Two photographs of Klaus Barbie, German Gestapo officer and war criminal, c1940s-c1980s(?). Artist: Unknown
The Print Collector / Alamy Stock Photo
Image ID: W7EF82
Two photographs of Klaus Barbie, German Gestapo officer and war criminal, c1940s-c1980s(?). Known as the 'Butcher of Lyon', Barbie (1913-1991) was head of the Gestapo in Lyon during the Nazi occupation of France. During his time there he was involved in the torture of prisoners and the deportation of Jews and was estimated to have been directly responsible for the deaths of 14,000 people. After the war, Barbie avoided capture by the Allies, escaping to South America. He was identified living in Bolivia in 1971 by the Nazi hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, but was not extradited to France until 1983, when a new government came to power in Bolivia. On 4 July 1987 he was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment, dying in jail from leukemia 4 years later.
