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Title: Klaus Barbie pre-trial records
Date (inclusive): 1943-1985
Collection Number: 95008
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: In French and German
Physical Description:
8 manuscript boxes
(3.2 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Trial instruction, including depositions and exhibits, in the case of Klaus Barbie before the Tribunal de grande instance
de Lyon, relating to German war crimes in France during World War II. Photocopy.
Creator:
Barbie, Klaus, 1913-1991
Creator:
France. Tribunal de grande instance de Lyon
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1995.
[Identification of item], Klaus Barbie pre-trial records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Originals in: Tribunal de grande instance, Lyon, France.
Born to a Roman Catholic family in Bad Godesberg, Germany, Klaus Barbie joined the SS (Schutzstaffel) in September 1935. By
1940, he was posted to Holland, where his main task was to arrest Jews and German émigrés. In 1942, Barbie arrived in recently
captured Lyon as head of the Gestapo, commanding a force of 25 officers. There, Barbie prevented sabotage and persecuted Jews,
for which he was presented the military award "First Class Iron Cross with Swords" by Adolf Hitler.
After the war, Barbie escaped prosecution in France and relocated to Bolivia in 1950. He lived in Bolivia as a businessman
until 1983, when the Bolivian government extradited Barbie to France to stand trial for war crimes. In 1987 Klaus Barbie was
sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity. Nine jurors and three judges found Barbie, known as the "Butcher
of Lyon" guilty of the 341 separate charges that were brought against him at the court in Lyon. He died of cancer in 1991
while in prison.
Scope and Content of Collection
The trial records for the head of the Gestapo in Lyon include trial instruction, depositions, and exhibits in the case of
Klaus Barbie before the Tribunal de grande instance in Lyon, relating to German war crimes in France during World War II.
Photocopy.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
War crime trials -- France