In delineating these trials in context of one another, Golsan builds an argument about the invocation of memory and rhetoric that shows why these trials are so important in history more broadly. In 1987, 74-year-old Klaus Barbie stood before an Assize Court in Lyon, France and pled "not guilty" to charges of crimes against humanity. Golsan examines the earlier trials and places them in context with the Barbie trial.