Barbie, Klaus b. October 25, 1913; Bad Godesberg (Rhineland), Prussia d. September 25, 1991; Lyon, France
Klaus Barbie was instrumental in the torture and deaths of thousands of French Resistance members and the deportation of thousands of Jews during World War II. After the end of the war, he was protected by the British and American occupiers.
He escaped later to South America.After he had attended the Friedrich Wilhelm Institute, Barbie joined the Schutzstaffel (SS) in 1933 and became a member of the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDAP) in 1937. His sadistic personality reveled in his power as a Gestapo agent. Barbie served as an intelligence officer for Jewish affairs.
In May 1941 Barbie was posted to Amsterdam, where he took charge of putting down the February strike in 1941 by sealing off the Jewish quarter. He is responsible for the deportation of hundreds of Jewish children who were sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp and later transferred to Mauthausen, where they were worked to death in its stone quarry. Barbie was transferred to Lyon in May 1942 and became head of the local Gestapo, where his role was to extinguish the Resistance. He personally tortured men, women, and children—whoever was deemed an enemy of the Reich. Barbie was responsible for the death of Jean Moulin, a leading member of the French Resistance, whom he personally tortured. For his brutality Barbie became quickly known as the Butcher of Lyon. He was involved directly and indirectly in the deportation of over 7,000 people, more than 400 murders, and the arrests of over 14,000 Resistance fighters in Lyon.
After World War II ended, Barbie returned to Germany. The English employed him as an expert in police matters until 1947. He then enjoyed protection and employment from the U.S. Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps. He was useful because he could easily penetrate the Communist Party cells springing up throughout Germany. The U.S.
government protected Barbie until 1955, despite the fact that the Military Tribunal of Lyon sentenced Barbie to death in absentia in 1952 and 1954 for war crimes. The Americans refused to extradite him to France and instead created a false identity for him using the name of Klaus Altmann. They sent Barbie and his family to Bolivia, where he became a citizen in 1957. Barbie became a businessman who moonlighted in police investigations for Bolivia’s dictators.In 1971 the Nazi hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld found Barbie in La Paz using the name of Klaus Altmann. However, the Bolivian government would not allow Barbie’s deportation. He moved to Peru to hide from the Klarsfelds, but in doing so he lost his protection and was extradited to France on January 18, 1983. It took four years of preparation to amass the witnesses, affidavits, and other materials. Barbie stood trial in the Rhone Court of Assizes on May 11, 1987, for crimes against humanity. He did not recognize the court or the proceedings and scarcely attended sessions. Overwhelming evidence led to the jury finding him guilty with no extenuating circumstances. Barbie was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Annette Richardson
See also Argentina; Braun, Wernher von;
Latin America, Nazis in
References and Further Reading
Finkielkraut, Alain. Remembering in Vain: The Klaus Barbie Trial and Crimes against Humanity. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992.
Murphy, Brendan. The Butcher of Lyon: The Story of Infamous Nazi Klaus Barbie. New York: Empire Books, 1983.
Paris, Erna. Unhealed Wounds: France and the Klaus Barbie Affair. New York: First Grove Press, 1985.