Josef Mengele, the ‘Angel of Death’ from Auschwitz, slipped through Israeli fingers twice

Published: 7 September 2017

Last updated: 4 March 2024

Testimony of former Mossad agent reveals how close the agency was to catching Nazi doctor, after files on the matter were declassified.

Honeytraps and birthday calls: Secret file reveals Mossad efforts to net Mengele (Times of Israel)
Documents detail break-ins, wiretaps, and one close encounter in agency's failed attempts to catch Auschwitz 'Angel of Death' (Sep 5)

Why did Israel let Mengele go? (New York Times)
For the first time, it’s possible to say why the Mossad failed to apprehend the man who was perhaps the most wanted Nazi to survive World War II. Documents and interviews reveal that, contrary to popular belief, for most of the time that Mengele was in hiding, the Mossad wasn’t looking for him at all — or placed finding him far down its to-do list. My new research sheds light on a time when realism and maturity shaped the agency’s priorities, rather than an understandable desire to spill Nazi blood (Sep 6)

Why Israel did not capture Nazi criminal Josef Mengele (Jewish Journal)
Israel’s Mossad was very close, painfully close, to capturing one of the most infamous Nazi criminals: Josef Mengele (Sep 5)

Photo: A 1944 photo of SS officers outside of Auschwitz, Poland. From left Richard Baer, Dr. Josef Mengele, Josef Kramer and Rudolf Hoess (AP).