Hôtel Terminus (1988)

A documentary about Klaus Barbie, the Gestapo chief of Lyon, and his life after the war.

Director:

Marcel Ophüls

Writer:

Marcel Ophüls

Stars:

Klaus Barbie, Marcel Ophüls, Johannes Schneider-Merck

Won 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Klaus Barbie	...	Himself
Marcel Ophüls	...	Himself
Johannes Schneider-Merck	...	German Import-Exporter, Barbie's Neighbour in Lima
Raymond Lévy	...	Billiard Player in Lyon
Marcel Cruat	...	Billiard Player in Lyon
Henri Varlot	...	Billiard Player in Lyon
Pierre Mérindol	...	Journalist from Lyon
Johann Otten	...	Farmer, School Friend from Barbie's native village
Peter Minn	...	Wehrmacht Major, retired, Barbie's high school friend
Claude Bourdet	...	Resistance Leader
Eugene Kolb	...	Lt., C.I.C. Control Officer, retired, Barbie's former Superior
Lise Lesèvre	...	Member of the French Underground
Lucie Aubrac	...	Resistance Leader
Raymond Aubrac	...	Resistance Leader
Simone Lagrange	...	Auschwitz Survivor

Storyline

This full-length documentary deals with the life, career and trial of Nazi SS officer Klaus Barbie, known as the Butcher of Lyons. Virtually all aspects of his life are covered. His childhood and schooling in Germany; his early military career; his role in the head of intelligence in Lyons; his post-war employment by the US military; his life in Bolivia; his return to Europe; his trial and conviction. Interviewed are friends, enemies, associates, heroes and traitors.

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Plot Keywords:

lyon | trial | bolivia | nazi | post war | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography

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Details

Country:

West Germany France USA

Language:

English Spanish French German

Release Date:

November 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie

Box Office

Gross:

$341,018 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The, The Memory Pictures Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

267 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Marcel Ophüls deliberately chose not to show any Holocaust footage as he felt that audiences had become too used to gruesome imagery of that nature.

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Connections

Featured in Zomergasten: Episode #6.2 (1993)

User Reviews

learning from the past

Marcel Ophuls' mammoth four-and-one-half hour-long portrait of Gestapo commandant Klaus Barbie, the notorious Butcher of Lyon, is more than just a biography of another Nazi mass murderer. The film also provides a meticulous study of the forces which allowed him to survive for so long, from wartime anti-Semitism to post-war Communist paranoia to a prevailing what's-done-is-done attitude of retroactive amnesia. Ophuls is not so complacent, and makes no apologies for his sometimes confrontational approach to the subject. In his mind those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it, and the sheer volume of verbal testimony, from enemies and friends alike, is only the director's way of ensuring we neither forgive nor forget. The scope of the film is vast, covering over forty years and spanning several continents, but the scale is intimate: one voice, one detail at a time, making it an exhaustive but hardly exhausting account of one monstrous but admittedly small cog in an evil machine, pieces of which are still well-oiled and operating even today.