The London Daily Express reported today from Ascuncion, Paraguay, that the hunt was on again there for Dr. Josef Mengele, the Auschwitz “selection doctor” and that hunters of Nazi war criminals were “hot on his trail in Paraguay.”
The report said that Mengele, who fled to Paraguay from Argentina in 1961, was under the protection of Alfredo Stroessner, the Paraguayan President. The report also said that Mengele’s hunters were engaged in a “cops and robbers war” with Paraguay’s “ruthless General Vera, who is known here as Nazidom’s best friend.”
Despite continued denials, Israel and the West German Government have proof that Mengele currently is in hiding not far from Ascuncion, the Express said. It repeated an earlier report that Mengele’s trackers missed him by a few minutes in a hotel near Ascuncion when the hotel owner, a former SS officer, tipped off the former Auschwitz doctor, who fled shortly before the hunters closed in. They were reported to have picked up his trail again after the near-miss.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.