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The Swiss federal intelligence service on Thursday released a 200-page dossier on Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi war criminal and German doctor dubbed the “Angel of Death” for conducting horrific medical experiments on Auschwitz prisoners.
During World War II, Mengele was stationed at the extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, where roughly 1.1 million people were killed, including approximately 1 million Jews. He became notorious for subjecting inmates, including children, to brutal testing under the guise of scientific research.
After the war, Mengele fled Europe using a Red Cross travel document under a false identity. Like other former Nazi officials, he spent decades in hiding across Latin America while pursued internationally, until drowning off the coast of São Paulo state in Brazil in 1979.
Josef Mengele escaped capture until his death by accidental drowning in Sao Paulo
According to the German news agency dpa, the unsealed documents contain police materials suggesting Mengele may have returned to Switzerland after escaping Germany or planned to enter the country using an alias.
Historians had long sought access to the files to establish whether the fugitive spent time in Switzerland without being caught by authorities.
In this Saturday, Dec. 7, 2016 photo, forensic doctor Daniel Munoz shows the skull of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele, at the school of medicine of Sao Paulo University (Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Swiss officials had insisted the dossier remain sealed until 2071 on security and privacy grounds. However, historian Gérard Wettstein successfully challenged the restriction before the Federal Administrative Court, prompting its online publication with redactions to protect sources and personal data.
Compiled by the police service of the federal prosecutor’s office, a predecessor to the current Swiss intelligence service, the dossier was transferred to the Federal Archives in 2001.
