Nazi fugitives in Argentina: Secret files go public online
The government in Buenos Aires has released hundreds of documents online concerning Nazi criminals who escaped to Argentina.
After World War II, many Nazi war criminals fled to Argentina to evade responsibility. Now the government in Buenos Aires has posted hundreds of documents online about their activities and the investigations surrounding them.
Mengele and Eichmann
Files are available on the website of the Argentine National Archives, including those of Auschwitz criminal Josef Mengele and Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann. For the first time, their records are publicly accessible in digital format for everyone.
During the Third Reich, Eichmann ordered the deportation of millions of Jews to extermination camps. After World War II, he fled to Argentina before Israeli agents captured him in May 1960 and brought him to Israel, where he was tried and sentenced to death.
Josef Mengele, a medical doctor, was a physician at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. He orchestrated some of the most brutal pseudo-medical experiments. He initially fled to Argentina and later moved to Brazil, where he eventually died. He was never brought to justice.
Available online
In total, over 1,850 documents have been posted online, which were previously available only in paper form at the Argentine archive since 1992. Now, thanks to "extensive restoration and digitization efforts," they are accessible online, as reported by the Argentine Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The materials come from investigations conducted by the Argentine police, intelligence service SIDE, and National Gendarmerie from 1950 to 1980.
