The Disappearance of Josef Mengele, Guez - B-

          This 'factual' novel is the story of Mengele's thirty years in Argentina. He arrived in 1949 and went to work as a laborer. His circumstances improved when he let those in high places know who he was. His family's agricultural equipment business in Bavaria provided financial support.  Mengele began accumulating wealth and expanding the family business into both Argentina and Paraguay. The passage of time allowed him to obtain a German passport and birth certificate as Josef Mengele. The time for hiding had passed. He married his brother's widow in order to assure all of the family business assets stayed in the family. Happily married and making money, Mengele was feeling very good about life in South America in the mid-50's. 

          In 1959, he was indicted in Germany. Fearing possible extradition, he moved to Paraguay. A year later, the Mossad kidnappped Eichmann, but failed to find Mengele. The Nazis of South America became very wary, fearing the Mossad was constantly pursuing them. His wife returned to Germany, he burned his German passport and began life anew again as a Brazilian. With Eichmann captured, tried and hung, he was now the most wanted Nazi fugitive. He worked as a farmhand for a Hungarian couple who were paid nicely for harboring him. By the end of the decade, he was almost 60 and in failing health. Years of stress, anxiety, loneliness and manual labor have taken its toll. His endless complaining lead the Hungarians to throw him out and he found himself in a rundown small house. In 1976, Mengele suffered a stroke and is hospitalized for two weeks.

         Mengele's only son, Rolf, born in 1944, is a left leaning Munich lawyer who despises his surname and has only a limited memory of the 'uncle' who visited him when he was a young boy. Mengele begs his son to come and in October, 1977, he visits Brazil. Rolf confronts his father about his monstrous crimes at Auschwitz. Josef tells Rolf of the struggles Germany faced after WWI, of his belief in the policies of Hitler and that he just followed orders at Auschwitz. "After two days and two nights of relentless discussions, Rolf gives up. His father is stubborn, incurable and evil, a war criminal. a criminal against humanity, unrepentant." Miserable, and in ill health, he suffers a stroke while in the ocean and drowns on Feb.7, 1979.