BARBIE'S CONNECTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100140015-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 2, 2011
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: July 3, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

..P.~_ .UI ..1111.1 I
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/06/04: CIA-RDP90-01208R000100140015-2
ART I C'TyM ht'i"L.: .::s
ON PAQIc- A i -
WASHTNGTCN POST
3 July 1983
Barbie's Connecti(
Tom Bower is deputy editor of the British
Broadcasting Corp.'s "Panorama" program.
This is the first-of three articles adapted from
his forthcoming book, 'Barbie: Butcher of
Lyon,' to be published in the United States
by the Pantheon Press.
By Tom Bower
Klaus Barbie began working for the Counter
Intelligence Corps of the US. Army in the.
spring of 1947. He remained' on the Army's
payroll as, an intelligence agent-until: early 1951., 1
when he was smuggled out of Germany to Gen
oa, Italy, with the help of CIC.and the Central
Intelligence Agency. From Genoa, Barbie made
his way with his family to Bolivia where he
prospered as a businessman. In February of
this year he was arrested and extradited to
France to stand trial I for "crimes' against 'hu-
manity."
This is the story of his American connection.
It is based on interviews with several of the
Americans directly involved with him, on. his-.
torical records of CIC operations in Germany
at the end of World War II and on Tecords
deposited in the national archives of France.
During the German occupation of France;
Bar bie was the Gestapo chief at Lyon where,
according to French indictments, he ordered
and participated in numerous atrocities-mur-
ders and acts of torture-inflicted on Jews and.
members of the French resistance. In the face
of the Allied advance in 1944, he fled to Ger-
many and turned up in 1947 in Bavaria. He
was spotted there one day, standing on a
railroad platform in Augsburg, by Kurt Merk
who had spent the war in Dijon, France, as a
member of the Abwehr, the intelligence arm
of the German army.
Merk already had an American con-
nection. It came about in this way. Soon af-
ter the German. surrender, Reinhard Gehlen
-the head of Fremde Heere Ost, the sec-
tion of the German General Staff which,'
through the Abwehr, specialized in eastern
Europe-made a deal with an American in-
telligence officer, Gen. Edwin Sibert, to hand
over to the Americans all his invaluable
records.
Sibert was deeply suspicious of the
Russians, a view not wholly shared by his
superiors at the time, the summer of 1945.
Gehlen was taken to Washington for exten.
sive interrogations at the War Department.
The department subsequently informed Si-
bert by telex that Germans were not to be
used , to gather intelligence about the, Rus
sian&
Sibert ignored that directive. It was the
Army's view in Europe that such intelligence
was. needed and that only experienced Ger..
mans could provide it.
A recruitment effort was launched. Kurt
Merk was signed .on in April, 1946, by an
officer of the 970th Counter Intelligence
Corps Detachment, Robert Taylor, who now
lives in Syracuse, N.Y.
The CIC's mission at war's end had been
thoughtfully considered during the months
before the D-day landings and was detailed
by Allied headquarters in handbooks and
numerous briefing papers. That mission was
to spearhead the demilitarization and dena-
zification of Germany. CIC was under orders
to arrest any German . who might pose a
threat to the Allied occupation, arrest nearly
all Nazi Party officials and any. member of a
paramilitary force which was part of the
Nazi regime.
Within. a year this task was largely accom.
plished and a new mission for CIC rapidly
evolved. The divisions in Germany between
the Russians and the other Allies had hard.
ened. The Cold War had begun. Former al-
lies had become enemies and German ene-
mies had become friends. There was now a
place for Germans in the CIC's scheme of
things.
Merk became a valued and trusted CIC
informant in the year before he spotted Bar.
bie at the railroad station. After their chance
meeting, he persuaded Barbie to join him in
this new career.
Barbie's interview for the job took place at
an office of the 970th CIC at the small Ba.
varian town of Kempten, 60 miles from
Munich. Barbie was hired in April, 1947,
with the approval of a regional CIC officer,
Dale Garvey, who now lives in Kansas. Bar.
bie's first handler was a young CIC officer,
Robert Taylor. Today, Taylor and Garvey
claim to have no specific recollection of Bar-
bie.
.CQVzZvrzF-D
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/06/04: CIA-RDP90-01208R000100140015-2