Switzerland to open long‑sealed files on Auschwitz doctor Josef Mengele
newsMay 16, 2026426
The Swiss Federal Intelligence Service said it will open long-sealed intelligence files relating to Josef Mengele, the Auschwitz doctor nicknamed the 'Angel of Death'. Mengele fled Europe in 1949 and later lived in South America until his 1979 death; historians have long suspected he spent time in Switzerland, including a 1956 skiing holiday with his son Rolf. Opening the files could reveal whether Swiss authorities or border officials had contacts with or knowledge of Mengele's movements, answering long-standing questions for survivors, historians and legal scholars.
