Josef Mengele

Financed by his family, Mengele reached Argentina in 1949, subsequently obtained Argentine citizenship, moved to Paraguay and then hid in Brazil after Eichmann's abduction. He drowned in 1979 under a false identity. His body was exhumed in 1985, and a DNA analysis published in 1992 strongly confirmed the identification.

State of the evidence

Confirmed

Attribution

Directly implicated

After fleeing Auschwitz, Mengele surrendered to American forces posing as a Wehrmacht officer. He was released in August 1945 without the authorities realising that he was already listed among wanted war criminals. He then lived under an assumed name in Bavaria; his family provided false information that helped convince investigators he was dead.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Mengele was posted to Auschwitz-Birkenau and became, in particular, the medical officer responsible for the “Gypsy family camp”, where approximately 21,000 Roma were held. He subsequently attained the position of chief physician at Auschwitz II.

State of the evidence

Well documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Mengele regularly carried out selections on the arrival ramp, in barracks and infirmaries. People deemed unfit for work, including numerous children, elderly and sick people, were sent to their deaths by gassing or injection.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Mengele established a programme of experiments on prisoners, particularly children, twins, Roma and people with physical abnormalities. Procedures caused suffering, mutilation, blindness or death; some victims were killed to allow comparative autopsies.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

As part of his research and Verschuer's, Mengele sent samples and body parts taken from Auschwitz prisoners to Germany, directly linking concentration camp experiments to German scientific institutions.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

During the liquidation of the Roma family camp at Birkenau, Mengele participated in selecting 2 893 Roma prisoners who were sent to their deaths in the gas chambers.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Mengele initially worked for RuSHA in occupied Poland, participating in racial assessment of people claiming German ancestry. He subsequently joined the SS “Wiking” Division as a doctor on the Eastern Front.

State of the evidence

Documented