Overview
- The Swiss Federal Intelligence Service said it will grant access to its Josef Mengele dossier under yet-undefined rules and has not set a release date.
- The file had been sealed until 2071, and the agency now says any access will follow conditions that will also govern future requests.
- Historian Gérard Wettstein set the change in motion with a crowdfunded court challenge after his request to see the files was refused.
- Several historians voice doubt that the opening will be broad, warning the release could be narrow or heavily redacted.
- Researchers want the records to clarify leads on Mengele’s possible presence in Switzerland, including a 1956 ski trip, a 1959 Zurich apartment rented by his wife, and a 1961 Austrian alert to Swiss authorities.