Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele lived freely for decades in Argentina and Brazil and even tried to return to Germany. A police file now reveals how he managed to evade prosecution.
An investigation by the German broadcasting network MDR published on Tuesday has located a police file on Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele, who was previously considered missing.
The documents, as reported by Kan News, apparently originate from the archives of the Argentine Federal Police, contain volatile information about Mengele’s whereabouts after World War II – and expand on previous findings about his escape and the international manhunt.
According to MDR Investigativ, the file reportedly disappeared from the archives in 2002. The documents show that Josef Mengele wanted to enter the Federal Republic of Germany in February 1959. The file contains a corresponding application to the Argentine authorities, which had not been previously documented.
Nazi historian and researcher Bogdan Musiał has examined copies of the file and considers them authentic. “This file expands our knowledge. It shows that some countries probably had more accurate information than previously thought.” “What is interesting is that he applied to travel to West Germany in February 1959, using his real name. We know that there were such rumors, and we also know that his father was ill in 1959. That fits. Here it is confirmed that he intended to travel as Josef Mengele. It shows that he felt safe. It is as if he said, ‘My identity is real, I feel safe, and I am even going to Germany to visit my father.'”
When asked whether Mengele had actually visited Germany again, the German Foreign Office told MDR investigators: “The Foreign Office has no information as to whether Josef Mengele had actually traveled to the Federal Republic of Germany.”
Mengele worked as a doctor at the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp and was responsible for the selection process, sending hundreds of thousands, if not more, to their deaths. Mengele was notorious for his experiments on twins. Mengele went into hiding immediately after the war. As early as May 1945, he was wanted by the Allies for mass murder. Like many other Nazi criminals, he took advantage of the postwar chaos and fled to Argentina in 1949.
