The Hidden Life and Mysterious End of Josef Mengele

The Year: 1945. The Place: Bertióga, Brazil. The Situation: Hiding in plain sight with supporters.

One of the most sinister figures in the Holocaust's machinery of death was embodied in Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous 'Angel of Death' at Auschwitz. He was the doctor who decided who would be killed immediately upon arrival at the camp and who would be spared temporarily for their labor.

Josef Mengele was born in 1911, studied medicine, and joined the Nazi Party. Eventually, he was stationed at Auschwitz, where he was responsible for horrific medical experiments and the gas chambers.

In January 1945, as the Russian army approached, the Nazis urgently evacuated the camp in a death march. A week later, Mengele was spotted at the Mauthausen concentration camp. He then fled to South America under a false identity and vanished without a trace.

Efforts to locate, capture, or kill Mengele engaged many intelligence agents, spies, Nazi hunters, researchers, and journalists worldwide. Mengele lived in disguise for 35 years. After Adolf Eichmann's capture, he became the most wanted Nazi war criminal, yet managed to avoid detection.

The Mossad was close to capturing him, but at the time they were focused on the search for the kidnapped boy, Yossele Schumacher, and Prime Minister Ben-Gurion preferred to prioritize this case.

It is believed that Mengele hid in the Brazilian city of Bertióga under the name Wolfgang Gerhard. He died at 68 on February 7, 1979, after drowning during a swim in the sea. He was buried in Embu das Artes.

His death remained unknown, and Nazi hunters continued to search for him. Only several years later, in 1985, was his body discovered after a joint effort by American, German, and South American authorities.

In 2002, it was decided to conduct a DNA test on the body. This was challenging as his family refused to provide a blood sample for DNA comparison. But eventually, the test confirmed that it was Mengele's body.

Nevertheless, a debate continues about where this monster spent his final days. Two years ago, 'Time' magazine published an article quoting speculation that Mengele hid in the Paraguayan resort town of San Bernardino, whose residents were of German descent and staunch Nazi supporters. According to these claims, Mengele died there and not in Brazil.