How Did Josef Mengele Use Nazi Experiments During The Holocaust

Human experimentation within the concentration camps served to epitomize the institutionalized dehumanization and inhuman torture that Jewish and Roma people were subjected to during the holocaust. Doctors acted with no regard for human life, as the truly did not see their subjects as human beings. At its root, Nazi experimentation was more sadism than it was science. Nazi experimentation can be divided into three major categories: those aimed at facilitating the survival of axis soldiers (altitude and hypothermia experiments), those that tested medications and treatment methods (immunization compounds for infectious diseases, poison gases, drug tests), and those to further the race ideals of the Nazi party (experimentation on twins, tests

Auschwitz camp physician and “Angel of Death,” Josef Mengele, conducted the vilest of these experiments and used his position to further his studies of identical twins. He served as a selector on the ramp, choosing whether to send to them the gas chambers or to hard labor, pulling out any prospective experiments, such as twins, dwarves, heterochromia, and any others with genetic abnormalities. He was dubbed “Uncle Mengele” because he would bring them candy and other treats, showing them kindness before subjecting them to brutal tortures. As Mengele’s favorite subjects, the twins were awarded some special privileges. After being removed from their parents, they were allowed to keep their hair and own clothes, and were not required to do hard work. His experiments on these children, all done without any kind of anaesthetic, included amputations, organ removal, intentional infections, blood transfusions from one twin to another, artificial insemination, the injection of chemicals into their eyes, and attempted to create a pair of Siamese twins by sewing a pair of twins together. If one twin died, he would kill the other with a chloroform injection to the heart, so that he could conduct comparative autopsies. One of the few surviving twins, Moshe Offer, recounted the death of his brother and the unimaginable pain that they went through: "Dr. Mengele had always been more

Despite the fact that there were hundreds of doctors directly involved in the experimentation, at the Nuremberg doctor’s trial, only 23 were tried, and of those, only 16 were convicted. Many German scientists participated in these experiments willingly, and even went on to publish their findings in medical journals. The most notorious and reprehensible of these men, Dr. Josef Mengele, escaped to São Paulo where he lived out the rest of his life in comfort. Another of these men, Dr. Carl Clauberg, who oversaw the infamous Block 10 of Auschwitz, listed his time in the concentration camp on his business cards and never had his medical license revoked. Clauberg’s experiments involved the mass sterilization of female prisoners through radiation and the injection of caustic substances into the uterus, as well as forced artificial insemination. The vast majority of his subjects either died or suffered permanent