The Swiss Intelligence Service opens access to the Mengele file
Keystone-SDA
The Swiss Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) is granting access to the file on former Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele.
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The Nazi officer and physician Mengele was dubbed the ‘Angel of Death’ after conducting inhumane experiments on inmates at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
After the Second World War, Mengele fled to South America but returned to Europe once as a tourist – and came to Switzerland. Several Swiss parliamentarians have put forward motions to find out more about the Nazi criminal’s time in Switzerland.
His Swiss file was assessed by the Bergier Commission, which was formed by the Swiss government in 1996 to investigate the treatment by banks of the families of holocaust victims and their assets.
+ The Swiss return of Nazi ‘Angel of Death’ Josef Mengele
But in December 2001, the Swiss government decided to restrict further access to the Mengele file.
The documents were handed over to the Swiss Federal Archives, and have been subject to an extended restricted period. Until now, the FIS has rejected requests to consult the file, most recently in February 2026.
An appeal against this decision is pending before the Federal Administrative Court.
The reason for the change of course by FIS has been explained as a “new situation”, following a recent assessment.
The appellant will therefore obtain access to the file under conditions and procedures yet to be defined, which will also apply to future consultations.
Translated from French by AI/mga
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