Recently released documents by U.S. Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R. NY) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) indicate that Josef Mengele did not apply to come to Canada and was never in this country, contrary to allegations made last month by the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Canadian representative, Sol Littman.
Littman dropped a bombshell at a news conference here last month by stating that documents obtained by the Center through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act indicated that Mengele had applied for the papers at Canada’s Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1962. Littman said Mengele used the alias Joseph Menke, and that security checks showed he was really Mengele.
However, Littman had only the U.S. side of the correspondence between Canada and the U.S. government on this matter. The Canadian side was not released until February 15 because Washington needed permission from Canada to do so.
Documents involving foreign countries cannot be released under the Freedom of Information Act without their permission. The complete correspondence makes it clear that Mengele never came to Canada.
Littman has acknowedged that the Canadian government received assurances in 1962, and again during a recent investigation, that the man who was living in southern Ontario and using the name Joseph Menke was not Mengele.
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