CAN JOSEF MENGELE BE CAUGHT?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100120068-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 68
• Publication Date: June 30, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100120068-7
ARTICLE APPEARED-
0H PP plc Q oil
WASHINGTON POST
30 June 1985
CanJosefMeiigdeBe
L-C,
BT JAC K
he is now a haggardly handsome man J
hideous medical experiments, who should
be worked to death.
Witnesses remember him as a soft-
spoken man who conducted his horrors
with gentle efficiency while sweet melo-
dies from his phonograph mingled with
the cries of the tortured, and fragrant
scents from his garden mixed with the
smell of cooking flesh. Inmates called
him the "Angel of Death."
Mengele kept meticulous accounts of
his experiments, but both he and his
files vanished after the Russians over-
ran Auschwitz in 1945. 1 picked up his
trail in 1960. 1 found some of his
hideouts-a remote village in the fetid
jungles of Paraguay, a cozy hotel room
in Asuncion, a Nazi settlement in the
hinterlands of Chile. One time. I was
only three weeks behind him.
Can he be caught? At this writing, he
is still on the loose-the world's most-
wanted- fugitive. But his luck at last
may be running out.
Last Sept. 2. 1 recounted in PARADE
the anguished recollections of the Ausch-
witz twins. The Justice Department has
since ordered a worldwide manhunt for
Mengele, coordinating efforts with West
Germany and Israel to find and prose-
cute him for "crimes against humanity."
And nearly $3.5 million has been put
up as a reward for Mengele's capture-
by Israel, the friends of the Simon Wies-
enthal Center, The Washington Times.
West Germany and the Nazi-hunters Si-
mon Wiesenthal and Beate Klarsfeld.
Despite reports from Brazil on June 6
that Mengele may have died several
years ago in a drowning accident, many
believe he is still alive. Witnesses say
OR 25 YEARS, I
have been search-
ing for Josef
Mengele, the
Auschwitz death
camp doctor who
for a terrible mo-
ment in time was god of the inmates,
with life-or-death power over them. He
routinely decided who should go to the
gas chambers, who should be used for
ANDE RSON
with a beleaguered air. They say he
projects an eerily dignified presence,
always wearing fashionable suits, even
on steamy summer days.
According to, his SS file, Mengele
was bornon March 16, 1911, in Gunzburg
on the Danube. He earned advanced
degrees in medicine and philosophy. Pho-
tographs show a darkly handsome young
man, with a trace of a smile, in immacu-
late civilian attire.
In 1943, he was assigned as a camp
doctor at Auschwitz. Though only 32
years old, he was swiftly promoted to
chief medical officer. A confidential SS
evaluation said of him in 1944: "Mengele
has always proved to be an excellent
officer, respected and well-liked... He
thoroughly commands the field of anthro-
pology ... Mengele has not displayed
any weakness in character.-
I sent my associate Lucette Lagnado
to the scene of Mengele's crimes to look
for witnesses and documents. At the
Auschwitz Museum in Poland, the chief
curator said that, after a 20-year search,
she had found only a few documents:
One was a paper signed by Mengele,
"enclosing" a boy's hand for analysis.
After the war, Nazi war criminals
were rounded up for prosecution. But
Mengele was scarcely mentioned at the
doctors' trial at Nuremberg. Lagnado
spoke with Telford Taylor, who had been
the chief American prosecutor at Nur-
emberg, and searched through his papers.
The only relevant document. dated Nov.
7, 1947, noted that Mengele had sent to
Berlin 20 to 30 shipments of blood at
regular intervals. "It goes without saying
that this blood was not derived from
any blood donors," the document con-
tinued. "In fact, Auschwitz inmates were
forced to submit to Dr. Mengele, who
would then syphon their blood ... until
they would die."
Though the American prosecutors
wanted to bring him to justice-and Dr.
Gizella Perl, who had served under
Mengele at Auschwitz, offered to tes-
tify against him-Mengele escaped
prosecution. Taylor notified Washing-
ton tersely: "Our records show that Dr.
Mengele is dead as of October 6th. 1946."
The case against him was closed.
One Nuremberg investigator. Hans
Wolfson, did try to pry information from
the Mengele family. which he found
living in luxury in Gunzburg, in the
American zone of Germany. Hours of
interrogation yielded nothing. "They lied
like hell," he recalled. One document.
perhaps meant as a smoke screen, sug-
gested the family had disinherited him.
How did the Angel of Death elude
the Allied dragnet? Documents give brief,
tantalizing references to Mengele. But
either no follow-up was made or the file
has vanished. Great gaping holes pock
his escape route, a trail overgrown by
years of assiduous cover-up.
My associate managed to get hold of
a file on Mengele, heretofore unavailable
in the West, which had been kept by the
Polish Military Commission for the In-
vestigation of Nazi War Crimes. Vari-
ous memos and letters, dating to 1947,
indicate that Mengele was hiding out
not in the American zone, as the press
has speculated, but in the Soviet zone
of occupied Germany under the alias
"Dr. Scapesius." The Poles tried to fol-
low the Scapesius clue, but the Soviets
reported that there was no evidence that
Mengele/Scapesius had ever been in their
hands. As one report put it, "Mengele
was one of the few doctors in Auschwitz.
maybe the only one, who disappeared
without leaving a trace."
The Polish investigation concluded:
"Until 1950, Mengele resided in Ger-
many. Then. most likely through Greece
and Spain, he left for Latin America."
U.S. intelligence sources believe Mengele
escaped through Italy, proa X disguised
assaa pnnestBoth U.S. is sources
agree that the Nazi underground. known
as "Odessa" but also called "Spider" by
Nazi romantics, smuggled Mengele out
of Europe. All sources also agree, in
the words of the Polish report, that "Josef
Mengele is still hiding out in the territo-
ries of Latin America."
I began my search in 1960 in Buenos
Aires, where I cultivated the confidence
of some former SS officers. (On Nov.
13, 1960, 1 revealed in PARADE the
whereabouts of several Nazi mass mur-
derers on the lam in South America.)
These men spoke admiringly of Josef
CCrtinLied
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100120068-7
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100120068-7
Ii commandos penetrated the area. my body as that of Edouard Roschmann. a former here have been reports that he has become
sources said. Mengele kept a boat for a Nazi concentration camp commandant. The a major drug dealer. Accor m to one ICIAA
fast getaway. j next morning. Wolf's shop was sprayed with reporta owns a farm in partnership wit
Thereafter, Mengele apparently kept on the machine-gun bullets from a passing car. another smuggler -43 kilometers from Asunci-
move. assuming phony identities, using forged A few weeks earlier, the Paraguayan gov- on. near an airstrip." The alleged partner was
passports. staying with trusted Nazi collabora- ernment had suggested that its small Jewish arrested in New York for cocaine smuggling.-
tors. AbriefpreparedforSen. AlfonseD'Amato community put a paid announcement in the But, lamented the CIA. "he esca d."
(R. N.Y.) by several Western intelligence groups newpapers stating that it didn't think Mengele Some skeptics question why the world should
asserts that Mengele "lived in Paraguay from was in the country. At the risk of their comfort- bother with a worn-out. 74-year-old warcrimi-
1959 until 1965." The staff of the Paraguayan able existence. the Jews told the regime they nal who is of no consequence in the 1980s.
dictator Alfredo Stroessner admitted that the couldn't publish such a statement. The answer may lie in the Phoenician legend:
death camp doctor had "moved to Brazil" in Stroessnerthen leaned on Israel. reminding "From the teeth of the slain dragon there will
1965 and then "to Portugal in the late 1960s. its diplomats of Paraguay's support in the I spring up new enemies of mankind." Sinister
Staff members said Mengele "sent correspon- I United Nations and of the profitable military mass murderers have continued to stalk the
dence, including Christmas cards, to them and economic ties between the two countries. killing fields from Pol Pot's Kampuchea to
from Portugal until late 1980." It would be a shame, he said, to endanger this Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. The dragon's
One witness met Mengele in Venezuela: valuable relationship over something so trivi teeth. no matter how old or festering, must be
another encountered him at a ski resort in al as an aging Nazi war criminal. Israeli sources pulled. IN
Switzerland: still another saw him in the south told my associate that hunting for Mengele is
of France. There is a report that he once not on their government's agenda. Isser Harel.
stayed only seven miles from his family's former head of Israel's Mossad intelligence
home in Gunzburg. Another hideout, I heard, service and the man responsible for nabbing
was a Nazi colony in Chile called Colonia I Adolf Eichmann, told Lagnado that it would
Mengele and praised his "courage" for who served as-ambassador in the late 1970s.
defiantly using his real name. Thanks After settling in. he asked to see the Mengele
to family wealth, he had acquired a file. "There was no such file." White told
small factory that produced pharmaceu- Lucette Lagnado. "[ was surprised that noth-
ticals. He lived comfortably in the ing had been filed, since Mengele lived a few
German section of Buenos Aires and blocks away from the American Embassy."
was treated with deference, The ambassador conducted his own investi-
OneSSofficer. recalling a discussion. gation. even venturing into Nazi hangouts.
said Mengele spoke appreciatively of He eventually established that Mengele had
Communist racial experiments. He told been granted Paraguayan citizenship.
how Stalin had sought to create perfect Despite these reports. the State Department
police by crossing Lithuanians with na- told members of Congress who inquired about
tives of Kirghiz-the first known for Mengele: "Our embassy has often heard re-
strength and fearlessness, the latter for ports that Josef Mengele and other Nazi war
cunning, cruelty and indifference to hu- criminals are residing in Paraguay ... But the
man life. He had done similar research embassy has.-.. been unable to confirm the
at Auschwitz, Mengele said. actual presence of Dr. Mengele in Paraguay at
Mengele lost some of his arrogance any given time."
after Adolf Eichmann was kidnapped Meanwhile, Lagnado attempted to smoke
by Israeli commandos in 1960. Sudden- out the evil doctor in Paraguay. She began on
ly he dropped from sight. I later learned Herrera Street, a bustling esplanade of shops
that he had holed up in the rain forest in downtown Asuncion where a few Jewish
along the Parana River. which divides merchants had set up shop. She sought out
Argentina and Paraguay. He lived in Emilio Wolf, a butcher. who reportedly had
I rustic splendor. I was told, on the spotted Mengele over the years in Asuncion.
Paraguayan side. The nearest town was A short, burly man. Wolf smiled graciously, at
a haven for ex-Nazis. who were heavily his visitor.
armed. No intruders could approach the "1 am looking for information on Dr.
Mengele home without being challenged. Mengele." said Lagnado. The smile froze.
All other access was obstructed by barri- I "Get away from here!" Wolf shouted. "Get
ers of marshy backwaters, fallen trees out! Do you want me to lose my store''" Lagnado
and thickets. But just in case some lsrae- later learned that Wolf had once identified a
re rted that Mengele "lives in Encarnacion,
Paraguay, and is involved in narcotics." It
added: "Mengele's current alias is Henrique
WollmanStroessner the Paraguayan ent,
is protecting him."
tmessner s protection is well known. What's
not well known is that the U.S. Embassy in
Paraguay has tried to discourage Mengele's
pursuers, apparently for fear of offending
Stroessner. The exception was Robert White.
A 1972 CIA cable, quoting a petty criminal..
take "a combat brigade" to get to Mengele.
Since the 1960s. therefore. Israel has kept its
Nazi-hunters out of Paraguay.
Nevertheless, the Nazi-hunter Wiesenthal
traced Mengele to a community of German
Mennonites in Paraguay. Mengele farm equip-
ment (the family business in Germany) is
widely used in the colony, and Wiesenthal
was convinced that the Mennonites had shel-
tered the fugitive. Lagnado persuaded a lead-
er of the Mennonites to meet with her. He
acknowledged that his community used Men-
gele farm equipment but denied it had ever
shielded Mengele. Then the nervous patriarch
abruptly fled.
Confidential sources said Mengele had lived
for extended periods in the Europea Hotel, a
small. German-operated establishment in down-
town Asuncion that reportedly had been a
Nazi hangout. After some prodding. Frieda
Dingeldein, the Paraguayan widow of the Ger-
man who had owned the hotel (she now lives
in a squalid Indian village outside the capital).
conceded to Lagnado that Mengele "might
have been" there. She quickly added, "But I
would not have known about it." Her son-
tall, blonde, blue-eyed Enrique Dingeldein-
finally did agree that the doctor might have
stayed at the hotel. "But only a few times." he
insisted.
According to some regular guests at the
Europea. Mengele sometimes would vanish
for months. He never told his neighbors where
he had been, his room was always waiting for
him.
Where is Mengele today'' Thanks to his
wealth, he "is able to move freely." according
to the CIA. Wiesenthal picked up eyewitnes
reports that Men e e had beein
Paraguay in June 1984. The CIA received
similar information: "In August 1984. uncon-
firmed sightings of Menge le were reported in
Paraguayan border cities."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100120068-7