German intelligence knew Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was hiding out in Argentina eight years before Israeli agents kidnapped him in 1960, the Bild daily cited newly released documents as saying.
"SS colonel Eichmann ... is living in Argentina under the false name of Clemens. The editor of the 'Der Weg' German newspaper in Argentina knows E.'s address," according to a 1952 document, Bild reported on Saturday.
It took another six years for Germany to inform the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the United States, according to CIA documents made public in 2006, the German newspaper said.
In 1960, Mossad agents kidnapped Eichmann, one of the main executors of Adolf Hitler's "final solution", in Buenos Aires. He was brougt to Israel for trial, where he was convicted and hanged in 1962.
The release of the documents came after the newspaper successfully sued the German government in the country's highest court to force it to release them, Bild said.
The paper cited historian Bettina Stangneth, who is due to publish a book about Eichmann in April, as calling the find a "sensation."
The American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants called claims that Eichmann's whereabouts were known "disturbing."
"Equally disturbing is the continued unwillingness of the BND to release the documents which could shed further light on this sad history and other questions related to the fate of Nazis after the War," a statement said.
"The question must be asked whether (German intelligence service) BND files will reveal assistance and aid given to these Nazis to escape and evade justice? History and memory demand the answer to this question."