Nikolaus “Klaus” Barbie was born in Bad Godesberg, near Bonn, in 1913. In 1933, the death of his father prevented Barbie from attending university in order to study theology. While seeking out a career, the 22-year-old Barbie joined the SS in 1935. He began working with the Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst, or SD), which served as the Nazi regime’s intelligence network. In his initial post he trained as an interrogator, a role to which he would return later in his career to terrifying effect.
World War II
Following the capitulation of the Netherlands to the German army in May 1940, Barbie was assigned to intelligence work in Amsterdam. In 1942, he was reassigned to France, first to Dijon and then to Lyon, which was the center of the French Resistance Movement. As the local Gestapo View This Term in the Glossary chief, Barbie earned the nickname “the Butcher of Lyon” for his brutal actions towards Jews and members of the French Resistance.
In all, it is believed that Barbie was responsible for the execution or murder of over 4,000 individuals and for the deportation of 7,500 Jews, most of whom perished in Auschwitz.
