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Ulviyya Poladova

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Switzerland’s intelligence service has published online numerous documents concerning Nazi war criminal and physician Josef Mengele, who was known as the "Angel of Death" of Auschwitz.

The archive contains information suggesting that Mengele may have hidden in Switzerland or entered the country under a false name after fleeing Germany following World War II. The documents also include reports indicating that he had been in Ireland, Argentina and Chile.

One of the documents states that in 1964, an agent sent to Switzerland by Israeli intelligence under the guise of a student attempted to track down Mengele.

According to Der Spiegel, Switzerland’s intelligence service had repeatedly rejected historians’ requests for access to the documents, most recently in February 2026. The authorities cited a protection period for the archival material that was set to remain in force until 2071. However, a complaint filed by historian Gérald Vettstein, who has conducted research into Mengele, was upheld by Switzerland’s Federal Administrative Court.

Josef Mengele (1911–1979) conducted brutal medical experiments on prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp, many of which resulted in death. After the war, Mengele fled to South America and died in 1979 after drowning at a beach in Brazil.

Image: Keystone-SDA