Dr. Josef Mengele: Genetic Experimentation
During World War II, scientific experimentation on concentration camp inmates was very popular among Nazi doctors to discover ways to prolong and enhance the Aryan race. Of these thirty or so doctors, Dr. Josef Mengele stands out (Tyson "The Experiments"). Dr. Josef Mengele, also known as the Angel of Death, was an infamous German Schutzstaffel, or SS officer, and physician at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. He was notorious for his ruthless ability to determine if prisoners were fit to work and for carrying out harmful and unscientific genetic experimentations on prisoners, usually young twins, nicknamed Mengele’s Children. His experimentations aimed to prove the superiority
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After his injury he returned to Germany in January of 1943, and began work under his former mentor Dr. Otmar von Verschuer, at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Genetics, and Eugenics. In the spring of 1943 Mengele received a promotion to the rank of SS captain and on May 20, 1943 he transferred to Auschwitz. At Auschwitz, contrary to popular belief, Mengele was not the only physician nor was he the highest-ranking physician at the camp. He worked under SS captain Dr. Eduard Wirths, who controlled all medical matters of the camp as its garrison physician. Mengele began his career as the medical officer at Birkenau’s “Gypsy Camp” until it’s liquidation. Thereafter, Mengele became the Chief Campy Physician at Birkenau, still under the supervision of Wirths ("Josef …show more content…
“Once the SS guard knew we were twins, Miriam and I were taken away from our mother, without any warning or explanation. Our screams fell on deaf ears. I remember looking back and seeing my mother's arms stretched out in despair as we were led away by a soldier. That was the last time I saw her (Lagnado and Cohn 56).” After being taken from their parents the twins were tattooed and taken to the twin barracks, where they filled out forms and were questioned in order to discover any unusual traits (Rosenberg "Mengele's Children - The Twins of