Switzerland Releases Files on Nazi Doctor Mengele

Switzerland’s Federal Intelligence Service has released a 200-page dossier on Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele. The German doctor earned the nickname “Angel of Death” for conducting horrific medical experiments on prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

About 1.1 million people were killed at the Nazi extermination camp in occupied Poland, including around one million Jews. Under the guise of scientific research, Mengele also conducted experiments on children.

After the war, he obtained a Red Cross travel document under a false identity that allowed him to leave Europe. He spent years in hiding in Latin America while being pursued internationally for his crimes. In 1979, he drowned while swimming off the coast of Brazil.

The newly released documents suggest that after fleeing Germany, Mengele may have returned to Switzerland or planned to enter the country under an assumed name. Historians seeking to establish whether he spent time in Switzerland without being caught by Swiss authorities had long sought access to the records.

The authorities had sought to keep the records classified until 2071 for security reasons and to protect people named in them. However, historian Gérard Wettstein successfully challenged the restrictions before the Federal Administrative Court. Some passages remain redacted to protect sources and the personal data of third parties.

The dossier was compiled by the police service of the federal prosecutor’s office, a predecessor of Switzerland’s federal intelligence services, and transferred to the Federal Archives in 2001.

(ap, bak)