He was detained by the American Army in 1945 and was briefly imprisoned in Austria for his complicity in the euthanasia programme but escaped to Italy with his colleague from Sobibor, SS officer Gustav Wagner.
He was detained by the American Army in 1945 and was briefly imprisoned pending investigation in Linz in 1947. But on May 30,1948, Stangl escaped to Italy with his colleague from Sobibor, SS officer Gustav Wagner.