Although this biography of Klaus Barbie is thoroughly researched, informative and accessible, I was disappointed that it hadn’t been updated in any way since its original publication in 1984. Thus it only takes the reader up to Barbie’s arrest and trial and then suddenly stops. It seems to me to be a cynical publishing decision to simply reissue it without even bothering to add an epilogue or an afterword – after all the author is still writing so it wouldn’t have been that difficult to give a summary of the last part of Barbie’s life. So I felt quite cheated. Overall it’s a worthy enough biography though narrated in a rather flat and monotonous tone and perhaps tells too much of the events surrounding Barbie, and of what was happening in the wider world, rather than concentrating on the man and his psychology in depth. I didn’t feel that I had a good understanding of this man at all, only of what he actually did. A rather unsatisfying reading experience all round in the end.

1984 reprint of a biography of Klaus Barbie

Bowyer's biography is detailed and well written. He portrays Barbie's early life, his heinous brutality in the SS and his recruitment by US intelligence to fight communism.

Sadly the book ends while he is being held in France for trail and therefore there is no detail on his subsequent incarceration and death in prison.

The book is still worth a read to try and understand a man directly responsible for the deaths of up to 14,000 people.

This book was better than the authors other effort! It does however have the tone of an editorial piece rather than a serious look at a point and person in history! I can tell it's reasonably well researched, but again the author fails to remove his own feelings! Interesting read but not something I'd go back to!

A very detailed and comprehensive biography of Klaus Barbie and the efforts to bring him to justice for his crimes against humanity. I was particularly staggered by the fact that the Americans had him working for them after the war.

Review of KLAUS BARBIE: THE BUTCHER OF LYONS
by Tom Bowers

An eye-opening and mind-boggling investigation into the life and times of Klaus Barbie, the Nazi officer who during World War II was Gestapo Commander of Lyons, Occupied France, reveals the lengths to which greed and love of power can propel humans. When those two drives are in control, any sense of humanity, compassion, empathy, and morality take a back seat. Such is demonstrated by the ease with which this horrible individual lived, in Bolivia and elsewhere, not concealed, but rather “in plain sight,” well known to governments, presidents, and other high-level officials and politicians. Barbie lived as if no retribution for his actions as a dedicated Nazi would ever occur, not even for the mass murders under his command. But a Parisian attorney and his German wife dedicated themselves to bring Barbie to justice, or failing that, to extermination.

A fascinating glimpse into the world of one truly infamous and evil man. As sobering as the novel is, it is made all that more chilling because it's true. I'm of German / Ukraine descent, so I'm always a bit wary of these types of books simply because I know the Germans on the whole were NOT a nasty, evil people. When reading books about this particular topic, people need to acquaint themselves with the reasons why the German (and other) people turned a blind eye to what was happening to Jews who were, in many cases, personal friends and/or business partners. (Rare, too, are accounts of the Germans who risked their lives by building underground escape tunnels, or by otherwise sheltering and providing cover -- in their own homes -- for their Jewish friends.) Of course, it'll never excuse what was done to these people, but what it WILL provide is insight into the political and economic climate of that era... an important and many times critical foundation upon which all stories such as this one are told. Well-written and recommended.

A very detailed and, considering the nature of the subject, well-documented biography. Bower did a good job of presenting all the different and often contradictory versions of events. Much of the book is about Barbie's life after the war especially the years immediately following the war when he had the most dealings with American intelligence agencies.
It is hard to read. There is so much evil, torture, murder, and all of on such a massive scale. Then because of the format, after reading the victims account, you read Barbie’s denials.
I learned a great deal, but, for all its thoroughness, it was incomplete. You won’t learn Barbie’s final fate. That was aggravating. It only covers Barbie’s life through his arrest. His trial isn’t covered at all. I ended up having to go to another source for that.
I received this as a free ARC from NetGalley and Open Road Integrated Media. No review as required.

This volume is a re-release of a book previously published in 1984, and it has not been updated or appended. Klaus Barbie, an SS officer, was known for his brutal interrogations and ruthless methods, chiefly aimed at members of the French Resistance. This book tells his story, and of the inept and farcical attempts to prosecute him after the war. No one in the book comes off in a totally favorable light.

=== The Good Stuff ===

* This is a nasty topic. Barbie was cruel, sadistic, and brutal, and Tom Bower tells enough of the details to communicate the nature of the events without overly sensationalizing of glorifying the violence. Still, not a book for the faint-of-heart, and some of the wounds seem raw even 50 years later.

* Bower does not shy away from offering his opinions. He points out that Barbie, despite the brutality of his methods, was never all that successful as an intelligence offer. A the author points out, while he scored some limited successes over the French Resistance, often his methods got in the way of further success.

* The author makes some serious accusations about the Allied post-war powers-specifically in their use of Barbie and other ex-Nazis to gather intelligence on new enemies, specifically Communists. While it is perhaps unfair to judge their actions without living in the 1950’s paranoia, it certainly seems as if Barbie receives protection well in excess of his value to the Western powers.

* There is some remarkable detail in the book, and the author clearly spent some time researching and organizing the material. The result is a reasonably comprehensive and impartial look at the life of Barbie, as well as the strange and confusing time he lived and worked in. Vichy and Occupied France were strange places, full of conflicting loyalties and violent recriminations between all the parties involved, and the author provides a good description of the environment.

=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===

* While there is a comprehensive bibliography and many notes on the sources used, the book is not footnoted. Many of the events related in the book are somewhat controversial and almost certainly have an opposing viewpoint, but without footnotes, it is tough to recreate the author’s chain of evidence.

* My biggest problem with the book is that it presents multiple, and conflicting, viewpoints for almost every event that occurs. Given the nature of the players- war criminals, political leaders with sketchy pasts, bitter rivals- this is not surprising. However, the author doesn’t help the reader to navigate these positions. In the end, we are left with two mutually exclusive descriptions of some very nasty and unconventional events, with no guidance on which version is more credible.

* The book ends abruptly with Barbie’s arrest in 1983. (He was convicted, imprisoned, and died in prison in 1991). I believe Tom Bower is still active as a writer, and a few paragraphs added to this addition on the outcome of the case would have been appropriate.

* Also, since much of the book involved the active protection and coverup of Barbie’s wartime record because of his value in anti-Communist intelligence work in 1950’s Europe, this edition should have included a retrospective look. Was his intelligence really worth the price paid?


=== Summary ===

While the book seems a bit dated, the events are certainly important enough to be remembered and pondered. The bravery of the French Resistance who withstood the Gestapo onslaught is a timeless tale-well worth being remembered. And the actions of those who protected Barbie and frustrated the efforts to bring him to justice are enough to infuriate anyone who reads them, even allowing for the events of the time.

Even with the shortcomings, I’d recommend the book to anyone with an interest in wartime Europe and the unconventional sides of the conflict.

This is a reprint of a 1984 biography of Klaus Barbie, originally published just after he was extradited to France in 1983 and the part played by Parisian lawyer Serge Klarsfeld and his German wife, Beate, who had battled to bring Barbie back to Europe.

Nikolaus ‘Klaus’ Barbie was born in 1913. He had a difficult relationship with his father, a primary school teacher, who was wounded by the French during the First World War; a fact which becomes more relevant later in the book. Both Barbie’s brother, and his father, died in 1933 and, shortly afterwards, he became an early convert to National Socialism. The book tells his early involvement with the Nazi party, before he arrived in Lyons in 1942 as the head of the Gestapo. Without doubt, Barbie’s level of personal involvement in the violence and torture unleashed by him in France, was vicious even by the standards of the time. He seemed to relish the most barbaric torture methods and was commended by Himmler on his, “consistent work in defeating Resistance organisations.”

However, Barbie was also extremely realistic about Germany’s ability to win the war. As the Reich collapsed, he tried to escape and, a master himself at interrogating victims, he passed himself off as a normal soldier and vanished underground. Although the US had committed itself to prosecuting German war criminals, Barbie was a survivalist who quickly decided to forget fighting the Allies and accepted an offer to join them. He was recruited by the Americans as an intelligent agent, as suspicion turned from Germany and towards Russia.

By 1950, there was political pressure from Paris to put Barbie on trial and he escaped Europe, with his family, with official help from the US and settled in Bolivia. Of course, South America was popular with many Nazi’s fleeing Europe and, as Barbie built a new life, he was sentenced to death in his absence in France. The book continues to explain how he was brought to justice and ends with him awaiting trial.

This is something of a disappointment. In a new edition, it would have been useful had there been an update on what happened and why it took so long to bring Barbie back to Europe. I feel, in many ways, this was a lost opportunity. Tom Bower, whose parents fled Prague after the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, to settle in London, is still writing and so could, presumably, have been asked to update the book; or even to have written an epilogue for the new edition. Possibly he was not asked, but I felt it would have been useful – especially as this edition finished before the trial. Still, an interesting biography and good to see the book re-printed. I received a copy of this from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

Rated 3.5