NAZI GERMANY'S 'ANGEL OF DEATH' IS STILL AT LARGE

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-01208R000100120065-9
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
February 25, 2011
Sequence Number: 
65
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
July 18, 1984
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-01208R000100120065-9.pdf99.26 KB
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I L I ~ . __._l_ . Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/25: CIA-RDP90-01208R000100120065-9 SIAI ARTICLE APPEARED ON PAGE_ F _ / V Nazi Germany's `Angel of Death' Is Still at Large There is nothing that produces as much exhilaration and all-around gratification for me as tracking down a notorious war criminal and bringing him to justice. Several years ago, I found Adolf Cukers, a brutal Nazi overlord who had butchered thousands of Jews in Latvia. He was living quietly on a lake shore in the Brazilian coun- tryside. Not long after I confronted him there and revealed his whereabouts to the world, his body was found in the trunk of a car, with a note pin- ned to his jacket. The note said sim- ply, "The Committee that Never Forgets." But I failed to find the most no- torious of the surviving Nazi war criminals. The real object of my search was Dr. Josef Mengele, the "Angel of Death," who consigned an estimated 2 million Jews to the gas chambers or the lingering horror of quack medical experiments at Auschwitz during World War II. Over the years, I have continued the search. I have spoken to wit- nesses who have seen him. One wit- ness met him at the home of a Nazi sympathizer in Venezuela. Another encountered Mengele at a ski re- WASHINGTON POST 18 July 1984 sort in Switzerland. Still another saw him in the south of France. Apparently, he has traveled un- der various identities, using forged passports. His favorite alias, I'm told, is "Gregory" or "Gregorovich." His luxurious life style is financed by members of his family who live in the Bavarian town of Gunzburg. Recently, I sent my associate Lu- cette Lagnado to Israel to seek out the surviving victims. They remem- ber Mengele from Auschwitz as an exquisitely handsome, soft-spoken man who loved to play German bal- lads on an old-fashioned, hand- cranked phonograph. According to reliable sources, he has not lost his good looks, and his manners are still polished. He is now in his 70s. Meanwhile, he remains the world's most wanted fugitive, sought by at least three govern- ments and various private groups. My sources believe he's under the protection of Paraguay's dictator, Alfredo Stroessner. At one point, a CIA document pinpointed his hide- out as the southern Paraguayan city of Encarnacion, just across the Parana River from Argentina. But I'm told he never stays long in one spot. He reportedly has holed up for brief periods with devout Mennonites in a Paraguayan village called Philadelphia and with fellow expatriates in a Nazi colony called Colonia Dignidad in Chile. He may now be in a military zone, protected by a small army of mer- cenaries. The former head of the Is- raeli secret service, Issar Hare], told Lagnado that, in his opinion, Mengele's security system is so strong it would take a combat bri- gade to penetrate it. For years, Mengele lived openly in Buenos Aires-his name in the telephone book-under the wing of Argentine President Juan Peron. In 1959, West Germany asked for Mengele's extradition. The Argen- tines stalled, claiming that their in- vestigation "disclosed no record" of Mengele's presence. The Germans provided more specifics,. and re- newed their extradition request in January, 1960. But because there was no extra- dition treaty between Argentina and Germany, the case had to be submitted to the Argentine solicitor general. The foreign ministry didn't do this until June, 1960. By then, it was too late. A month earlier, Is- raeli agents had kidnaped Adolf Eichmann, another Nazi war crim- inal, on the streets of Buenos Aires. Not wishing to risk similar "extra- dition" to Israel, Mengele skipped to Paraguay. , The Paraguayans' official line, then and now, is that they don't know where Mengele is. Only a few weeks ago, they told me they'd be happy to arrest Mengele if I'd tell them exactly where to find him. Some day I may oblige. Footnote: In a future column, I'll tell you about Mengele's U.S. con- nection. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/25: CIA-RDP90-01208R000100120065-9