The Boys from Brazil (novel)

Ira Levin’s 1976 thriller *The Boys from Brazil* follows Yakov Liebermann, a Nazi hunter based loosely on Simon Wiesenthal. After his Vienna documentation center loses its bank funding and Western interest in pursuing war criminals fades, Liebermann moves the operation into his own home. In February 1974, a young man from Brazil calls him, claiming to have recorded a meeting with Dr. Josef Mengele—the “Angel of Death” who conducted horrific experiments at Auschwitz. The caller says Mengele is reactivating the ODESSA network to send six former SS officers on a mission: kill 94 men in Western Europe and North America, all around age 65, on specific dates spread over several years. The young man is killed after the call ends, when he tries to mail the tape to Liebermann.

Skeptical at first, Liebermann investigates and confirms the murders are happening. He discovers that two of the victims’ children are 13-year-old boys who are genetic clones of Adolf Hitler, though they do not look identical to each other. It emerges that each of the 94 targets has a 13-year-old son who is a genetic clone of Hitler, planted by Mengele through corrupt adoption agencies into families resembling Hitler’s own upbringing. Mengele aims to create a new Führer by replicating the circumstances of Hitler’s childhood, including the death of his father. Each victim is married to a woman about 23 years younger, and their murder is timed to mimic the death of Hitler’s father. As Liebermann closes in, the ODESSA recalls the six assassins. Enraged, Mengele decides to finish the killings himself and travels to the United States.

Liebermann identifies the next target, Henry Wheelock of Pennsylvania, and rushes to warn him. Mengele arrives first, kills Wheelock, and shoots Liebermann. Before Mengele can finish him, Liebermann releases the family’s attack dogs, which pin Mengele down. Bobby Wheelock, the 13-year-old Hitler clone, arrives. Mengele pleads with the boy to join his plan and reveals his true parentage. Bobby deems Mengele insane and orders the dogs to kill him. He then strikes a deal with the wounded Liebermann: he will call for help immediately if Liebermann never reveals that the boy gave the order. The plot is stopped, but 18 clones have already lost their fathers.