Skip to content
Klaus Barbie

File:Klaus_Barbie_in_uniform.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ77088· pop 51· linked from 554 articles

Klaus Barbie

Sign in to save

Also known as Niklaus Barbie, Klaus Altmann, Butcher of Lyon

German SS officer, head of the Gestapo in Lyon and convicted war criminal (1913–1991)

OverviewAI-generated

Klaus Barbie was a German and Bolivian citizen who served as a military officer in the Waffen-SS during World War II. He held the rank of Hauptsturmführer and was a member of the Nazi Party. His employers included the Gestapo, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Intelligence Service, and the Counterintelligence Corps. He was convicted of crimes against humanity and received the Iron Cross and War Merit Cross.

Born in Bad Godesberg in 1913, Barbie was detained at Montluc prison. He died in Lyon, Pierre-Bénite, in 1991 from leukemia. He spoke Spanish and German.

Synthesized by Vinony from 39 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, Last.fm, TMDb, Wikiquote, MusicBrainz, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
1913
Died
1991
Works
2

Top works

  • O depoimento, do SS Altmann-Barbie a Ewaldo Dantas Ferreira
  • Das Verhalten des Betons bei Einwirkung von Feuchtigkeit

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Acting · Bad Godesberg, Deutschland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Nikolaus "Klaus" Barbie (25 October 1913 – 23 September 1991) was an SS-Hauptsturmführer (rank equivalent to army captain) and Gestapo member. He was known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortured French prisoners of the Gestapo while stationed in Lyon, France. After the war, United States intelligence services employed him for their…

Known for

  • The Trial of Klaus Barbie — Self2025
  • The Nazi Cartel — Self2025
  • Mein Name sei Altmann — Self2015
  • Nazis in the CIA — Self (archive footage)2013
  • Klaus Barbie, sur les traces d'un criminel nazi — Klaus Barbie2012
  • My Enemy's Enemy — Himself2007
  • Terror's Advocate — Self (archive footage)2007
  • Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie — Self1988

via TMDB

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Character
Country
US
Active from
1959-03-09

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
16
Total plays
35

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Klaus+Barbie">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Klaus Barbie

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

  1. VMD: Visual molecular dynamics

    · 1996 · cited 62,873x

  2. Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome

    · 2001 · cited 18,613x

  3. Scalable molecular dynamics with NAMD

    · 2005 · cited 15,857x

  4. REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES: Metabolism, Oxidative Stress, and Signal Transduction

    · 2004 · cited 9,718x

  5. nnU-Net: a self-configuring method for deep learning-based biomedical image segmentation

    · 2020 · cited 9,182x

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

  • Perhaps you think that any fool could become a member of the SS. Do you really know what an SS soldier is? He is a superman. He is a professional chosen personally by Hitler. A soldier whose antecedents are analyzed for four generations back before he is given the honor of being allowed to join this elite organization.
  • If there were mistakes, there were mistakes. But a man has to have a line of work, no?
  • If I think of all those homosexuals in Germany today, I think I'd hand my German passport back, if I had one.
  • Don't worry. Your friends are dead and you are going to join them.
  • I admire you, but in the end everybody talks.
  • When I stand before the throne of God, I shall be judged innocent.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Born
Niklaus Barbie , ( 1913-10-25 ) 25 October 1913, Godesberg , Germany
Died
25 September 1991 (1991-09-25) (aged 77), Pierre-Bénite , France
Other names
"Butcher of Lyon", Klaus Altmann
Political party
Nazi Party
Criminal status
Deceased
Conviction
Crimes against humanity
Criminal penalty
Death; commuted to life imprisonment
Allegiance
Nazi Germany Schutzstaffel United States West Germany Bolivia
Branch
Gestapo Counterintelligence Corps Federal Intelligence Service
Service years
1935–1945
Rank
SS- Hauptsturmführer
Unit
Sicherheitsdienst (SD)
Spouse
Regina Margaretta Willms ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. April 1939</span>"}]]}'>1939 ) ​

via Wikipedia infobox

~22 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Niklaus Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German officer of the Schutzstaffel and Sicherheitsdienst who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortured prisoners—primarily Jews and members of the French Resistance—as the head of the Gestapo in Lyon.

After the war, United States intelligence services employed him for his anti-communist efforts and aided his escape to Bolivia, where he advised the dictatorial regime on how to repress opposition through torture. In 1983, the United States apologised to France for the U.S. Counterintelligence Corps helping him escape to Bolivia to avoid an outstanding arrest warrant.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Klaus Barbie” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (4)

On the map