Sympathy and support in South America
Europe was a hotbed of intrigue and distrust between the former allies, and growing numbers of Germans (and others including the Vatican) assisted escaping former Nazis as part of resisting the domination of the Soviet Union on Eastern Europe. Many escape routes went through Italy, and Mengele used one of these, arriving in Genoa sometime in the summer of 1949. By August, he was on a ship to Argentina, traveling under an International Passport issued by the Red Cross as a war refugee, using the alias Helmut Gregor.
In Argentina Mengele found work as a salesman of farm implements and in that role traveled throughout the region, including frequent trips to Paraguay. He achieved access to family funds (his father had accumulated significant wealth) through Swiss banks and in the early 1950s invested in a carpentry company. At first, residing in a Buenos Aires apartment, Mengele later rented a house in Olivos, an affluent suburb, and evidence indicates that he soon resumed practicing medicine, in the form of performing illegal abortions.
By 1954 Mengele had obtained a West German passport with his real name and traveled to Switzerland for a ski vacation. Despite the efforts of West German police and the Israeli secret service, Mengele returned to live openly in Argentina, under his real name, protected from extradition by international law. He invested in a pharmaceutical company, purchased property, and according to evidence uncovered in the 1990s, resumed his experimental research on twins.
After moving to Paraguay, using the name Jose Mengele, the now remarried Mengele (his first wife had remained in Europe and divorced him) remained out in the open. During the Nuremberg Trials, his name and activities had been a common topic of testimony by accused Nazis and surviving prisoners, prompting legal action by the West Germans to extradite him to Europe to face a military tribunal. When Argentina was presented with extradition papers they rejected them out of hand, since Mengele was not a resident at the time the papers were prepared.