The Argentine authorities were either unwilling or unable to bring Nazi war criminals to justice even when they had them in custody, archives made public for the first time today show.

The archives on five Nazi war criminals that were made available by Argentina show a pattern that confirms what many have said for years, that war criminals found a safe haven here and that this country was probably one of the easiest in which to disappear and escape justice.

Last week, President Carlos Saul Menem ordered the files opened and gave Government agencies 30 days to produce any they had on suspected war criminals who came to Argentina.

According to the documents released today, Josef Mengele, the Auschwitz death camp doctor known as the "Angel of Death" for his experiments on inmates, practiced medicine in Buenos Aires for several years in the 1950's. He "had a reputation as a specialist in abortions," which were illegal. When one young woman died from his treatment, he was taken before a Buenos Aires judge, who detained him only briefly.