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The Case of Josef Mengele

Illustration
  • Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
  • When: October 18, 2018, 19:00 – 21:00

1949: Josef Mengele arrives in Argentina. Disguised and under various pseudonyms, Auschwitz’s “Angel of Death” attempts to start a new life in Buenos Aires. Peron’s Argentina is hospitable to former Nazis and it seems that the whole world wishes to forget the crimes of WWII. However, the hunt for war criminals is gaining momentum and Mengele is forced to flee to Paraguay and later Brazil. He changes his identity, hiding places and locations and, consumed by disgrace, finds no rest until his mysterious death on a beach in 1979. How is it possible that this top Nazi managed to evade capture for 30 years? How come Nazi-hunting agents didn’t succeed in capturing Mengele? Which secret services helped him?

Olivier Guez is a French writer and journalist. His novel The Disappearance of Josef Mengele, a gripping almost crime novel style exploration of the post-war life of the infamous “Angel of Death”, received the prestigious Prix Renaudot and is now coming out in a Czech translation by Zdeněk Huml on the Garamond imprint.

The book will be presented as part of the French Literary Autumn. Alongside Olivier Guez, Michal Šimůnek, a historian at the Institute of Contemporary History at the Academy of Sciences, will speak. Denisa Novotná will chair the discussion.

The evening will take place in French with simultaneous interpretation. 

Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with the French Institute.

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