Surrounded by photographers and locals, the bones of one of the world’s most hunted Nazis are lifted from the ground.
Could Josef Mengele – the infamous ‘Angel of Death’ who conducted gruesome experiments on Jewish prisoners at the Auschwitz death camp – really have been dead for years, despite a decades-long international manhunt?
That was the belief in June 1985, when intelligence from German police led authorities to open a weed-covered grave in a small cemetery in the town of Embu, about 12 miles from Sao Paulo.
Images previously unpublished in Britain showed bones and shreds of clothing being lifted out and placed on a long metal tray in front of hundreds of spectators.
His skull was held up for all to see by Jose Antonio, the director of the morgue where his remains were taken for tests.
Mengele was buried under the false name Wolfgang Gerhard, the identity he had used for almost a decade.
The images are revealed in the new book Hiding Mengele: How a Nazi Network Harbored The Angel of Death, by Brazilian writer Betina Anton.
The remains of the infamous ‘Angel of Death’ Josef Mengele are lifted from the ground in June 1985 in a small cemetery in the town of Embu, 27 kilometers from Sao Paulo.
Mengele was buried under the false name Wolfgang Gerhard, the identity he had used for almost a decade. Above: Mengele photographed while living under his assumed identity (left); standing in front of a train window in his SS uniform, 1945 (right)
It tells how Mengele secretly fled Germany four years after the defeat of the Nazis in World War II.
After reaching South America, he was protected by a network of fellow European immigrants.
He spent the last two decades of his life in Brazil, where he died in 1979 at the age of 67 of a heart attack while swimming in the seaside resort of Bertioga.
Forensic tests concluded that it was highly likely that the exhumed remains were those of Mengele.
Mengele’s son Rolf said a few days after the excavation that the bones were his father’s.
A bone is lifted from the grave containing the remains of Nazi ‘Angel of Death’ Josef Mengele. This image was never published in Britain
Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal wondered at the time why his family had not announced his death six years earlier.
Rolf Mengele said the family remained silent to avoid endangering those who had given him shelter.
In a statement, he expressed his “deepest condolences” for his father’s victims.
DNA research in 1992 provided definitive confirmation.
Mengele had lived the last years of his life as a quiet old man who avoided talking about the war.
Mengele with Nazi geneticist Hans Grebe. Mengele was infamous for his medical experiments on twins at Auschwitz. He is said to have been responsible for the deaths of approximately 400,000 Jews
Mengele (center) seen with Auschwitz commander Richard Baer (left) and former commander Rudolf Hoess on the grounds of the SS retreat outside Auschwitz, 1944
A photo taken by a police photographer in Buenos Aires in 1956, for Mengele’s Argentine ID
It was said that he loved classical music and dined at a modest restaurant once a week.
At the time of the excavation in 1985, Nazi hunters were skeptical about the prospect of one of history’s greatest manhunts finally coming to an end.
His funeral was arranged quickly and quietly under the assumed name he had used since 1971.
Mengele was infamous for his medical experiments on twins at Auschwitz. He is said to have been responsible for the deaths of approximately 400,000 Jews.
The doctor was said to have enjoyed the procedures, despite often inflicting immense pain and suffering on his victims.
Mengele was buried under the false name Wolfgang Gerhard, the identity he had used for almost a decade. Above: Mengele photographed while living under his assumed identity (left); standing in front of a train window in his SS uniform, 1945 (right)
The Daily Mail’s original report on the exhumation of Mengle’s remains
The front page of the Daily Mail on June 8, 1985, when a photo of Mangele living as Wolfgang Gerhard was released
The Mail’s June 1985 report, after Mengele’s body was exhumed and his false identity revealed
He was particularly interested in twins and people with conditions such as dwarfism.
Ms. Anton, a Brazilian, reveals how Mengele was taken care of by kindergarten teacher Liselotte Bossert and her husband Wolfram.
The writer herself was taught by Bossert.
Mengele lived with the teacher, her husband and their two children – who called him “Uncle Peter” – in their home in São Paulo’s Brooklin neighborhood for 10 years.
The family enjoyed barbecues and visits to the beach as the Mossad, Israel’s feared intelligence agency, led international efforts to find him.
