Center Offers $1 Million for Mengele Arrest

A $1-million reward for the capture and extradition of Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous “Angel of Death” of the Auschwitz concentration camp, was announced today by the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.

Martin Mendelsohn, Washington-based counsel for the Los Angeles center, told reporters that the reward is being offered by a group of “concerned citizens, outraged that after 40 years the torturer and murderer of 400,000 human beings . . . is still at large.”

The attorney said the Wiesenthal Center accepted the reward proposal under terms requiring that the 73-year-old Mengele, thought to be living in South America, is found alive and extradited to the Federal Republic of Germany or Israel for trial.

“Under no circumstances will payment be made if Mengele is dead,” Mendelsohn said.

The new reward brings to $1,375,000 the total amount of money offered for Mengele. Mendelsohn declined to identify those who pledged money for the reward, but he said they included Southern California residents.