In 1944, a Nazi commandant raided the village of Izieu and sent 44 Jewish kids hidden at an orphanage there to Auschwitz. Was the person in the dock at a French court 39 years later the same man?
This Barbie ain’t no doll
Klaus Barbie joined the Nazi SS in 1935 and was later held responsible for the torture or death of nearly 25,000 people. He fled France after World War II and escaped the justice delivered to his comrades at Nuremberg. The Americans shielded Barbie at the end of the war in return for information about the Soviets. He was able to flee to South America with temporary travel documents provided by the CIA, according to the BBC
Caught at last in La Paz
In the 1970s, he was discovered living in the Bolivian capital La Paz by French Nazi hunter Beate Klarsfeld. But it took a decade to extradite Barbie from Bolivia and he finally arrived in France to stand trial on February 6, 1983
Unrepentant till the end
Leon Reifmann was the only one at Izieu who escaped the raid. Confronted with Barbie at the trial, he said the resemblance was “striking”, The Guardian reported. Barbie remained a proud Nazi and said, “When I stand before the throne of God, I shall be judged innocent.” He was given a life sentence after being found guilty of 341 crimes against humanity
He (Klaus Barbie) was caressing a cat. And me,a kid 13 years old, I could not imagine that he could be evil because he loved animals ... I was tortured by him for eight days