Cavelo brings us breaking news from the trial of infamous Nazi, Klaus Barbie.

Press Release: Klaus Barbie
by Cavelo

(KW:BC-BARBIE) 05-18-1987
(ON-LINE WIRE WI1:x0050;ARBX)
[WB] (ATTN: National Editors)/L
[WB] BUSINESSMAN RECALLS DAYS AS KLAUS BARBIE'S PRISONER

MT SHASTA, Calif. It was a long way from the quiet hills of northwestern California to Lyon, France, where Klaus Barbie is being tried for crimes against humanity. But the memories of Barbie, "The Butcher of Lyon," remain fresh for Pierre Duval.

Duval, now 66, grew up in the region of France and was in the French underground when he was arrested and interrogated by Barbie. Unlike others, Duval escaped and came to the United States, where he became a successful businessman. Duval has recently been stirred by past war crimes dredged up by the Barbie trail that began last week in Lyon. He said it was strange to see his old foe again on television, "There's a certain angle to his face, if he's turned a certain way. Put that SS cap on him, and it's just the same. The same eyes. That I will never forget. And the face is as it is engraved in my mind, as it always will be." Once known as Nazi concentration camp prisoner No.22163, Duval testified at the Nuremberg war crimes trails in 1947 and inquired about testifying in Barbie's trial.

Duval had just enlisted for the war with Germany, but in 1940, France surrendered. He fled to the mountains near Grenoble in southeastern France where a resistance movement had begun. He became a messenger and liaison among the other underground contacts. Duval saw Barbie in a predawn encounter in a hospital, where Duval was doing resistance work while pretending to be a patient. Don't move! German police! "I opened my eyes and found myself face to face with Klaus Barbie," Duval said. He could not help but be struck by Barbie's presence. "The guy was very impressive, I learned to have real respect for his abilities, including being absolutely ruthless in playing the game of interrogation." Duval's interrogation came the next day in Gestapo Headquarters in Grenoble. Barbie was in charge. "I had an eight-hour interrogation session in which I was severely beaten, hung up by my wrists, whipped, kicked in the groin while I was hanging, burned with cigarettes and so forth. During the interrogation, Barbie kept his hands off. He let others do the dirty work."

As the trial continues, Duval has mixed feelings for his old foe. "For my taste, let him rot in jail. That's the best thing that can happen to him. Give him all the time to think about what he has done until he dies. Back then, I would have tortured him myself."

AP-NY-05-18-87 1723EDT/L

1 Comment

  1. Amalaric - November 6, 2020, 12:59 am

    All I can say is…hot, hot, HOT!

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