“Betina Anton has written the definitive book on Josef Mengele, the Nazi monster of Auschwitz, and the invisible community of sympathizers that hid the Angel of Death from justice for decades. Anton’s skills as an investigative journalist shine as she unmasks the chilling truth behind one of World War II’s greatest unsolved mysteries. Part history, part detective story, this book grabs the reader from the first heart-thumping page to the last. Meticulous research, and brilliant writing makes Hiding Mengele an essential read in understanding Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich. It will rightfully take its place alongside Hannah Arendt’s haunting classic, Eichmann in Jerusalem.”  —James McMurtry Longo, author of Hitler and the Habsburgs: The Fuhrer’s Vendetta Against the Austrian Royals

 

“Hiding Mengele is a wonderfully readable and fresh account of how the world’s most wanted Nazi stayed a step ahead of his pursuers. Betina Anton has done a public service by turning a spotlight on the lingering question of how Mengele and his supporters went unpunished in Brazil.”  —Gerald Posner, co-author of Mengele: The Complete Story

 

“Offering a unique perspective on the notorious Nazi doctor through her connection to one of his protectors, Brazilian journalist Betina Anton provides a welcome addition to the literature on Josef Mengele.”  —David G. Marwell, author of Mengele: Unmasking the Angel of Death

 

“Hiding Mengele is a captivating, thought-provoking and well-researched book that is a must-read for anyone interested in the story of the diabolic Dr. Josef Mengele, the Mengele twins, and medical experimentation during WWII. Betina Anton offers a stark reminder of how a flawed scientific and political ideology can adversely influence people of all walks of life to take part in inhumane medical experimentation and unforeseen acts. As the son of the late Eva Mozes Kor, a Mengele twin who fought tirelessly to unearth the truth about Mengele’s death, I was fascinated with the attention to detail and new information uncovered by Betina Anton. My mother expressed her frustration when remarking, ‘The fact that he was not put on trial bothers me less than the fact that I don’t know what he injected into me/us.’ My mother would be very impressed with Anton’s work and persistence in setting the historical record straight regarding Mengele.”  —Alex Kor, Board Member of CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center, and co-author of A Blessing, Not a Burden

After the end of the Second World War, the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, known worldwide for cruel experiments and for sending thousands of people to the gas chambers at the Auschwitz concentration camp, lived on the run for 34 years, more than half of them in Brazil. Mengele escaped justice, the Israeli secret service, and Nazi hunters until his death in Bertioga in 1979. Hidden in Brazil, Mengele created his Tropical Bavaria, a place where he could speak German, maintain his beliefs, his friends, and his connection with the homeland. This was only possible thanks to a small circle of expatriate Europeans willing to help him until the end.

One such person, Austrian Liselotte Bossert, buried Mengele with false documents in order to keep his true identity hidden even after his death. When, in 1985, this fact came to light and the world finally discovered where Josef Mengele was, Liselotte was teaching at a German school in São Paulo, and one of her students was precisely Betina Anton, then six years old. The sudden disappearance of her schoolteacher, with no explanation given to the children, intrigued her forever. Decades later, as an experienced journalist, Betina decided to investigate the matter. But when she was reunited with Liselotte, she received threats for wanting to clarify a “dangerous case”.

Based on extensive research, including interviews, unpublished documents and news coverage from that era, the book tells in a ravishing way how Mengele became a monstrous doctor without any scruples in the exercise of his profession, how he ended up in Brazil and why people in the country got involved with him, even risking their reputations to cover him up. Finally, the big question of this book: how could a criminal of this magnitude and his collaborators go unpunished?