Declassified Files Reveal How Mengele, The “Angel of Death”, Lived Carefree Life in Argentina

Newly declassified documents from the Argentinian government have revealed that Nazi “Angel of Death” of Auschwitz, Dr. Josef Mengele, lived openly in Argentina for years after the war, even as authorities were aware of his true identity.

Mengele, a notorious SS doctor responsible for inhuman “medical” experiments on Jewish children, twins, women, and the elderly, escaped Europe in 1949 as the Nuremberg trials were exposing the full extent of his atrocities. He entered Argentina under the alias Helmut Gregor using an Italian passport.

According to the New York Post, intelligence files released by Argentinian President Javier Milei show that officials tracked Mengele’s movements across South America but repeatedly failed to act. In some cases, press leaks allowed him to slip away; in others, decisions were delayed until it was too late.

By the mid-1950s, the documents confirm that Argentinian authorities knew that the Nazi war criminal was living among them.

One newspaper clipping included in the files recounts the testimony of survivor José Furmanski, who described the horrors Mengele inflicted in Auschwitz: “He gathered twins of all ages in the camp and subjected them to experiments that always ended in death… what horrors.”

In 1956, Mengele brazenly requested his original birth certificate from the West German Embassy in Buenos Aires and even began using his real name on official documents. A memo from 1957 notes that he appeared “nervous,” offering excuses for entering the country under a false identity and acknowledging his SS past.

The files reveal that officials knew Mengele lived in Carapachay, near Buenos Aires, that he had married his brother’s widow, and that his own father had visited him—possibly to assist in his medical business ventures.

Despite an international arrest warrant issued by West Germany in 1959, a local Argentinian judge blocked extradition, absurdly claiming the request amounted to “political persecution.” With pressure mounting, Mengele fled once again—this time to Paraguay, where he obtained citizenship. By the time police raided his Buenos Aires laboratory, he had already vanished.

Authorities continued to follow foreign news reports in an attempt to locate him, but he remained a step ahead. By 1960, Mengele had taken refuge in Brazil, protected by German-descended supporters. He died there in 1979, reportedly after suffering a stroke while swimming near Bertioga. He was buried under an assumed name, and his remains were positively identified only in 1985.

These newly opened files shed further light on how one of history’s most evil criminals managed to evade justice for decades — even while entire nations, including Argentina, knew exactly who he was.