Switzerland to open secret files on Auschwitz doctor Josef Mengele

The Swiss Federal Intelligence Service has agreed to open long-sealed files on Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor known as the Angel of Death at Auschwitz.

Historians have sought the files for years. Swiss authorities had kept them closed until 2071, citing national security and the protection of Mengele's extended family.

Mengele fled Europe in 1949 with Red Cross travel papers issued at the Swiss consulate in Genoa. He settled in South America. In 1956 he took a skiing holiday in Switzerland with his son Rolf, a trip already known to researchers.

Historian Regula Bochsler found evidence that Mengele may have planned another trip after an international arrest warrant was issued in 1959. His wife rented an apartment in Zurich near the airport, and Austrian intelligence warned Swiss officials in 1961 that Mengele might be traveling under a false name.

Zurich police placed the apartment under surveillance. Officers recorded Mrs. Mengele driving her Volkswagen with an unidentified man. Bochsler and later historian Gérard Wettstein were denied access to the federal files.

Wettstein took the government to court and raised 18,000 Swiss francs through crowdfunding. The intelligence service then reversed its position, saying the appellant would receive access subject to conditions still to be defined.

No date has been set for the release. Historians fear the files will be heavily redacted. Sacha Zala of the Swiss Society for History said the documents are unlikely to contain new details on Mengele but may mention foreign intelligence contacts. Jakob Tanner said the secrecy reflects Switzerland's long reluctance to confront its wartime record.