Inevitably, there are many sources for this book – especially interviews with those who were directly involved either with Barbie himself or with his case, and classified government documents which were ‘shown’ to me. In both cases the source is clear in the text. The material on the postwar handling of Nazi war criminals is drawn from my previous book, Blind Eye to Murder. The history of France’s Occupation and the Resistance is well covered in books listed below. Additional information on the Newtons’ case was discovered by research in local and national Resistance archives. Details of Barbie’s activities in 1944 during the sweeps against the Maquis, and of the SS’s relationship with the Wehrmacht, are drawn from papers in the West German archives in Freiburg and Koblenz. The account of Barbie’s employment by the Americans is the result of four months’ research by Bob Fink, Margaret Jay and myself, and draws especially on the large appendix of documents published by the US Department of Justice special investigators. The major obstacle facing all researchers into Barbie’s life in Bolivia is the disappearance of the official records and the natural reluctance of his accomplices to tell the truth. I have ignored any part of his life which is not verifiable from many different sources. The Klarsfelds have published several books containing government documents on Barbie’s activities, and his life as an SS officer is partially chronicled in his SS file, reprinted by the Klarsfelds. Government officials in several countries have given me access to secret and confidential files. I have used them wherever appropriate. I have, naturally, read through all the newspaper cuttings on the subject; however, I found them to be often quite inaccurate and have only used them when more than two contemporary sources report the same incident, or where the quotation has been checked with the journalist himself.
Over the past ten years, Barbie has given several interviews about his life. All of them are flawed by his conceit and deliberate distortion. In 1979, General Karl Wolff, Himmler’s wartime adjutant, travelled through South America visiting Nazi fugitives. He spent nearly a week with Barbie in La Paz. Flattered that an important SS general should visit him, Barbie told many untruths; but on some subjects he was more candid than on any other occasion. It was not until towards the end of the visit that Barbie realised that the German travelling with Wolff was the journalist Gerd Heidemann, who had tape-recorded their entire discussion. Heidemann continued to interview Barbie on tape after Wolff left. Although those conversations contain many unsubstantiated allegations and crucial omissions, there are several valuable insights into his life which he revealed innocently to his eminent guest. I have only used those parts of those conversations which either can be independently verified (and many have been confirmed by subsequent disclosures) or are so outrageous that, regardless of the truth, they are accurate revelations of Barbie’s own thoughts.