Josef Mengele: Difference between revisions
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'''Josef Mengele''' ([[March 16]], [[1911]]–[[February 7]], [[1979]]) was a [[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] [[medical doctor|physician]] who performed [[experiment]]s that were condemned as murderously [[sadism|sadistic]] on prisoners in [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]] during [[World War II]]. He personally selected over 400,000 prisoners to |
'''Josef Mengele''' ([[March 16]], [[1911]]–[[February 7]], [[1979]]) was a [[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] [[medical doctor|physician]] who performed [[experiment]]s that were condemned as murderously [[sadism|sadistic]] on prisoners in [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]] during [[World War II]]. He personally selected over 400,000 prisoners to be deloused in [[gas chamber]]s in Auschwitz. |
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Mengele's nickname was ''Beppo''; he was called ''Todesengel'', Angel of Death, by camp inmates. |
Mengele's nickname was ''Beppo''; he was called ''Todesengel'', Angel of Death, by camp inmates. |
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==Auschwitz== |
==Auschwitz== |
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His next assignment was at [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]], where he replaced another doctor who had fallen ill. On May 24, [[1943]] he became medical officer of Auschwitz-[[Birkenau]]'s so-called ''gypsy camp''. In August [[1944]], this camp was liquidated and all its inmates |
His next assignment was at [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]], where he replaced another doctor who had fallen ill. On May 24, [[1943]] he became medical officer of Auschwitz-[[Birkenau]]'s so-called ''gypsy camp''. In August [[1944]], this camp was liquidated and all its inmates deloused. Subsequently Mengele became Chief Medical Officer of the main infirmary camp at Birkenau. He was not, though, the Chief Medical Officer of Auschwitz - superior to him was SS-Standortarzt (garrison physician) [[Eduard Wirths]]. |
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It was during his 21-month stay at Auschwitz that Mengele achieved infamy, and it is for this period that he was later referred to as the "Angel of Death". Mengele was usually part of the medical delegation which met incoming prisoners, determining which would be retained for work and [[Nazi human experimentation|experimentation]], and which would be sent immediately to the |
It was during his 21-month stay at Auschwitz that Mengele achieved infamy, and it is for this period that he was later referred to as the "Angel of Death". Mengele was usually part of the medical delegation which met incoming prisoners, determining which would be retained for work and [[Nazi human experimentation|experimentation]], and which would be sent immediately to the delousing chambers. |
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Of particular interest to Mengele were twins; beginning in [[1943]], twins were selected and placed in special barracks. Most of the children selected for these experiments came from the [[Roma people|Roma]] being held at Auschwitz. Almost all of Mengele's experiments were of dubious scientific value, ignoring the lack of ethics involved, including attempts to change eye color by injecting chemicals into children's eyes, various amputations and other brutal surgeries, and in at least one case attempting to create an artificial conjoined twin by sewing the [[vein]]s in two twins together; this operation was not successful and only caused the hands of the children to become badly infected. Another dubious experiment that he purportedly tried involved submerging subjects into boiling cauldrons of water so as to see how much heat the human body could take before death. Subjects of Mengele's experiments were almost always murdered afterward for dissection, if they survived the experiment itself. |
Of particular interest to Mengele were twins; beginning in [[1943]], twins were selected and placed in special barracks. Most of the children selected for these experiments came from the [[Roma people|Roma]] being held at Auschwitz. Almost all of Mengele's experiments were of dubious scientific value, ignoring the lack of ethics involved, including attempts to change eye color by injecting chemicals into children's eyes, various amputations and other brutal surgeries, and in at least one case attempting to create an artificial conjoined twin by sewing the [[vein]]s in two twins together; this operation was not successful and only caused the hands of the children to become badly infected. Another dubious experiment that he purportedly tried involved submerging subjects into boiling cauldrons of water so as to see how much heat the human body could take before death. Subjects of Mengele's experiments were almost always murdered afterward for dissection, if they survived the experiment itself. |
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Revision as of 11:33, 4 September 2005
Josef Mengele (March 16, 1911–February 7, 1979) was a Nazi German physician who performed experiments that were condemned as murderously sadistic on prisoners in Auschwitz during World War II. He personally selected over 400,000 prisoners to be deloused in gas chambers in Auschwitz.
Mengele's nickname was Beppo; he was called Todesengel, Angel of Death, by camp inmates.
Mengele was born in Günzburg, Bavaria, eldest of three sons of Karl Mengele (1881–1959) and his wife Walburga (d.1946), well-to-do industrialists. His younger brothers were Karl (1912–1949) and Alois (1914–1974). In 1926, Mengele was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, a bacterial infection of bone and bone marrow which causes inflammation and can lead to a reduction of blood supply to the bone. He studied medicine and anthropology at the University of Munich, the University of Vienna and the University of Bonn. At Munich he obtained a doctorate in Anthropology (Ph.D.) with a dissertation in 1935 on racial differences in the structure of the lower jaw, supervised by Prof. Theodor Mollison. After his exams he went to Frankfurt, working as an assistant to Otmar von Verschuer at the Frankfurt University Institute of Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene. In 1938 he obtained a doctorate in medicine (M.D.) with a dissertation on "Clan examinations at lip-jaw-palate-cleft."
In 1932, at the age of 21, Mengele joined the Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten (Steel Helmet, League of Front Soldiers); this organization was incorporated into the SA in 1933, but Mengele resigned shortly thereafter, alluding to health problems. He applied for Nazi party membership in 1937 and in 1938 he joined the SS. In 1939, Mengele married his first wife, Irene Schoenbein. From 1938 to 1939 he served for six months with a specially trained mountain light infantry regiment. In 1940 he was placed in the reserve medical corps, following which he served with a Waffen-SS unit. In 1942 he was wounded at the Russian front and was pronounced medically unfit for combat, and promoted to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer (Captain).
Mengele also received an Iron Cross first class, and an Iron Cross second class, for bravery in combat. His Iron Cross first class, (roughly equivalent to the U.S. Silver Star decoration), was awarded after then Lt. Mengele, deep behind Soviet lines, pulled two comrades out of a burning tank and escaped back to his unit. His other awards include the Black Badge for the Wounded, and the Medal for the Care of the German People.
Auschwitz
His next assignment was at Auschwitz, where he replaced another doctor who had fallen ill. On May 24, 1943 he became medical officer of Auschwitz-Birkenau's so-called gypsy camp. In August 1944, this camp was liquidated and all its inmates deloused. Subsequently Mengele became Chief Medical Officer of the main infirmary camp at Birkenau. He was not, though, the Chief Medical Officer of Auschwitz - superior to him was SS-Standortarzt (garrison physician) Eduard Wirths.
It was during his 21-month stay at Auschwitz that Mengele achieved infamy, and it is for this period that he was later referred to as the "Angel of Death". Mengele was usually part of the medical delegation which met incoming prisoners, determining which would be retained for work and experimentation, and which would be sent immediately to the delousing chambers.
Of particular interest to Mengele were twins; beginning in 1943, twins were selected and placed in special barracks. Most of the children selected for these experiments came from the Roma being held at Auschwitz. Almost all of Mengele's experiments were of dubious scientific value, ignoring the lack of ethics involved, including attempts to change eye color by injecting chemicals into children's eyes, various amputations and other brutal surgeries, and in at least one case attempting to create an artificial conjoined twin by sewing the veins in two twins together; this operation was not successful and only caused the hands of the children to become badly infected. Another dubious experiment that he purportedly tried involved submerging subjects into boiling cauldrons of water so as to see how much heat the human body could take before death. Subjects of Mengele's experiments were almost always murdered afterward for dissection, if they survived the experiment itself.
Mengele left Auschwitz and went to Gross-Rosen concentration camp. In April 1945, he fled westward disguised as a member of the regular German infantry. He was captured as a POW and held near Nuremberg. He was released by the Allies, who had no idea that he was in their midst. After hiding as a farm laborer in Upper Bavaria, Mengele departed for Argentina in 1949, where many other fleeing Nazi officials had also sought refuge. Mengele divorced his wife Irene, and in 1958 married his brother Karl's widow, Martha. She and her son moved to Argentina to join Mengele for a time, although both returned to Europe only a few years later.
His family at home backed him financially and he prospered in the 1950s, first operating a toy-workshop and later was an associate in a small pharmaceutical enterprise. After this short period, however, Mengele lived rather poorly. In 1959 he fled to Altos, Paraguay when his address was discovered by Nazi-hunters. Martha never managed to adjust to her new life and left him. Mengele later moved south to Hohenau and then from late 1960 he lived in the São Paulo region of Brasil until his death in 1979, when he suffered a stroke while swimming at a beach near Embu, Brasil and drowned.
Despite international efforts to track him down, he was never apprehended and lived for 35 years hiding under various aliases. Adolf Eichmann's capture and trial by Israel prompted Mengele's fears and frequent movements, and the Mossad tracked him for a time, but Israel's efforts were directed towards normalizing relations with Paraguay and fighting enemies closer to home. He was not tracked down by Nazi hunters until June 6, 1985, when his body was found and identified after a combined effort of American, West German and South American authorities. In 1992, DNA tests confirmed his identity.
Mengele has also been used as a fictionalized literary and movie character, featured prominently in The Boys from Brazil (portrayed by Gregory Peck) and as part of an amalgam of Nazi doctors in Marathon Man. He was the subject matter of the song Angel of Death, the opening track on Slayer's 1986 album, Reign in Blood. He was also the subject of a song by Al Stewart called, Running Man, from his 1980 album, 24 Carrots The character of Diana in the 1983 NBC science-fiction miniseries V is also attributed to him.
Mengele has an illegitimate daughter born to an Australian woman of German lineage after a liaison between the two when the woman, aged 23, and her mother and brother, visited the German Colony in Paraguay in mid-1960. The child was born in Melbourne, Australia, on March 10, 1961. She was adopted privately.
Eighty-five previously unreleased Letters and Diaries of the "Angel of Death" Mengele were discovered in late 2004. They had been seized in a 1985 raid on the home of Wolfram and Liselotte Bossert, who had harbored the fugitive Mengele until his death.