limited. For several better-known contactees, researchers can examine interviews, books, photographs, contemporary newspaper reports, and testimony from other witnesses. In Burkmen's case, the principal account is a passage in a document attributed to Billy Meier's extraterrestrial communications.

The report does establish that Burkmen's name circulated within the Meier contact-report literature by November 1975. It also records three specific claims: that she was South African, that she had been permitted to fly, and that the alleged extraterrestrials were associated with those described by Daniel Fry. These details are worth preserving as part of the historical record of contactee claims. They do not, however, independently establish that the experiences occurred.

The lack of a direct account from Burkmen is the main limitation. Without an interview, a publication under her name, or independently documented testimony, it is impossible to establish what she herself claimed, how she interpreted the experience, or whether Meier's description accurately represented her views. Even the suggestion that she deliberately remained silent comes from the same source.

The alleged connection with Elizabeth Klarer introduces a further complication. Rather than providing corroboration, it creates a second set of unverified claims about the origins of another contactee's story. The accusation that Klarer appropriated Burkmen's experiences is particularly difficult to assess without independent evidence.

In essence, Josefina Burkman/Burkmen can be seen as a poorly documented alleged contactee known principally through Billy Meier's Contact Report 38. The reported spacecraft flight and connection to Daniel W. Fry are potentially relevant to the history of contactee narratives, but they remain unverified.

Online sources

Primary sources

1. FIGU USA – Contact Report 38

The most important source for this entry. The English translation includes the list identifying Burkmen as a South African contactee and the subsequent exchange concerning Elizabeth Klarer. The report is dated 13 November 1975. See especially entries 117–119 and the later discussion of Klarer.

2. Future of Mankind – Contact Report 38, English translation (PDF)

An alternative online copy of the report, useful for comparison with the FIGU USA version. It contains the same passage about Burkmen and the allegations concerning Klarer.

3. Meier Saken – Semjase: List of Contact Persons

A secondary webpage reproducing the list of alleged contactees, including the entry for Josefina Burkmen. It is useful for locating the reference, but it derives from the same Meier-related material and should not be treated as independent corroboration.

Contextual sources

4. Encyclopedia.com – Elizabeth Klarer (1910–1994)

Provides background on Klarer's life and her alleged encounters with extraterrestrials. It is useful for understanding the person discussed in Contact Report 38, but it does not independently verify the allegations made there.

5. Wikipedia – Contactee

A general overview of the contactee movement, including Daniel W. Fry and the development of claims involving spacecraft rides and communications with extraterrestrials. This provides historical context rather than evidence concerning Burkmen herself.