The US recruited and helped keep free the Nazi called the "Butcher of Lyon"
The common theme of the US recruiting Nazi scientists and operatives continues to grow...
Usually you’d expect a spy resume of “murdered 4,000 people and deported 7,500 Jews” to be a dealbreaker. Especially for a country who fought to end that. But apparently the US intelligence network had more important desires.
Official Name
Klaus Barbie - AKA the “Butcher of Lyon” AKA Klaus Altmann AKA Nikolaus Barbie, was a prison torturer of the SS and SD, organizations under the Nazi Party. He was recruited by US Intelligence agencies to spy on the French and fight Communist influences in Europe.
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Conspiracy Description
You know that whole paranoia stage the US went through about Communists? Where they thought they were everywhere? Where there might be the possibility that a mom, best friend, politician, or grandma might secretly be a communist looking to kick Democracy in the balls?
Well this is one of those head-scratchers that makes a little more sense in that context. The context of paranoid lunacy.
Klaus Barbie murdered people and exported others to camps, while also practicing good ole’ torture methods he thought were neat. The Army Counter Intelligence Corps were like.. yo that’s ok, we want you to spy on our allies we just helped defend against you.
If you can stomach it, here are some women testifying about his torture methods.
The Details
As WWII was concluding, Barbie went back to Germany to help continue to fight and try to form a new German government. He was a wanted war criminal in France for murdering 4,000+ people, torturing thousands, and rounding up 7,500 Jews (especially children).
A US Army Counter0Intelligence Corps (CIC) officer found him in 1947 and was like… Yo wanna help us out for some $$$?
So Barbie said “yeah why not” and gave the US intelligence on French Intelligence, Soviet Intelligence and anti-communist activities for the next 4 years.
But wait there’s more!
In 1951 the US didn’t want this dude on their payroll any more so they decided to be nice and help him avoid arrest. Two US CIC officers and a Croatian Catholic priest helped them forge documents, sail to Buenos Aires, and then settle in Bolivia.
The story doesn’t end there though. This guy was apparently a hot free agent. The Bolivian intelligence agency (Department 4) ended up bringing him onboard until he was expelled in 1987 after a power change in Bolivia.
And the crazy part is that an international jewel thief is the one who helped bring him to justice. Not the US government who helped him escape justice from France in the 1950s.
Can never trust a bad guy… and also can never trust the good guys?
What This Means
Paranoia was a hell of a drug for the US government after WWII. They thought communists were everywhere. And because of that, they ended up bringing frickin Nazis onboard to help spy on the allies that just helped them defeat the Nazis.
This wasn’t the only time that the US government recruited some pretty terrible actors to do their bidding. Operation Paperclip brought over 1,600 Nazi scientists and engineers. The Gehlen Organization was supported by the CIA and spied on the Soviet Union. There were probably thousands more recruiterd.
Communism was a real threat to the well-being of many western nations. But did the US go too far trying to prevent it from spreading?
Other Crazy Stuff
Links below to some wild stuff we came across while writing this article.
Hotel Terminus - A current hotel owned by AccorHotels. It was the place the Klaus tortured people 😅
Operation Paperclip - To stay ahead of the Soviet Union, the US gave great lives to former Nazi scientists and engineers
Here’s the official report on Klaus Barbie to the Attorney General of the United States