A strange phenomenon is taking place. The events of World War II still reach out to probe the uneasy conscience of humanity. The past refuses to disappear into the nebulous recesses of time or into the musty pages of history books. Again and again the reemergence of events long past arouses emotions and revives images and memories. Opinions clash; there is no letup.
Memories and feelings were jarred anew with the return to France of Klaus Barbie, alias Klaus Altmann, the infamous “butcher of Lyon. ” His return, after being expelled from Bolivia, has given rise to mixed reactions. Some people are not exactly enthused that he was brought back to France to stand trial for “crimes against humanity.”
MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT BARBIE’S RETURN
As far as they are concerned, he might as well have remained in Bolivia where rightwing governments protected him since his arrival there some 30 years ago. Too many skeletons are still in the closet, some people feel, and it would be better if these skeletons were not exposed to the glare of publicity.
For other people, the past holds too many horrible, traumatic memories of bitter days and nights, of despair and defenselessness. These memories, these nightmares return to the fore, the psychic wounds are reopened and an outcry emerges that justice be done.
Still others who went through the same days of torment and torture want to forget. Too many years have gone by. There is no use in reliving a period in which a “butcher” had free reign to destroy thousands of people — resistance fighters and Jews — for which Barbie now faces trial. His reign as gestapo chief in Lyon was during a controversial period in France’s history, not exactly glorious days for the French.
Barbie conducted his butchery with the help of the Vichy government which collaborated with the Nazis after the fall of France. That government sent 110,000 Jews to death camps; only 3,000 adults returned; not one child came back.
JEWISH RESISTANCE FIGHTERS
In all the years of the Nazi occupation of France, Barbie reserved his special “treatment” for Jews. One survivor has testified that he hung them by their feet and sent them to agonizing deaths. But he was just as relentless and remorseless about his treatment of resistance fighters, which included many Jews.
The rank and file of French Jews joined the general resistance movement but in addition they had their own underground unit which fought the Germans in a shadow war. There were more than 6,000 persons in this unit, recruited from all walks of life. They were sworn in on a small Bible and a small blue and white flag with a gold cord in the form of a Star of David stitched across it. More than 200 men and women died fighting under this flag.
France never forgot the heroes of the resistance movement. Their deeds and accomplishments have been immortalized on postage stamps that were issued from 1947 until 1961. Jews who served in the Republic and refused to submit to the Nazi occupation have also been honored.
A stamp issued in March 1960 paid homage to Pierre Masse, a member of the Senate. He served in World War 1, attained the rank of captain and became an official in the government where he dealt with pensions and military justice. In 1940, Marshal Petain, head of the Vichy government, issued an order barring Jews from serving in the French army.
An aroused Masse wrote a letter to Petain asking him whether he should remove his brother’s officer’s insignia, a lieutenant killed in 1916, or the officer’s insignia of his son-in-law, a lieutenant killed in 1940, or that of his nephew killed in the same year. Masse also asked whether his son, wounded in June 1940, could keep his rank as a lieutenant.
Petain did not answer the letter, but Masse was arrested and finally deported in September 1942. He could have continued as a free man as a member of the Senate. But he refused. He did not want any special treatment when other Jews had to suffer.
Another prominent Jew urged France to fight on against the Nazis. He was George Mandel, Minister of the Interior in the Cabinet of Paul Reynaud, the last government of the Republic before the fall of France. He wanted to organize resistance against the Nazis from North Africa.
The Vichy police trailed Mandel and he was arrested in Rabat, Morocco. He was put on trial and found guilty of desertion. He was imprisoned and finally deported to Germany. He was an inmate at Buchenwald and Oranienburg and was returned by the Germans to the Vichy secret police who shot him in the forest in Fontainebleau.
QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO BE ANSWERED
There were many others like Masse and Mandel. The full measure of sacrifice, heroism and endurance they displayed will be told when Barbie goes to trial. Many other facts will also emerge. American intelligence agencies are said to have employed Barbie after the war and helped him to escape from Europe. They will have to explain why they employed him and how they connived to help him escape. There are reports that the intelligence agencies employed Barbie because he could provide them with “information.”
But what kind of information could a person like Barbie provide? He could not provide information about the Soviet Union — a leading bugaboo of U.S. intelligence after the war — because he spent the war years in France. He could not have offered any news about other Nazis because, as a Nazi war criminal himself, he would have no option but to cover up their nefarious activities and thereby mislead the Americans.
The questions that remain to be answered, therefore, are: what information were the Americans seeking and what information did they get? Moreover, were the Americans really seeking information that Barbie had or was this just a story to cover up American intelligence aid to Barbie and others of his ilk? But to what end? A full Congressional probe is in order.
BARBIE AND EICHMANN
Undoubtedly, people will compare the upcoming trial of Barbie with the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem some 20 years ago. In Eichmann’s case there was the legal problem of how to connect a “desk murderer” with the actual performance of crimes against humanity. In Barbie’s case, however, the actual murderer will be on trial.
Barbie will probably, as did Eichmann, plead that he was only doing his duty, that he followed the orders of his superiors. But this rationale has long been put to rest. Barbie cannot use it.
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.
