Klaus Barbie (1913-1991) was a Nazi SS leader who was head of anti-Resistance operations in France during its occupation by Germany in World War II. After the war, Barbie worked covertly for U.S. Army intelligence in Germany prior to his escape to Bolivia. There he lived for over 30 years as Klaus Altmann before his arrest and return to France for trial as a war criminal.

Klaus Barbie was born October 25, 1913, in the town of Bad Godesberg, a few miles down the Rhine River from Bonn. The son of a school teacher, he spent an uneventful childhood as a good but not brilliant student with a gift for languages.

Barbie Joins Nazi SS

In 1935, three years after Hitler became chancellor of Germany, the 22-year-old Barbie joined the SS (Shutzstaffel), the Nazi party's cadre that swore loyalty not to Germany but to Hitler. He served in the SD (Sicherheitsdienst...