Dental X-Rays Called ‘Absolute’ Proof That Body Was Mengele’s

SAO PAULO, Brazil — Newly discovered dental X-rays prove with “absolute certainty” that a skeleton unearthed near Sao Paulo last year was that of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele, experts said Thursday.

American dental scientist Lowell J. Levine, sent by the Justice Department to Sao Paulo last weekend to examine the new evidence for Brazilian authorities, said the X-rays prove beyond all doubt that the skeleton is that of Mengele, known as the “angel of death” for his bizarre medical experiments on concentration camp inmates.

“It is my opinion that the skeleton identified by an international panel of forensic scientists as Josef Mengele with reasonable scientific certainty, may now be identified as Josef Mengele with an absolute certainty,” Levine said.

A concurring opinion was signed by Brazilian odontology expert Carlos Valerio.

‘Good as a Fingerprint’

“A single X-ray film is as good as a fingerprint,” Levine said. “There is no possible doubt the skeleton was Mengele.”

Authorities, following a tip from West German police, last June near Sao Paulo exhumed the skeleton of a man from a cemetery who drowned while swimming near Sao Paulo in February, 1979.

Local residents testified they helped Mengele live in hiding and buried him under an assumed name. Forensic experts from the United States, Brazil and West Germany, accompanied by Israeli observers, concluded “within a reasonable scientific certainty” the skeleton was Mengele. Mengele’s son, Rolf, also told authorities his father died in Brazil.

The forensic experts last year used sophisticated computer-assisted X-ray studies to compare wartime photographs of Mengele with the skull found in Sao Paulo, but they complained they needed more medical and dental records to convince some Jewish leaders who said they feared the skeleton was another ruse by Mengele to trick his enemies into thinking him dead.

Two East European immigrant families provided photographs and examples of Mengele’s handwriting, which were all confirmed as authentic, to back their testimony that Mengele had lived in Brazil under various aliases from 1961 until his death.

Doubts About Mengele Death

But Israel declined to issue an official verdict on whether the 40-year hunt for Mengele was over. Many concentration camp survivor groups, while accepting that Mengele had lived in Brazil, suspected he had escaped again and that the remains were that of another man.

“It was clearly very difficult for the international Jewish community to accept that such a man could die of natural causes without being brought to trial,” one U.S. official linked to the investigation said.

Federal Police Chief Romeu Tuma, who led last year’s investigation and the team that exhumed Mengele’s body, announced Thursday’s findings at a news conference.

The evidence includes eight sets of X-rays of Mengele’s teeth that were obtained last Friday from a Sao Paulo-area dentist who treated the Nazi war criminal from 1976 to 1978. The dentist, Kasumasa Tutiya, was tracked down by U.S. consul general Stephan Dachi, vice consul Fred Kaplan and a Brazilian police officer last week, officials said.

The consular officials had been studying an English translation of a handwritten Mengele diary found in the house where he spent his final years and noticed a reference to a doctor code-named Gama Sama.

Traced to Town

After ruling out six doctors in the Sao Paulo area, they guessed the “Sama” might refer to the town of Santo Amaro. In that town, they found Dr. Hercy Gonzaga Gama Angelo, a root canal specialist who said he had no X-rays of Mengele’s teeth but who referred them to Tutiya.

The eight X-rays perfectly matched the jaw of the skeleton experts had identified as that of Mengele.