A jury of five men and four women found Klaus Barbie guilty on all counts of crimes against humanity Friday night. The 73-year-old former Gestapo chief, known as “The Butcher of Lyon,” was promptly sentenced to life imprisonment, the maximum penalty under French law.
The jurors deliberated for little more than six hours before reaching their verdict. As the foreman intoned “guilty” to each of the 22 separate charges read by presiding Judge Andre Cerdini, the packed courtroom burst into thunderous applause.
It was a release of emotions after hours of crushing suspense. Despite daily testimony by eye witnesses and Holocaust survivors, Jews and non-Jews since the trial began on May 11 — each pointing to Barbie as the perpetrator of torture, murder and mass deportations — the outcome of the trial was far from certain when the closing arguments ended late Friday.
There was concern among prosecution lawyers and plaintiffs that the jury might find mitigating circumstances: Barbie’s age, his reported poor health, the 43 years that have elapsed since his crimes. Most of the jurors were born after World War II and none had any recollection of the war and the Nazi occupation.
Moreover, Barbie’s lawyer, Jacques Verges, had the last word. Brilliant, cunning and ruthless, he used the two-and-a-half days before the end of the trial not to answer the charges against his client but to try to indict the victims. He accused the wartime organization of French Jews of collaborating with the Nazis. He charged that Israel, France and other colonial powers were guilty of atrocities as bad or worse than those of the Nazis.
On Friday morning and into the afternoon he attacked the evidence as unreliable and charged that key documents presented by the prosecution were forgeries. But in the end, Verges appeared to be carried away by his own histrionics and at least a few jurors were visibly revolted by his attacks on Barbie’s victims. One broke into tears.
They found Barbie guilty of ordering the arrest and deportation in April 1944 of 44 Jewish children at a shelter in Izieu village, near Lyon, some as young as five. All perished at Auschwitz. They found him guilty of arresting 86 persons at the office of the Jewish welfare organization in Lyon, 82 of whom were deported and never returned. He was guilty of organizing the last convoy of deportees from Lyon, more than 800 Jews and resistance fighters who were sent to death camps in August 1944, only days before Lyon was liberated by Allied forces.
IN COURT FOR VERDICT
The prisoner appeared in the dock for sentencing. Arrogant and unrepentant, he had been absent from court since May 13 when, invoking the French rule that a defendant needn’t be present at his trial, he denounced the proceedings as illegal and declared he would boycott them.
But the court ordered Barbie brought from his cell Friday to hear the verdict. He stood impassively, head cocked to listen to the German translation. He showed no emotion, expressed no regrets, offered no explanations.
When Judge Cerdini asked if he had anything to say before sentence was pronounced, Barbie replied, in fluent French: “I did not round up the children of Izieu. I did not have the power to decide on deportations. I fought the resistance, which I respect, with toughness. It was war and the war is now over. Thank you.”
He shook hands with his attorney, smiled at his daughter, Ute Messner, gave a last cursory glance around the courtroom, and was taken from the building by a heavily armed guard.
Verges seemed dazed and then embittered by the verdict and sentence. Apparently he had believed until the end that his client would receive, if not acquittal, a reduced sentence. As the Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent tried to reach him through the milling crowd, he turned and shouted over his shoulder, “You have a good story and Israel can celebrate.”
Only a few days earlier Verges had told the JTA: “I tried to show that the Jews are the most vociferous, but certainly not the only victims of racism and large scale massacres. I think I have succeeded in this…”
As he left the court under police escort, he was besieged by hundreds outside the building who shouted “Death to Verges,” “Verges SS” and “Verges is Barbie’s accomplice.”
BARBIE SEEMED SHOCKED
Barbie himself apparently lost some of his aplomb once back in his cell at St. Josephs prison. According to warders, he shook his head, saying “incredible. I fail to understand.”
He has been in St. Josephs prison — which he had used as Gestapo chief to interrogate and torture his victims — since he was brought to France four years ago after his expulsion from Bolivia, where he had lived nearly 40 years and prospered as a businessman under the alias Klaus Altmann. In he courtroom, in the aisles and in the public gallery, prosecuting attorneys congratulated each other and the plaintiffs. Many spectators wept. Others cried out, “Justice at last.”
In France, prisoners serving life sentences are usually paroled after 30 years. Considering Barbie’s age, it is unlikely he will ever step outside the prison precincts, except to go to court. He faces a second trial for the murder of Jean Moulin and other French resistance leaders. It is not likely to begin for another year.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
