Creepy Child: The little girl who always stares at Jesper as she slides a sharpened carrot into a snowman - even with the nose it's creepy! Frederic Bichon: It’s funny, but I can still remember today one of the headlines of that day: “Mister Barbie has nothing to say.” But it didn’t really matter in the end. I would go through a similar experience years later, at the International Tribunal for the ex-Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court -- in the end, noone is really interested in explanations of people accused of incomprehensible, inhuman acts. Conflict Ball: After his less than selfless motivations are revealed, Jesper's friends are furious with him and remain so for a while. The only problem with this is that Jesper always stopped just shy of standing on the rooftops screaming that he wanted out of town and why, and when Klaus asked what was in it for him, didn't indicate otherwise. It's more than a little hypocritical on Alva's part, as she came into the film hostile, bitter, and doing everything in her power to get out of town (though at the very least, Alva still did honest work while Jesper manipulated children). Another blink-and-you'll-miss-it example is when Jesper is walking into Klaus's house for the first time he passes his light through a shelf filled with toys. At the end of the shot, the light is still espoused on one of them: a wind-up frog toy. This wind-up frog toy would end up becoming the first gift Klaus wraps up and sends to a child not long after, leading to other kids sending letters to Klaus. Jesper is genuinely surprised that the town didn't come out in force to greet their newly-assigned Postmaster - so Mogens eagerly points out the bell in the square, telling Jesper he just needs to ring it to bring everyone out.

Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Ultimately ends up very much on the idealism end. Despite the whole naughty-or-nice letters-for-toys situation starting out with selfish intentions, Jesper so he could return to his luxurious lifestyle and the kids so they could get toys, the gratitude and joy the good deeds sparked eventually led to a cycle of increasingly selfless acts of kindness and altruism, ending with Smeerenburg becoming a place of happiness and friendship, not misery and hatred. When Barbie refused to attend the hearings, some of the witnesses were at first indignant. But in the end, I think that his absence allowed them to recount what had happened to them at ease. And that was one of the major goals of this trial -- to give them an opportunity to present their stories. Jason Schwartzman as Jesper Johansen, a postman who befriends Klaus and helps bring much-needed happiness to Smeerensburg while getting accustomed to a life outside of his comfort zone. Secondary Character Title: The protagonist's name is Jesper; the title refers to the toymaker he teams up with. In all, it is believed that Barbie was responsible for the execution or murder of over 4,000 individuals and for the deportation of 7,500 Jews, most of whom perished in Auschwitz. Jean MoulinBridal Carry: A gender-swapped example when freshly-wed Pumpkin carrying her groom Olaf down the stairs of the church.

In 1972, it was discovered he was in Bolivia. While in Bolivia, the West German Intelligence Service recruited him. Barbie is suspected of having had a role in the Bolivian coup d'état orchestrated by Luis García Meza in 1980. After the fall of the dictatorship, Barbie lost the protection of the government in La Paz. In 1983, he was arrested and extradited to France, where he was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison. Although he had been sentenced to death in absentia twice earlier, in 1947 and 1954, capital punishment had been abolished in France in 1981. Barbie died of cancer in prison in 1991, at age 77.Never Trust a Trailer: The first official trailer makes Jesper seem good-natured and idealistic, while he's definitely not any of that at the start of the movie itself.

Early-Installment Weirdness: The proof-of-concept trailer from around 2015 hadn't established the family feuds angle for Smeerensburg, or Jesper's final character, as the postman in that trailer has a much more posh and older-sounding voice. Looks-wise, Jesper pretty much looks the same, but Klaus had a distinctly different design. As we near the anniversary of D-Day, the atrocities carried out by Gestapo official Nikolaus “Klaus” Barbie (1913-1991) in France prior to the Allied liberation of the country is the subject of this piece. Barbie, later named the “Butcher of Lyon,” tortured, murdered, and deported thousands of resistance fighters and Jews during his time in France. Klaus Barbie, the former Nazi Gestapo chief of German-occupied Lyon, France, goes on trial in Lyon more than four decades after the end of World War II. He was charged with 177 crimes against humanity. Christophe de Roquefeuil: For me, the trial served as a reminder of one of the foundations of journalism -- the importance of eyewitnesses. When events are strong, they speak for themselves and writing should be minimal. You need to reconstruct the emotions of others, without betraying yours.

World War II

He was found by barrister Serge Klarsfeld in 1972, but it was not until over 10 years later, in 1983, that the Bolivian government agreed to extradite him. No Body Left Behind: When Klaus hears his deceased wife's voice calling to him, he sets down his axe and tells her he's ready moments before his body fades away into snow that then blows away. Jesper and the other townsfolk never find out what became of him, and he continues to deliver toys as a spirit years later and Jesper knows it's him. Teetering on the Edge: The climactic Chase Scene ends with Jesper stopping the runaway sled right over a drop. The presents fall off thanks to Mrs. Krum, but The Reveal shows they were fakes after all. When he watches the little boy play with the little wind-up frog Jesper delivered, Klaus removes his hood as his gentler nature comes to light. Not This One, That One: When Jesper is about to leave for Smeerensburg, he thinks he can take the royal coach but it moves away to reveal a shabby old coach.

Annual Annie Awards". annieawards.org. Archived from the original on 12 July 2015 . Retrieved 10 December 2019. In 1972, the Nazi hunters Serge Klarsfeld and Beatte Kunzel discovered Barbie’s whereabouts in Bolivia, but Banzer Suarez refused to extradite him to France. In the early 1980s, a liberal Bolivian regime came to power and agreed to extradite Barbie in exchange for French aid. On January 19, 1983, Barbie was arrested, and on February 7 he arrived in France. The statute of limitations had expired on his in-absentia convictions from the 1950s; he would have to be tried again. The U.S. government formally apologized to France for its conduct in the Barbie case later that year. While Jesper's wagon (later modified into a sleigh) isn't tiny, it can barely hold the massive Klaus. Desowitz, Bill (13 June 2019). "Annecy: Netflix Premieres Footage from First Original Animated Feature 'Klaus' In Innovative 2D". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019 . Retrieved 12 October 2019.By the time the French government requested extradition of Barbie from American officials in 1949, it was public knowledge that Barbie was living freely in the American zone under a false identity. As the French demands for extradition escalated, the CIC decided it was too risky to continue using Barbie as an informant. However, the CIC was not willing to hand Barbie to the French, fearing that Barbie knew too much about CIC intelligence operations. In 1951, the CIC helped Barbie escape to South America with his family via the American “Rat Line” that smuggled escaped Nazis and other Axis fugitives out of postwar Europe. Life and Recognition in South America It seems ironic that Barbie, the alleged instigator of Izieu, and Dr Reifmann, who lost his sister, parents and nephew in the raid, should have survived as contemporaries to hear the truth told in a Lyons court 43 years later. He also was found guilty of deporting several hundred people on the last train to leave Lyon shortly before the Nazis retreated, and for his role in individual tortures, deportations and killings of 38 French Resistance activists and 21 Jews. Watch Where You're Going!: During the climactic Chase Scene, Pumpkin and Olaf bump into each other while trying to snatch Jesper .