Mengele Still Alive, 2 W. German Newspapers Say

BONN —  Two West German newspapers said Sunday that Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele is alive, despite reports he died six years ago in Brazil.

The Bild am Sonntag newspaper said Mengele is seriously ill with cancer and living in Paraguay, while the Welt am Sonntag newspaper quoted Israeli authorities as saying simply that Mengele is alive.

Bild am Sonntag said it obtained its information in an interview with an agent of Mossad, the Israeli secret service, in his office in Tel Aviv.

The two newspaper reports were the first in West Germany to seriously question Mengele’s reported death since the body of a man who drowned near Sao Paulo on Feb. 7, 1979 was exhumed earlier this month and police asserted it was Mengele’s.

“I will tell you what the world must know: Dr. Mengele is alive,” Bild am Sonntag quoted the agent, identified only as “Motti,” as saying. “He is very sick, he has cancer.”

According to Motti, Mossad agents photographed Mengele in June, 1980, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Bild am Sonntag said. The newspaper did not publish this photograph and did not say whether its reporter had asked to see it.

Later, Mengele was spotted in Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina, and now lives in Paraguay, the newspaper quoted Motti as saying.

Bild am Sonntag said it was assured by the commander of the Israeli police unit against Nazi crimes, Menachem Rossack, that the body exhumed in Brazil is not Mengele’s.

Welt am Sonntag quoted Rossak as saying, “The criminal Josef Mengele is alive.”