The Swiss return of Nazi ‘Angel of Death’ Josef Mengele

After the Second World War, Josef Mengele – a war criminal and the man behind experiments on human beings at the Auschwitz concentration camp - fled to South America. There he managed to hide and escape justice until his death. However, he returned to Europe once as a tourist - and came to Switzerland.

Josef Mengele decided who was ‘fit’ to be put to work in the concentration camp and who would be put to death in the gas chambers. As the camp doctor from May 1943, he performed cruel experiments on people and carried out abhorrent tests with twins. In 1945 he fled for South America, but later returned to visit Europe, more specifically Switzerland, as a tourist, and using his real name.

French author and journalist Olivier Guez sheds new light on how Mengele managed to flee Europe after his involvement in the Holocaust. His new bestselling book ‘The Disappearance of Josef Mengele’ is also interesting from a Swiss perspective. For a long time, there has been a lack of clarity over how Mengele’s escape was connected to Switzerland. Stories and rumours abounded, now this new publication on the topic hopes to clarify the course of events. There were lots of stories and rumours.

In the past, several Swiss MPs have put forward parliamentary motions in order to find out more about the Nazi criminal’s time in Switzerland.

(SRF/swissinfo.ch)