Historian accuses Swiss intelligence service of censoring Mengele file

Historian Gérard Wettstein has accused Switzerland’s intelligence service of censoring a dossier on Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele, after the 217-page file was published with numerous redactions, SRF reported.

The dossier contains police reports, forms, internal notes and newspaper articles. Wettstein, who successfully challenged the Swiss intelligence service’s decision to keep the file secret, said he was disappointed by the published version, particularly the redactions of personal data.

The records do not establish whether Mengele was in Kloten, near Zurich, in 1961. Rumours have circulated that he was there after Swiss intelligence became active when reports emerged that he was in Zurich. An international arrest warrant had been issued for Mengele at the time.

It is historically confirmed that Mengele, a former Auschwitz camp doctor, travelled to Engelberg for skiing in the 1950s. The newly released documents also show that Swiss police tried to locate him. However, Wettstein said they contained indications that cooperation within the police had not always worked and that authorities may not have acted as they could or should have.

Without unrestricted access to the records, historians cannot establish the full context or determine whether Swiss police or another Swiss authority protected Mengele, Wettstein said. German authorities issued the first international arrest warrant for him only in 1959, allowing Swiss authorities to point to that fact.

Wettstein said he wanted to examine the original file at the Swiss Federal Archives and would continue campaigning for unrestricted access, including through the courts if necessary.