by Bower, Tom
Surviving CIC officers say that Ryan ignores the reality of the CIC operation. There were, they say, many intense internal disagreements but finally everyone had to obey the commander, Colonel Erskine. Yet the report implicitly blames individual officers such as Vidal, a civilian officer, and Browning, for decisions where the responsibility was not theirs to exercise. The overall result will be to fuel further demands for greater disclosure of the western Allies’ relationship with Nazi war criminals.
The Klarsfelds are, however, satisfied with the results. Their allegations and long campaign have been entirely vindicated. When Serge Klarsfeld, representing the parents of the children of Izieu in the prosecution of Barbie, met his prey for the first time in the St Joseph prison, there was silence. ‘Klarsfeld?’ asked Barbie. ‘Yes,’ replied the lawyer with pride. His affirmation was answered by a long, hateful stare. Two actors on a vast stage, both casualties of the most monstrous crime in history.
As Barbie awaits trial, politicians, government officials and criminals in many countries have sought to distance themselves from the incriminating disclosures which they fear their former associate might release. Former SS officers, French collaborators, Western intelligence agents, drug dealers and arms merchants, all live in fear of betrayal. Many hope and believe that the French will now conspire to prevent his trial ever occurring, so silencing him forever. In this last wish they will be disappointed. Barbie’s life is the triumph of evil over every semblance of justice. This ruthless, ‘street-wise’ individual will never cease to fight back.
NOTE ON SOURCES
Inevitably, there are many sources for this book – especially interviews with those who were directly involved either with Barbie himself or with his case, and classified government documents which were ‘shown’ to me. In both cases the source is clear in the text. The material on the postwar handling of Nazi war criminals is drawn from my previous book, Blind Eye to Murder. The history of France’s Occupation and the Resistance is well covered in books listed below. Additional information on the Newtons’ case was discovered by research in local and national Resistance archives. Details of Barbie’s activities in 1944 during the sweeps against the Maquis, and of the SS’s relationship with the Wehrmacht, are drawn from papers in the West German archives in Freiburg and Koblenz. The account of Barbie’s employment by the Americans is the result of four months’ research by Bob Fink, Margaret Jay and myself, and draws especially on the large appendix of documents published by the US Department of Justice special investigators. The major obstacle facing all researchers into Barbie’s life in Bolivia is the disappearance of the official records and the natural reluctance of his accomplices to tell the truth. I have ignored any part of his life which is not verifiable from many different sources. The Klarsfelds have published several books containing government documents on Barbie’s activities, and his life as an SS officer is partially chronicled in his SS file, reprinted by the Klarsfelds. Government officials in several countries have given me access to secret and confidential files. I have used them wherever appropriate. I have, naturally, read through all the newspaper cuttings on the subject; however, I found them to be often quite inaccurate and have only used them when more than two contemporary sources report the same incident, or where the quotation has been checked with the journalist himself.
Over the past ten years, Barbie has given several interviews about his life. All of them are flawed by his conceit and deliberate distortion. In 1979, General Karl Wolff, Himmler’s wartime adjutant, travelled through South America visiting Nazi fugitives. He spent nearly a week with Barbie in La Paz. Flattered that an important SS general should visit him, Barbie told many untruths; but on some subjects he was more candid than on any other occasion. It was not until towards the end of the visit that Barbie realised that the German travelling with Wolff was the journalist Gerd Heidemann, who had tape-recorded their entire discussion. Heidemann continued to interview Barbie on tape after Wolff left. Although those conversations contain many unsubstantiated allegations and crucial omissions, there are several valuable insights into his life which he revealed innocently to his eminent guest. I have only used those parts of those conversations which either can be independently verified (and many have been confirmed by subsequent disclosures) or are so outrageous that, regardless of the truth, they are accurate revelations of Barbie’s own thoughts.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Amouroux, Henri, Les Français sous l’Occupation (Fayard, 1964).
Bernet, Philippe, Roger Wybot et la Bataille pour la DST (Presses de la Cité, 1975).
Bower, Tom, Blind Eye to Murder (Andre Deutsch, 1981).
Chavanet, Roger, Histoire Vecue des Maquis de l’Azergues (privately published).
Delarue, Jacques, The History of the Gestapo (Macdonald & Co., 1964).
Delperrie de Bayac, Jacques, Histoire de la Milice, 1918–1945 (Fayard, 1969).
Ferreira, Dantas, O Depoimento, do SS Altmann-Barbie (Jose Olympio, 1972).
Foote, M. R. D., SOE in France (Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1966).
Goldberg, Michel, Namesake (Yale University Press, 1982).
Guinguoin, Georges, Quatre Ans de Lutte sur le Sol Limousin (Hachette, 1974).
Hastings, Max, Das Reich: Resistance and the March of the 2nd SS Panzer Division through France, June 1944 (Michael Joseph, 1981).
Heslop, Richard, Xavier (Mayflower Books Ltd, 1971).
Hohne, Heinz and Zolling, Hermann, The General Was a Spy: The Truth about General Gehlen and His Spy Ring (Pan Books, 1972).
Klarsfeld, Beate, Wherever They May Be (Vanguard Press, 1975).
Klarsfeld, Serge, Vichy – Auschwitz: Le rôle de Vichy dans la solution finale de la question Juive en France, 1942 (Fayard, 1983).
Liddell Hart, Sir Basil, History of the Second World War (Pan Books, 1982).
Marrus, Michel R. and Paxton, Robert O., Vichy France and the Jews (Basic Books Inc., 1981).
Noguères, Henri, Histoire de la Résistance en France (five volumes, Robert Laffont, 1967).
Paxton, Robert O., Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940–44 (Barrie and Jenkins, 1972).
Presser, Dr J., Ashes in the Wind: The Destruction of the Dutch Jewry (Souvenir Press, 1965).
Pryce-Jones, David, Paris in the Third Reich: A History of the German Occupation, 1940–44 (Collins, 1981).
Rings, Werner, Life with the Enemy: Collaboration and Resistance in Hitler’s Europe, 1939–1945 (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1982).
Romans-Petit, Colonel Henri, Les Maquis de l’Ain (Hachette).
Ruby, Marcel, La Résistance a Lyons (three volumes, L’Hermes, 1981).
Rude, Fernand, Libération de Lyons, et de sa région (Hachette, 1974).
Schoenbrun, David, The Story of the French Resistance (New American Library, 1980).
Thomas, Jack, No Banners: The Story of Alfred and Henry Newton (W. H. Allen, 1955).
Trepper, Leopold, The Great Game: Memoirs of a Master Spy (Michael Joseph, 1977).
Vistel, Alban, La Nuit sans Ombre: Histoire des Mouvements Unis de la Résistance, et leur rôle dans la libération du Sud-Est (Fayard, 1970).
Vomécourt, Philippe de, Who Lived to See the Day: France in Arms, 1940–44 (Hutchinson, 1961).
INDEX
Aachen, 119, 132
L’Abergement de Varey, 86, 89–90
Abwehr, 41–4, 136, 139
Achenbach, Ernst, 200–1
Aeroperu, 223
Ain, 61, 81, 82–3, 85–91, 92, 101–2, 104, 230
Air France, 192
Albania, 229
Algeria, 209, 229
Algiers, 99
Allen, Dennis, 118
Allende, Salvador, 15
Alsace, 61
El Alto Airport, 223–4
Ambérieu, 85, 100
American Intelligence, see Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC)
American Jewish Congress, 115
Amsterdam, 24–7
&nb
sp; anciens combattants, 54
André, François (‘Gueule Tordue’), 53, 54, 62, 86
Annecy, 83, 91
Antofagasta, 189
Arabs, 112
Arbin, 101
Arce Gómez, Colonel Luis, 215–16
Ardennes, 108, 120, 132
Arequipa, 205
Argentina, 180, 187, 190, 216
Arinthod, 92
Aries, 36
Armée Secrète (AS), 37, 65, 69, 79
Army Ministry (France), 187
Artemare, 85
Asscher, Abraham, 26
Astier de la Vigerie, Emmanuel d’, 31, 38
‘Atlantic wall’, 45
Aubrac, Lucie, 77–80
Aubrac, Raymond, 38, 70, 71, 73, 76–80, 159, 206
Aubry, Henri (‘Thomas’), 65, 69, 70–1, 73, 75
Augsburg, 135, 136, 146, 149, 150, 151, 153, 155, 160, 163, 176, 178, 186
Augsburg, Emil, 129, 146, 147, 148
L’Aurore, 204
Auschwitz, 17, 57, 58, 59, 94, 166, 185, 198, 201, 202, 208, 226, 228, 230
Austria, 175, 179, 191, 192
Ayres, Captain William, 191
Ayres Steamship Company, 191
Baader-Meinhof group, 229
Bad Gastein, 175
Bad Godesberg, 20
Baden-Baden, 139, 159, 161, 163, 168, 169
Badinter, Robert, 17, 18
Bahamas, 188, 191
Baku, 125
Balkans, 139
Banks, Colonel Aaron, 150
Banzer, Colonel Hugo, 190, 194–5, 206, 207, 209–13, 215
Baranow-Bruckenkopf, 108
Barbie, Anna (Barbie’s mother), 20, 170, 178, 186
Barbie, Klaus: early life, 20–1; joins SD, 22–4; marriage, 23–4; occupation of Holland, 24–7; invasion of Russia, 27; kidnap attempt on Alexander Foote, 28; Gestapo chief in Lyons, 28, 39, 40, 41, 51–5; and the Newton brothers, 35; and the SOE agents, 41, 44, 45–50; character, 51; ‘personal army’, 53; deportation of Jews, 57–60; use of torture, 61, 62–4; hunts down Resistance leaders, 61–4; capture of Moulin, 65–76; capture and torture of Aubrac, 76–80; reprisals for murder of German soldiers, 84–5; ‘search and destroy’ operation, 86–91; and ‘Operation Frühling’, 92–8; end of the occupation, 101, 103–6; recommended for promotion, 106–7; last days of the war, 108–10; arrested, 110–11, 122, 123, 125; listed as war criminal, 111, 123; in Marburg, 123–5; and the Kamaradenschaft, 124–5, 127, 139, 154; British capture, 126–7; search for, 128; works for CIC, 129–30, 131, 135–42, 144–56; ECIC interrogation, 142–5; French evidence against, 158–9; French interviews, 160–1, 166–7, 168–9; Americans protect, 160–1, 163–74, 231–5; France tries to extradite, 162–73, 206–10; escape from Germany, 173–4, 175–81; life in Bolivia, 13–15, 181–5, 187–93, 195–6, 210–12; death sentence in Lyons, 184; German investigation, 185–7, 193–4, 196; arms trade, 190–1; goes to Peru, 195–6; Klarsfelds’ campaign against, 201–6, 207–8, 212; interview on French television, 206; arrested in Bolivia, 206–7; and the Bolivian coup, 214–15; and his son’s death, 216; extradition from Bolivia, 15, 16–19, 218–25, 229; case against, 225–30
Barbie, Klaus (Barbie’s son), 178, 180, 190, 192, 216, 218, 219
Barbie, Nikolaus (Barbie’s father), 20, 21, 51
Barbie, Regine (Barbie’s wife), 75, 127, 205, 209; marriage, 23–4, 52; children, 80; in Bolivia, 181, 183, 186, 192, 193, 195, 210; and her son’s death, 216; illness, 218; death, 219
Barbie, Ute Regine (Barbie’s daughter), 27, 80, 178, 192, 193, 230
Barcelona, 14, 192
Baroni, Baptiste, 97–8
Barrientos, General René, 187, 189, 192
Bartelmus, Erich, 58, 87, 103, 217
Basch, Victor, 85
Bavaria, 131, 134, 136, 138, 151, 154, 155, 193
Bavarian KPD (Communist Party), 147, 153, 155, 173
BBC, 112–13, 116
Bechtold, Herbert, 149–50, 152, 154–5, 166–7, 171, 173
Becker, Fridolin, 123, 128
Becker, Hans, 123
Belfort Gap, 104
Belgium, 191
Belley, 87
Benguigui, Jacques, 202
Benguigui, Madame, 202–3
Benjamin, Daniel, 155
Berlin, 22–3, 28, 33, 41, 75, 109, 133–4, 179, 198
Berlin blockade, 152
Bernau, 23
Bernau, General Gunther, 147, 148
Besson, Alphonse (‘Thermogène’), 45, 47
Besson, Germaine (‘Bohémienne’), 45, 46–7
Bianco, Jean Louis, 17, 219–20, 221–2
Bibes, Louis, 67–8, 160
Bidault, Agnes, 37
‘the Bishop’, 45
Black Forest, 108
‘Black Terror’, 54
Blanca, Antoine, 17–18
Blandon, Mario, 62–4
Blonde, Roseline, 52, 94–5, 97
BND (German secret service), 156, 186, 187
‘Bohémienne’ (Germaine Besson), 45, 46–7
Bois d’Illiat, 100
Bolivia: Barbie escapes to, 176, 180; Barbie’s life in, 13–15, 181–5, 187–93, 194–6, 210–12; Barbie’s arms deals, 191; Beate Klarsfeld goes to, 205–6, 208; Barbie arrested in, 206; France asks for Barbie’s extradition, 207–10, 217; cocaine trade, 210, 213–16; Barbie’s extradition from, 15, 16–19, 218–25, 229
Bologna, 214
Bömelberg, General, 75, 76, 156
Bonnet, Henri, 166, 170
Bormann, Martin, 196, 208
Borne, 36
Les Bouchoux, 97
Boudet, Father Bonaventure, 64
Boudet, Maurice, 61
Bouness, Carol, 186
Bourdon, Henri, 93
Bourg, 87
Bousquet, René, 57
Bovenschen, Sir Frederick, 120
Bowie, Robert, 168
Brandenburg, 108
Braune, Werner, 109
Brazil, 175, 190, 195
Bremen, 133, 135, 141
Bremen Communist Party, 134
Brénod, 85, 86
‘Brigade Anti-Gestapo’, 158
British army, 110, 119–20
British Intelligence, 126, 127, 128, 140, 142, 144
Bron airport, 104, 226
Bross, John, 171
Browning, Earl, 132–5, 141–5, 148, 149, 151–2, 163–4, 171–2, 234, 235
‘Brun’, 84
Brun, Astride, 88–9
Brun, Georges, 87–9
Brun, Julien, 87–8
Brunner, Alois, 59, 229
Buchenwald concentration camp, 47, 97
Buckmaster, Colonel Maurice, 81–2
Buenos Aires, 14, 181
Burdet, Robert, 44
Bureau for Jewish Affairs (Gestapo), 59–60
‘Buro Petersen’, 141, 146
Burriss, General, 133
Büttner, Eberhard, 187–8
Cahn (Jewish refugee), 25–6
Caluire, 70–2, 75, 76, 78, 80, 159, 201
Camadau, Colonel, 167
Camp Michel, 86
Caranavi, 183
Carrel, Jean, 87, 88
Castro, Alvaro de, 14, 210, 221
Castro, Fidel, 190
Catholic church, 179
Causse, Charles (‘Charlot’), 48, 49, 50
Cayenne, 222, 223, 224
CBS, 216
CDU, 200
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 135, 173, 174, 186–8; destabilisation of Chile, 15; and Barbie in Bolivia, 189, 210; and Che Guevara, 190; Eastern European collaborators in America, 231
Césaire, Raymond, 18
‘Chabot, Colonel’ (Henri Girousse), 86, 89–90
Chalon-sur-Saône, 65, 66, 67, 68
Chamberlain, Neville, 116
Chambéry, 101
Chambon, Albert, 205
Chambonnet, Albert (‘Didier’), 61–2, 63–4, 91, 103
Chandon, Inspector, 158
Char
bonnières, 41
Charlottenburg, 23
Chartres, 36–7
Château Wattern, 102–3
‘Chatoux’, 91
Chavant, Marius, 89
Cheyson, Claude, 17
Chile, 15–16, 175, 188, 189
China, 229
Chorier, René, 96–7
Churchill, Sir Winston, 111, 112, 113–14, 116, 117, 119
CIA, see Central Intelligence Agency
CIC, see Counter Intelligence Corps
Clarke, Richard, 233
Clay, General, 133, 162, 166, 171
Clermont-Ferrand, 49–50
Cochabamba, 180, 181, 185, 210, 216, 218
Cohen, David, 26–7
Cold War, 131, 152
Cologne, 201
Colombani, Dominique, 193
Colombia, 175, 213, 214
‘Combat’ (Resistance group), 31–2, 37, 62, 65
Comibol, 221
Communism, 32, 54, 124–5, 133–4, 157; see also Bavarian Communist Party; French Communist Party; KPD
Congo, 188
Constantino, Carrión, 222–3
Corlier, 89
Corrientes, 180
Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC), 123; recruits Barbie, 68; reluctance to arrest war criminals, 121; search for Barbie, 125, 128; penetrates underground Nazi groups, 129; Barbie works for, 129–30, 131, 135–42, 144–56; post-war role in Germany, 132–4; Barbie’s interrogation, 142–5; protection of Barbie, 163–74, 233–5; Rat Line, 175–81
Courvoisier, André, 44–5, 47
Cowburn, Ben, 34
Craxier-Roux, Françoise, 192–3
Le Creusot, 83, 84
CROWCASS, 111, 122–3, 138, 144, 152, 233, 234
Cuba, 190, 214
Cumbre pass, 183
Cussonac, René, 41
Czechoslovakia, 46, 147, 155
Dabringhaus, Erhard, 146–7, 148–9, 150, 163, 231
Dachau concentration camp, 64, 133
Dannecker, Theodore, 56–7, 193
Darnand, Joseph, 54
Dean, Patrick, 123
Debray, Régis, 15–17, 229
Debré Michel, 204
Defferre, Gaston, 69
de Gaulle, Charles, 65, 69, 73; and Régis Debray, 15; Free French, 30, 31, 33; and Moulin, 36, 37–8; tries to unite Resistance, 36, 37–8; appeal to the French, 37; returns to Paris, 118; visits Bolivia, 187
Dejean, Maurice, 114
Delestraint, General (‘Vidal’), 65–9, 75, 160
Delétraz, Madame, 69–70
Delle Chiaie, Stefano, 214, 218–19
