Buchenwald Physician, Wanted by German Authorities, Escapes to Egypt

The Munich State Attorney said today that the West German Foreign Office has been asked to seek extradition from Egypt of Dr. Hans Eisele, a former Buchenwald camp physician accused of numerous murders.

Dr. Eisele fled June 27 on the Italian Liner Esperia after the State Attorney called for his arrest on June 25 and while police were certifying the arrest warrant. He had left by the time police came to his home to arrest him on June 28. He was reported to have arrived in Cairo July 2.

Authorities said they believed Dr. Eisele traveled on a false passport because efforts to arrest him at two ports touched by the liner were futile. They also suspected he was aided by friends, possibly by an international Nazi organization. If Dr. Eisele succeeds in being considered a “political refugee” in Egypt, extradition to West Germany was considered doubtful.

(In Cairo, Dr. Eisele told the German News Agency that he was traveling in Egypt as a tourist. He said he would return to West Germany, but failed to specify when.)

Meanwhile, top Bavarian officials blamed each other and the American authorities for the mix-up which allowed the twice condemned war criminal to escape. The Minister-President W. Spidel, who called the escape “unfortunate,” held the Americans responsible for failing to inform the German authorities of Dr. Elsele’s release from the Landberg War Crimes Prison where he served the seven year sentence which he received when the death sentences were commuted.

The Bavarian Ministry of Justice, which came to the conclusion that the former death camp physician was “now obviously to be regarded as a fugitive from justice, ” blamed the local police for allowing him to slip through their fingers.