Switzerland to Release Classified Files on Mengele

The Swiss Federal Intelligence Service has announced it will declassify long-held documents on Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele, though no release date has been set.

Mengele, nicknamed the "Angel of Death", worked at the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he selected prisoners for the gas chambers and conducted medical experiments, particularly on children and twins. After the war, he fled to South America using Red Cross documents issued under a false identity.

Historians have sought access to the Swiss files for years, but the authorities refused, citing national security and the protection of family members. According to historian Regula Bochsler, there is evidence that Mengele may have been in Switzerland after an international arrest warrant was issued against him in 1959.

The decision to change course came after a lawsuit brought by historian G0rard Wettstein. Several experts nonetheless doubt that the documents will provide a definitive answer, and fear that much of the material will remain redacted.

(bbc, bak)