Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.

Klaus Barbie, infamously known as the “Butcher of Lyon,” was a German SS officer during World War II who gained notoriety for his brutal actions as the head of the Gestapo in Lyon, France. Born in 1913, Barbie oversaw the arrest, torture, and deportation of hundreds of resistance fighters and Jews. One of his most heinous acts was the capture and murder of Jean Moulin, a key figure in the French Resistance. After the war, he escaped justice by fleeing to South America with the help of U.S. intelligence services, who utilized him for anti-communist operations during the early Cold War. He lived in Bolivia under the alias Klaus Altmann until his extradition to France in 1983. In 1987, Barbie was tried and convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 1991. His story remains a chilling reminder of the long reach of Nazi atrocities and the complicated post-war politics that allowed some war criminals to evade justice for decades.