Office of Special Investigations

The Office of Special Investigations was created by the Carter administration to track down Nazi criminals in the United States. In the book’s account of the renewed hunt for Josef Mengele in 1985, it represents an effort to turn public demands for accountability into coordinated investigation, linking the testimony of survivors and new scrutiny of earlier American records with the resources of the federal government.

Creation and Purpose

The Office of Special Investigations is identified as an institution established by the Carter administration to pursue Nazi criminals in the United States. The evidence does not detail its internal structure, legal procedures, or earlier cases; its significance here lies in its stated purpose and its place in the renewed effort to locate Mengele.

The 1985 Investigation

The office entered the account during a surge of attention following a mock trial at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Over three days, survivors described their experiences under Mengele, and the testimonies were broadcast internationally. Before the trial had ended, the US attorney general called for the complete file to be reviewed and demanded the war criminal’s arrest. The Simon Wiesenthal Center also publicized a declassified counterintelligence memorandum claiming that American authorities had held Mengele in 1947. That information was incorrect, but it provoked intense questions about whether the United States had allowed him to escape capture.

Coordination and Significance

The Office of Special Investigations coordinated the investigation, with the CIA, the National Security Agency, and the Department of Defense among the agencies whose resources were made available. The account presents this cooperation alongside renewed Israeli and West German efforts, increased rewards for Mengele’s capture, and a flood of journalists and adventurers into Günzburg and South America. The office’s role therefore marks a shift from scattered pursuit toward a coordinated American response. The evidence describes the mobilization and its public urgency, but does not establish that the office itself located or apprehended Mengele.