Josef Mengele has come to symbolise both the evil of the Nazi regime and the failure of justice. Drawing on new scholarship and sources, David G. Marwell examines Mengele’s life, chronicling his university studies, which led to two PhDs; his wartime service, in combat and at Auschwitz, where his “selections” determined the fate of countless innocents and his “scientific” pursuits resulted in the traumatisation and death of thousands more; and his post-war refuge in Germany and South America.

Mengele describes the international search in 1985, which ended in a cemetery in Sao Paulo and the forensic investigation that produced overwhelming evidence that Mengele had died—but failed to convince those who, arguably, most wanted him dead. This is a story of science without limits, escape without freedom and resolution without justice.