The Swiss authorities have finally granted interested historians access to documents on Josef Mengele which have been stored in the Swiss Federal Archives. This decision breaks the 25-year-long unlawful blockade imposed by the Swiss intelligence service. Commenting in Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice-President of the International Auschwitz Committee, said:

‘For Auschwitz survivors, even many decades after their survival, Josef Mengele remains a name that makes their hearts grow cold and sends shivers down their spines.’

The fact that this infamous ‘Angel of Death of Auschwitz’ was repeatedly able to evade justice and lead a fairly carefree and undisturbed life – at times in places probably including Switzerland – continues to outrage and pain survivors to this day. That is why the planned opening of the files on Joseph Mengele held in Switzerland is a source of satisfaction for the survivors of Auschwitz and their relatives.

They would like to thank the Swiss historian Gérard Wettstein, who fought for this access over many years. For Auschwitz survivors, the bitter reality is that these documents are being made public at a time when Nazi perpetrators and SS criminals are being presented, without further comment, as ‘war heroes’ on Instagram. And now, even the name Mengele – along with the Nazi ideology of hatred and anti-Semitism – is gaining a bizarre appeal for neo-Nazis and far-right extremists in many countries.’