Switzerland To Open Restricted Josef Mengele File After Years of Refusals By The Media Line Staff Swiss authorities have agreed to grant access to a previously restricted file on Nazi officer Josef Mengele following a reassessment described as a “new situation,” after years of denying requests to review the documents, Swiss info reported. The file, […]
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The Media Line: Switzerland To Open Restricted Josef Mengele File After Years of Refusals
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Switzerland To Open Restricted Josef Mengele File After Years of Refusals
By The Media Line Staff
Swiss authorities have agreed to grant access to a previously restricted file on Nazi officer Josef Mengele following a reassessment described as a “new situation,” after years of denying requests to review the documents, Swiss info reported.
The file, which concerns Mengele’s time in Switzerland, had been held under extended restrictions at the Swiss Federal Archives. The Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) had repeatedly rejected access requests, most recently in February 2026.
An appeal challenging the refusal remains pending before the Federal Administrative Court. Authorities said the appellant will now be allowed to consult the file under conditions and procedures that have yet to be defined, and those same rules will apply to future requests.
Mengele, who was dubbed the “Angel of Death,” conducted inhumane experiments on inmates at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. After the war, he fled to South America but later returned to Europe once as a tourist, including a visit to Switzerland.
His activities in Switzerland were previously examined by the Bergier Commission, established by the Swiss government in 1996 to investigate how Swiss banks handled assets belonging to families of Holocaust victims.
Despite that review, the Swiss government decided in December 2001 to impose further restrictions on access to the Mengele file. Since then, the documents have remained largely inaccessible to researchers and the public.
Several Swiss parliamentarians have recently submitted motions seeking additional information about Mengele’s time in Switzerland, prompting renewed attention to the issue.
Authorities said the shift in policy followed a recent reassessment, which they described as a “new situation,” without detailing the specific factors behind the change.
The forthcoming access is expected to clarify aspects of Mengele’s presence in Switzerland, though the scope of what will be released and the terms of access have not yet been finalized.