Cogs in the Killing Machine #3

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Cogs in the Killing Machine #3

 

Klaus Barbie (1913-1991)

Nikolaus Barbie, known as Klaus Barbie, and later as the "Butcher of Lyon" was born on 25 October 1913 in 'Godesberg' which is now known as 'Bad Godesberg' within the area of the Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. 

On 26 September 1935, he joined the SS and took on a job working within the SS security service of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), but didn't join the NSDAP until 01 May 1937.

When the Netherlands was overrun by the advancing Germans in 1940, Barbie was posted to Amsterdam. He was responsible rounding up of the country's Jews and having them deported to the East. In 1942 he was transferred to France, first at Dijon, then to Lyon as head of the Gestapo there. It is here that he acquired his nickname, 'The Butcher of Lyon' and where he used torture to extract information from prisoners, including children. Barbie even swooped on care homes for Jewish children in France, one such incident occurred when he and his men seized 45 children and 8 carers from a children’s home in the village of Izieu, that was close to Lyon, they were all sent to their deaths in the east. Barbie was directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. Because of his activities against the French Resistance as well as for the capture of a prominent resistance leader, Jean Moulin, Hitler awarded him the Iron Cross (first class) in 1943.

When the Allied forces were close, Barbie and his fellow Gestapo officials fled to Bruyères in northeastern France.

A French court had tried Barbie in absentia for his crimes committed on French soil and sentenced him to death. 

In 1947, Barbie was recruited by the Americans to act as an agent for the Army Counterintelligence Corps along with other Nazis, mainly as part of their anti-communist activities within Germany.

When the French authorities discovered that Barbie was working for the Americans requested, that they hand him over so that the sentence of death could be carried out. The Americans, instead of handing him over assisted him in escaping to Bolivia. Whilst in Bolivia, Barbie changed his name to 'Klaus Altmann' and was close friends to high-ranking Bolivian officials. He helped the Bolivians in arms-trade deals (and other menacing activities) and as such he was awarded the rank of lieutenant Colonel within the Bolivian army. Whilst in Bolivia, Barbie never lost any of his zeal for National Socialism and remained a hardcore Jew-hater.

In 1965, West Germany secretly recruited him within their own counterintelligence services. He was assigned the codename 'Adler' (Eagle).

A group of French Nazi hunters (the Klarsfelds) discovered that Barbie was hiding out in Peru in 1971 and this information was passed onto a French newspaper who published the story in January 1972. Soon after that, Barbie, under his alias gave an interview to a French journalist and when the journalist pressed him about Lyon and members of the French Resistance fighters, Barbie, trying to keep the deception going, denied ever being in Lyon, or knowing the Resistance fighters in the photographs he had been presented. Later, Barbie's fingerprints were extracted from the photographs which confirmed his identity, he was also recognised by a resistance fighter, whom Barbie had had dealings with whilst in Lyon when the interview was aired on TV.

Barbie returned to Bolivia and when the French request his extradition, the authorities refused.

In 1983, the new government in Bolivia had Barbie arrested on an allegation of tax fraud, and quickly handed him over to the French authorities and in 1984.  He was indicted for crimes committed whilst he was head of the Gestapo in Lyon. His trial began on 11 May 1987. On 04 July 1987, he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. He died of leukaemia on 25 September 1991, he served just over 4 years.

 

Wilhelm Schäfer (1911-1961)

Wilhelm Schäfer was born on 20 October 1911, who was a bricklayer by trade.  He joined the Nazi Party [NSDAP] in 1932 and became a member of the SS in 1933.  He reached the rank of SS- Hauptscharführer (Sergeant-Major) and served as a guard at the Lichtenburg Concentration Camp in 1935 before moving to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in 1937.  His roles within Buchenwald were as a deputy commandant of the camp's laundry wing as well as being a Blockführer (in charge of a prisoner’s barrack block). He also was in control of group known as 'Kommando 99’, which murdered hundreds, if not thousands of Prisoners of War and other inmates.  The prisoners feared him and tried to keep their distance, especially because it seemed that he loved killing and torturing inmates.

In 1943, he was transferred to a Waffen-SS unit [20th Grenadier Division] which was carrying out operations against partisan units in the east.  He deserted his post and tried to blend back into German life but moved from one locale to another before settling in Arnstadt which would end up being taken over by the Soviets after the war. 

With the Communists in charge of East Germany, a policy was being proposed to implement collectivisation of all farms in early 1960, and he was asked to join a local organisation which would help bring the farms together, however, unbeknown to him, the representative who had come to his farm, was an ex-Buchenwald inmate who instantly recognised him and reported him to the Stasi [State secret Police] who then had him arrested.

In 1961, he was in court facing numerous charges, which included war crime charges.  He was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to death. The execution took place by guillotine in Leipzig Prison on 16 June 1961.