As the Russians advanced towards Poland it became clear that the Germans were losing the war and many records of the Auschwitz concentration camp were destroyed by SS guards. When the Allies ultimately won the war, they started searching for war criminals on the Allie side. Mengele was able to escape the Allies by disguising himself as a German infantry soldier. During his attempted escape, Mengele was captured near Munich. Mengele lacked the SS blood group tattoo that would have connected him to be a war criminal so the Allies released him thinking has just an infantry man. After being released Mengele was able to avoid arrest by keeping a low profile. By 1948 Mengele decided that he needed to get out of Germany and soon after moved to Argentina. With a false name identity, and Italian residency papers, Mengele moved to Argentina in 1949. In the years leading up to his death, Mengele lived under a number of Aliases and moved from one South America country to another. This strategy kept Mengele out of the hands of persecuting Allies.