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Joseph Mengele and his Atrocities

Three thousand twins entered Auschwitz between 1940 and 1944. Only two hundred and fifty pairs of twins ever had the smell of
freedom again. Why did this unfortunate event occur? It occurred because the Nazis party was in control and Adolf Hitler was the
Fuhrer and he wanted a perfect race. "Right, left", what kind of a man could send people to their death with a flick of a cane, without
one scent of remorse or one inkling of guilt? -his name was Josef Mengele. (Nazi304) Hitler gave Mengele all the resources he could
and this is the main reason why he went to Auschwitz, because the of the availability of the victims he could do his work on. The
stories and pictures of Auschwitz tell a gruesome tale of death and torture. Josef Mengele performed horrific experiments on twins,
justified by official Nazis party policies to try and create the "perfect human being". To this day, he serves as a warning signal of the
evil, man is capable of doing by trying to do good for one's own race with the exclusion of others.

Josef Mengele was born March 16, 1911 in Gunzburg, Germany and his parents were Karl (1881-1959) and Walburga (?-1946)
Mengele. He had two younger brothers; Karl (1912-1949 and Alois (1914-1974). He had several nicknames, one of them being
Beppo. He was a bright and cheerful child in his early days. (Mengele32) He was full of ambition and had high hopes for his future.
In 1930 he graduated from the Gymnasium and in 1935 he was awarded a PhD from the University of Munich. In 1937 he was
appointed a research assistant at the Third Reich Institute for Heredity, Biology, and Racial Purity at the University of Frankfurt;
worked with Professor Otmar Freiherr von Vershuer. (Mengele54) In May 1938 he joined the SS (Schutzstapple - elite unit which
protected Hitler and his important dignitaries) and in 1940 he joined the medical corps (Sanitatsinspektion) of the Waffen SS. (an
actual army unit that fights on the front lines made up of the SS - they were very widely feared) (grandparents2) In July 1939
Mengele married Irene Schoenbein. Although Mengele may have been considered evil, in January 1942 he earned a Iron Cross
second class and he also earned an Iron Cross first class by pulling two of his fallen comrades out of a burning tank while under
enemy fire. He also earned a Black Badge for the Wounded and the Medal for the Care of the German People; wounded. At the end
of 1942 he was promoted to the rank of Haupsturmfuhrer (equivalent to captain). (Mengele 101) He arrived at Auschwitz May 30,
1943 where he conducted racial based experiments on twins, dwarfs, giants and some of the other abnormal races that were not fit
to live, because of their lack of normal human characteristics. During his stay at Auschwitz he was nicknamed the "Angel of
Death." When the trains arrived at Auschwitz they would sit i the cars for days before being herded out like cattle. After this hellish
journey, the first thing that people saw when they left the cars was Josef Mengele, the Angel of Auschwitz standing in his
immaculate SS uniform, shining boots, perfectly brushed and pressed shirt and pants, and glistening silver skulls.(Mengele156) He
would perch there and would yell "left!" or "right!", left meaning a quick end as you headed to the gas chambers and right meant you
were placed on a starvation diet and had to work as a slave. During this time in Auschwitz his first and only son, Rolf, was born on
March 11, 1944. His moment of happiness in Auschwitz (his perverse perception of happiness) was short lived. In the middle of
January in 1945 he fled Auschwitz and went to Grossen- Rosen camp. He then fled before the Russians liberated it on February 11,
1945. After fleeing Grossen-Rosen he was captured as a prisoner of war and held in a POW camp in Munich. He stole some papers
from a fellow prisoner and the American Army released him not realizing he was part of the SS. During his life on the run he went
under several aliases, these include; Fritz Ulmann, Fritz Hollmann, Helmut Gregor, G. Helmuth, Jose Mengele, Ludwig Gregor, and
Wolfgang Gerhard. (Mengele196) In 1949 he escaped to Argentina then in 1954 he divorced from his wife Irene and later in 1958
married his brother, Karl's, widow - Martha Mengele. On June 7, 1959 West Germany issued its first arrest warrant for Josef
Mengele. After the arrest warrant the Universities of Frankfurt and Munich withdrew his academic degrees. There had always been a
strong Nazi presence in South America, so with funds from his family, he went off the Argentina. Mengele lived with a farming family
in Argentina for awhile, but Mengele was very scared of being caught, so between 1945 and 1979 Mangel moved to and from
different countries in South America. There was a great hunt for the elusive Doctor Mangel, there were rewards, warrants, and even
Nazi Hunters after him, but no one ever found him. (Mengele234)No one knew it when he died. Josef Mengele was living in Brazil
with the Bossert family, when for the first time, he went out in the sun in a public place. Mengele was paranoid that he would be
caught, so he often only went out at night. On January 7, 1979, the Bossert family persuaded him to go for a swim to ease his
mind. He did, but while out at sea he had a stroke, Mengele's body was paralyzed, and he started to drown. People managed to
drag him out of the water, but it was too late, the infamous Doctor Mengele was dead. (Mengele278)

But the memory of his power driven experiments lived on. The people which were his specimens ha miserable existence - if they
lived. Everyday in the life of a twin was a contest. A contest to keep Mengele happy so they could breathe another breath of day.
Everyday, every twin had to have blood drawn. Blood, often in large quantities, was taken from their arms and fingers, and
sometimes both their arms at the same time. (Auscwitz97) The youngest children often suffered the most because of their small
appendages. Blood was also drawn from their necks, a painful and frightening procedure. It was estimated that approximately ten
cubic centimetres of blood was drawn daily from a twin. Besides having their blood sample taken everyday, they were to undergo
various medical experiments. Since Hitler wanted a blue eyed blond hair race this was the main driving force behind Mengele,
therefore he would attempt to fabricate blue eyes by putting injections of bromethyl blue in them. These injections would often
cause severe pain, infections, and temporary or permanent blindness. Along with injections into the eyes, Mengele would give the
twins injections into the spine or spinal taps which would render a twin paralyzed. (Auscwitz161) He would give them typhus and
tuberculosis, which would be given purposely to one twin and not the other. When one twin died he immediately kill the other to
compare the effects. Mengele would also do operations without the use of anesthesia. He would do organ removals, he would
castrate the children, and he would also perform amputations. In one particularly sickening operation, Mengele tried to sew one twin
to another in attempt to create a Siamese twin.