Klaus Barbie was one of the most brutal figures of the Third Reich. His name still inspires fear in the inhabitants of France. Notorious for his inhuman crimes, Klaus has repeatedly found himself in the spotlight of the media. The executioner's biography has repeatedly laid the foundation for documentary films.
And almost the whole world watched the capture of a war criminal and the subsequent trial.
Klaus Barbie: biography
Klaus was born in Bonn in 1913. He studied at a secondary school. Almost nothing is known about this period of his life. From the recollections of some people it follows that at school Klaus was withdrawn and uncommunicative. For strange behavior, he was harassed by peers. In the 30s, the Nazi party was rapidly gaining popularity in Germany. Many people who did not find themselves in society and hated its members, willingly join Hitler. In 1934, the NSDAP creates from its most ardent supporters a special security service - the SS. Initially, it was a small group designed to protect Hitler. However, over time, its number increased to several tens of thousands of people. These fighters personally obeyed the Führer. Before the war, the most stringent selection in the ranks of the SS.
The Second World War
Klaus Barbie diligently performed all the settings of the command. Unscrupulousness and meanness allowed him to quickly climb the career ladder. Within a few years, he became the Haupsturmfuhrer. After 3 years he becomes a member of the National Socialist Party of Adolf Hitler. With the outbreak of war, he becomes a permanent member of various occupational administrations. After the occupation of the Netherlands, he is a member of a special committee on the Jewish question in The Hague. There he shows such rigidity and composure that he even surprises his colleagues.
Then Klaus Barbie went to Belgium. Then the movement of resistance began to gain strength. Partisans switched from propaganda to direct action. They attacked the Nazis and organized sabotage. Therefore, the SS and the Gestapo began to carry out massive anti-partisan operations. Barbie was responsible for members of the resistance from the ranks of the intelligentsia. One of these people was the Austrian writer Jean Amery. He actively participated in propaganda against the Nazis and in every possible way helped the partisans. He was captured in 1943.
Crimes Against Humanity
At that time, the Nazis turned Fort Breendok into a concentration camp, where Jews and all unwanted authorities of the occupying people were brought. Ameri was brought here. Barbie was personally involved in his interrogation. He brutally tortured the writer and mocked him. The Nazis wanted to find out information about other participants in the resistance, but Klaus mocked the prisoner and just like that.
After the defeat of France, the Nazis created the Vichy puppet regime in the south of the country, which clearly carried out instructions from Berlin. However, this was not enough. In 1942, the Wehrmacht occupied this part of France. In autumn, Klaus Barbie goes there to lead the Gestapo in the city of Lyon. For the atrocities committed there, he will later receive the nickname "Lyons the butcher." Klaus was in charge of the fourth security section. He continued to search for Jews and resistance participants.
He personally led the mass executions and executions. In addition to his statutory duties, he often personally participated in torture of prisoners overtime. Thousands of people were sent to death camps from concentration camps . In 1943, the Gestapo caught a prominent participant in the resistance - Jean Moulins. He worked closely with Charles de Gaulle and led partisans in Lyon and the surrounding area. After the capture he was handed over to Barbie. Klaus tortured the rebel for five days, and then sent him to the camp. Due to the injuries received during the torture, Moulin died on the train.
After the war
In 1945, Klaus returned to Germany. After the collapse of the Third Reich, he began to hide. Presumably at this time, American intelligence agencies contacted him. 2 years after the end of the war, Klaus Barbie appeared in the archive of agents of the Counterintelligence Corps. A photo of the Nazi at that time was widely published in the press, as the public became aware of the details of violent crimes. Therefore, with the help of the Americans, Klaus goes to Bolivia. There he becomes an adviser to the neo-fascist regime. Helps the dictatorial government fight the partisans led by Che Guevara.
Catch
In 1980, under a different surname, Klaus is an adviser close to the President of Bolivia . In free France, 2 absentee trials of a Lyons butcher took place. As a result of both, the court sentenced Barbie to death. Shortly before his arrest, the Nazi was discovered by Klarsfeld journalists, who are ranked as "Nazi hunters."
In 1983, Barbie was handed over to the French authorities. After 4 years, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment. On September 25, 1991, the Lyon Prison Administration announced that war criminal Klaus Barbie had died. The Nazi filmography has several documentaries.