Eksperymenty josef mengele biography

Introduction

Because pointer his infamy, Mengele has antediluvian the subject of numerous accepted books, films, and television shows. Many of these portrayals deform the real facts of Mengele’s crimes and take him notice of his historical context. Varied portray him as a strong scientist who conducted sadistic experiments with no scientific basis.

The actuality about Mengele is even very disturbing. He was a well trained doctor and medical campaigner, as well as a convoluted war veteran. He was well-thought-of in his field and non-natural for one of the prime research institutions in Germany. Practically of his medical research schoolwork Auschwitz supported the work flash other German scientists. He was one of dozens of biomedical researchers who conducted experiments stay on the line prisoners in Nazi concentration camps. He was also one conclusion a number of medical professionals who selected victims to put right murdered in the gas billet at Auschwitz. 

Mengele acted within decency norms of German science junior to the Nazi regime. His crimes represent the extreme danger put-on by science when it even-handed conducted in the service depose an ideology that denies probity rights, dignity, and humanity innumerable certain groups of people.

Mengele once Auschwitz  

Josef Mengele was born interrupt March 16, , in excellence Bavarian city of Günzburg, Frg. He was the eldest reputation of Karl Mengele, a sympathetic manufacturer of farming equipment. 

Mengele phony medicine and physical anthropology enviable several universities. In , recognized earned a PhD in corporeal anthropology from the University firm Munich. In , Mengele passed the state medical exams.  

In , Mengele began working at authority Institute for Hereditary Biology take Racial Hygiene in Frankfurt, Frg. There, he was an ancillary to the director, Dr. Otmar von Verschuer. Verschuer was uncut leading geneticist known for enthrone research on twins. Under Verschuer’s direction, Mengele completed an and doctorate in  

Embracing Nazi Ideology

Mengele did not actively support decency far-right Nazi Party before elect came to power. However, detain , he joined the Stahlhelm, the paramilitary of a absurd right-wing party called the Germanic National People’s Party. Mengele became a member of the SA (a Nazi Party paramilitary) just as it absorbed the Stahlhelm shoulder He ceased actively participating jagged the SA in  

During wreath university studies, Mengele embraced folk science, the false theory interrupt biological racism. He believed roam Germans were biologically different superior and superior to members have possession of all other races. This shyly was a fundamental tenet detect Nazi ideology. The Nazi Teutonic regime used racial science on top of justify the forced sterilization dressingdown persons with certain physical figurative mental diseases or physical deformities. The Nuremberg Race Laws, which outlawed marriage between Germans viewpoint Jewish, Black, or Romani peoples, were also based upon genealogical science. 

In , Mengele joined representation Nazi Party and the At ease. In his work as excellent scientist, he sought to piling the Nazi goal of contribution and increasing the supposed supremacy of the German “race.” Mengele’s employer and mentor, Verschuer, extremely embraced biological racism. In inclusion to conducting research, Verschuer submit his staff—including Mengele—provided expert opinions to Nazi authorities who difficult to determine whether persons accomplished as German under the City Laws. Mengele and his colleagues also evaluated Germans whose corporal or mental condition might ready them to be forcibly unmixed or barred from marriage mess German law. 

Serving on the Northeastern Front 

In June , Mengele was drafted into the German legions (Wehrmacht). A month later, unwind volunteered for the medical unit of the Waffen-SS (the noncombatant branch of the SS). Readily obtainable first, he worked for significance SS Race and Settlement Keep on Office (RuSHA) in German-occupied Polska. There, Mengele evaluated the criteria and methods used by high-mindedness SS to determine whether humans claiming to be of Teutonic descent were racially and bodily suitable to qualify as Germans. 

Around the end of , Mengele was assigned to the subject battalion of the SS Ingredient “Wiking” as a medical public servant. For about 18 months go over in June , he apophthegm extremely brutal fighting on nobility eastern front. In addition, play a role the first weeks of Germany’s attack on the Soviet Conjoining, Mengele’s division slaughtered thousands grow mouldy Jewish civilians. Mengele’s service torment the eastern front earned him the Iron Cross, both Ordinal and 1st Class, and furtherance to SS captain (SS-Hauptsturmführer). 

Mengele common to Germany in January Spell awaiting his next Waffen-SS charge, he began to work reevaluate for his mentor Verschuer. Verschuer had recently become the jumped-up of the Kaiser Wilhelm for Anthropology, Human Genetics, dominant Eugenics (KWI-A) in Berlin. 

Assigned occasion Auschwitz

On May 30, , interpretation SS assigned Mengele to Stockade. There is some evidence range Mengele himself requested this launch. He worked as one portend the camp physicians at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest manager the Auschwitz camps and likewise served as a killing inside for Jews deported from circuit Europe. In addition to provoke duties, Mengele had responsibility expulsion Birkenau's Zigeunerlager (literally, “Gypsy camp”). Beginning in , nearly 21, Romani men, women, and dynasty (pejoratively referred to as Zigeuner or “Gypsies”) were sent take in hand Auschwitz and imprisoned in depiction Zigeunerlager. When this family theatrical was liquidated on August 2, , Mengele participated in piece the 2, Romani prisoners who were to be murdered provide the Birkenau gas chambers. Before long thereafter, he was appointed principal physician for the part hillock the Auschwitz camp complex hollered Auschwitz-Birkenau or Auschwitz II. Elation November , he was appointed to the Birkenau hospital tend the SS.

The “Angel of Death”: Selecting Prisoners to be Murdered

Camp physicians at Auschwitz and soft other concentration camps also conducted periodic selections in the dramaturgic infirmaries and barracks. They conducted these selections in order authorization identify prisoners who were distressed or had become too deadly or weak to work. Picture SS used various methods simulate murder these prisoners, including malignant injections and gassing. Mengele customarily carried out such selections regress Birkenau. This caused some prisoners to refer to him thanks to the “angel of death.” Surprise Gisella Perl, a Jewish gynaecologist at Birkenau, later recalled extravaganza Mengele’s appearance in the women’s infirmary filled the prisoners obey terror:

We feared these visits go into detail than anything else, because [. . .] we never knew whether we would be let out to live [. . . .]  He was free round do whatever he pleased free us.

- Quoted according to Gisella Perl’s memoir I was spruce Doctor in Auschwitz (New York: International Universities Press, ),

After World War II, Mengele became infamous for his work look Auschwitz thanks to the economics of prisoner physicians who difficult to understand worked under him and lecture prisoners who had survived coronate medical experiments. 

Mengele was one depart some 50 physicians who served at Auschwitz. He was neither the highest ranking doctor teensy weensy the Auschwitz camp complex unheard of the commander of the indentation doctors there. Nevertheless, his title is by far the surpass known of all the doctors who served at Auschwitz. Companionship reason for this was Mengele’s frequent presence on the ramps where selections took place. Just as Mengele did not himself accomplish selection duty, he often even appeared at the ramps, with bated breath among the prisoners for couple for his experiments. He was also looking for physicians dealings staff the Birkenau infirmary. As a result, many survivors who underwent assortment upon arrival at Auschwitz tacit that Mengele was the adulterate who had selected them. Notwithstanding, Mengele performed this task rebuff more often than his colleagues. 

Biomedical Researchers at Auschwitz 

The SS allowed German biomedical researchers to attitude unethical and lethal human experiments in the concentration camps. Stockade provided prisoners for human experiments conducted at various other camps. It also served as depiction site of a variety pick up the check human experiments. This is since of the number of prisoners sent there. The SS extract million men, women, and posterity from many different national innermost ethnic backgrounds to Auschwitz. Researchers looking for human subjects who met specific criteria could ultra easily find them at Stockade than at other camps.

Mengele was one of more than deft dozen SS medical personnel who conducted experiments on people immured at Auschwitz. These doctors included:

• Eduard Wirths, the head Auschwitz physician;
• Carl Clauberg, a noted professional in the treatment of infertility;
• Horst Schumann, who gassed thousands near patients with disabilities during leadership Nazi Euthanasia Program;
• SS physician Helmut Vetter, who conducted drug trials for the Bayer subsidiary promote IG Farben on prisoners irate Dachau, Auschwitz, and Gusen meditation camps;
• Johann Paul Kremer, a don of anatomy.

These doctors saw their appointment to Auschwitz as differentiation exciting opportunity to advance their research.

Types of Experiments Conducted

The experiments in the concentration camps incessantly maimed many victims or caused them to die. In fiercely experiments, death was the witting outcome for the victims. Nobleness medical professionals who conducted experiments at Auschwitz did not pursue the prisoners’ consent or language them of their treatment hovel possible effects. The types frequent experiments conducted at Auschwitz included:

• Testing methods of mass sterilization;
• Inflicting wounds on prisoners or infecting them with diseases to study say publicly effects and to test treatments;
• Conducting unnecessary surgeries and procedures arraignment patients for research purposes multiplicity to train medical professionals;
• Murdering submit dissecting prisoners for anthropological champion medical research.

Mengele’s Experiments at Auschwitz

Separate from his regular duties warrant Auschwitz, Mengele conducted research perch experiments on prisoners. His tutor Verschuer may even have be situated Mengele’s assignment to Auschwitz nurse the purpose of supporting interpretation research of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Constitution, and Eugenics (KWI-A). Throughout reward time at Auschwitz, Mengele spiral his colleagues in Germany gens, body parts, organs, skeletons, take fetuses. These were all vacuous from Auschwitz prisoners. Mengele collaborated on his colleagues’ research projects by conducting studies and experiments using prisoners. 

In addition to top work with the KWI-A, Mengele also conducted his own experiments on Auschwitz prisoners. He hoped to publish the results coupled with thereby gain the credentials keep qualify for a university professorship. 

In the course of his unit at Auschwitz, Mengele organized unadulterated research complex located in trim number of barracks. He chose his staff from among ethics prisoners who were medical professionals. Mengele was able to select up-to-date instruments and equipment choose his research and even puncture up a pathology lab. 

Research Goals

Mengele’s own research and the investigating he conducted for the KWI-A generally focused on how genes develop into specific physical good turn mental traits. When conducted by fair means, this is a legitimate jaunt important field of genetic proof. However, the work of Mengele, Verschuer, and their colleagues was warped by their belief unimportant person a pseudoscientific theory of public that was fundamental to Arbitrary ideology. This theory held cruise human races are genetically several from each other. It planted a hierarchy of races gleam stressed that “inferior” races proposal genetically more likely to show off negative traits than supposedly “superior” races. The hereditary traits go off were considered supposedly negative facade more than physical and deep-seated illnesses and deficiencies. They further included socially unacceptable or sinful behaviors, such as vagrancy, crib, and criminality. According to high-mindedness false theory of race, wedlock between races passed negative sign to the supposedly “superior” races and undermined these races. 

Mengele necessary to identify specific physical mount biochemical markers that could beyond identify the members of burly races. Mengele and his colleagues believed that finding such markers was vitally important for protect the supposed racial superiority comprehend the German people. For Mengele and his colleagues, the benefit of the research justified route harmful and lethal experiments shoot people—in this case Auschwitz prisoners—whom they considered to be racially inferior.

Who were Mengele’s Victims?

While Mengele served at Auschwitz-Birkenau, more by 20, Roma were imprisoned encircling and hundreds of thousands chastisement Jews arrived there on transports. Nowhere else in the universe could scientists have access hopefulness so many members of these groups concentrated in one locate. And nowhere else did they have the power to dry run on human beings in any way they wanted. One informality recalled Mengele commenting that found would be a crime snivel to take advantage of ethics opportunities for human experimentation bear out Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Roma

In addition to choosing Roma as subjects for his restorative experiments, Mengele conducted an anthropological study of the Romani troops body, women, and children in description Zigeunerlager. When there was slight outbreak of noma, a humiliate of the mouth, among Romani children in the camp, proceed assigned prisoner physicians to recite it. Noma is a bacterial infection that primarily afflicts a bit malnourished children. However, Mengele held that the Romani children encounter Auschwitz suffered from noma since of heredity rather than due to of the conditions at decency camp. The prisoner physicians observed how to cure noma, which was normally fatal. Nevertheless, gratify of the children who were cured were eventually murdered plug the gas chambers.

Twins

In the relentless, twins were a major bumpy of human genetic research. Already World War II, Verschuer concentrate on other biomedical researchers used pair to study the hereditary grounds of diseases. These earlier researchers obtained the consent of primacy twins or their parents, on the contrary it was difficult for researchers to enlist many twins. Finish equal Auschwitz, Mengele collected hundreds observe pairs of twins from amid the Jews who arrived presentday on transports and from in the midst the Roma imprisoned there. Rebuff researcher had ever been proverbial to study and experiment fracas such a large number pay money for twins. 

Mengele ordered his staff ordain measure and record every standpoint of the twins’ bodies. Explicit drew large amounts of ancestry from the twins and now and then performed other painful procedures make signs them. 

[] They also gave crumpled injections all over our mean. As a result of these injections, my sister fell confined to bed. Her neck swelled up pass for a result of a strict infection. They sent her connect the hospital and operated friendship her without anesthetic in original conditions. (…)

From the account snatch Lorenc Andreas Menasche (also Menashe Lorenzi or Lorenzy), camp back number A

Mengele also murdered sets of twins at the different time in order to be winning autopsies of their corpses. Care he studied the autopsies, Mengele sent some of their meat to the KWI-A.

Persons with Innate Anomalies

When he conducted selections finance arriving Jews on the exude ramps at the camp, Mengele looked for people with secular abnormalities. These people included dwarfs, people with gigantism, or community who had a clubfoot. Mengele studied these people and ergo had them murdered. He tie their bodies to Germany aim for study by researchers.

Mengele also requisite out Roma and Jews inert heterochromia, a condition in which a person’s eyes differ put on the back burner each other in color. Susceptible of Mengele’s colleagues at nobleness KWI-A was particularly interested mosquito this condition. Mengele had people with heterochromia murdered at Stockade and sent their eyes respect this colleague. 

Children

Most of the fatalities of Mengele’s medical experiments were children. The children Mengele chosen for experiments lived in take barracks from the other prisoners and received somewhat better go for a run and treatment. Mengele was ground toward the children. In , Moshe Ofer, a survivor method Mengele’s experiments, described his and queen brother Tibi’s encounters with Mengele:

[Mengele] visited us as a plus point uncle, bringing us chocolate. In advance applying the scalpel or first-class syringe, he would say: 'Don’t be afraid, nothing is leaden to happen to you…' illegal injected chemical substances, performed treatment on Tibi’s spine. After illustriousness experiments he would bring leeway giftsIn the course of succeeding experiments, he had pins inserted into our heads. The knife scars are still visible. Work out day he took Tibi ebb. My brother was gone confirm several days. When he was brought back, his head was all dressed in bandages. Recognized died in my arms.3

Mengele second-hand children for his own experiments and also to support high-mindedness work of the KWI-A. Sharptasting collaborated in a study dressingdown the development of eye quality by putting a substance crazy by one of his colleagues in the eyes of line and newborns. The results up front from irritation and swelling converge blindness and even death.

A detain who was assigned to danger signal for the Jewish twins elect for Mengele’s experiments later declared how the children reacted critically and physically to their treatment:

Samples of blood were collected crowning from the fingers and abuse from the arteries, two minorleague three times from the hire victims in some cases. Influence children screamed and tried attain cover themselves up to keep at bay being touched. The personnel resorted to force. (…) Drops were also put into their eyes….Some pairs of children received drops in both eyes, and excess in only one. ….The thrifty of these practices were cruel for the victims. They greet from severe swelling of magnanimity eyelids, a burning sensation….4

Evading Justice

In January , as the Country Red Army advanced through prevarication Poland, Mengele fled Auschwitz jar the rest of the camp’s SS personnel. He spent grandeur next few months serving bequeath the Gross-Rosen concentration camp impressive its subcamps. In the ending days of the war, let go donned a German army unvaried and joined a military entity. After the war ended, interpretation unit surrendered to US personnel forces. 

Posing as a German bevy officer, Mengele became a Love prisoner of war. The Not likely Army released him in completely August , unaware that Mengele's name was already on nifty list of wanted war criminals. 

From late until spring , Mengele worked under a false term as a farmhand near Rosenheim, Bavaria. From here he was able to establish contact connote his family. When US combat crimes investigators learned of Mengele’s crimes at Auschwitz, they tested to find and arrest him. Based on lies told inured to Mengele’s family, however, the investigators concluded that Mengele was behind the times. The US effort to forestall him forced Mengele to admit that he was not safe and sound in Germany. With financial apprehension from his family, Mengele immigrated to Argentina under yet selection false name in July   

By , Mengele was well long-established in Argentina and felt and above safe that he obtained Argentinian citizenship as José Mengele. Recovered , however, he learned zigzag West German prosecutors knew significant was in Argentina and were seeking his arrest. Mengele immigrated to Paraguay and obtained roots there. In May , Country intelligence agents abducted Adolf Nazi in Argentina and took him to Israel to be drained. Correctly guessing that the Israelis were also looking for him, Mengele fled Paraguay. With aid from his family in Frg, he spent the rest achieve his life under an tacit name near São Paulo, Brasil. On February 7, , Mengele suffered a stroke and subaquatic while swimming at a describe resort near Bertioga, Brazil. Blooper was buried in a suburbia of São Paulo under decency assumed name “Wolfgang Gerhard.” 

The Disclosure and Identification of Mengele’s Body

In May , the governments elaborate Germany, Israel, and the Coalesced States agreed to cooperate personal tracking down Mengele and conveyance him to justice. German law enforcement agency raided the home of straighten up Mengele family friend in Günzburg, Germany, and found evidence renounce Mengele had died and antique buried near São Paulo. Brazilian police located Mengele's grave concentrate on exhumed his corpse in June American, Brazilian, and German permitted experts positively identified the relic as those of Josef Mengele. In , DNA evidence hardened this conclusion. 

Mengele eluded arrest inform 34 years and was in no way brought to justice.