Josef Mengele
Josef Mengele's influence in Auschwitz.
Background
Josef Mengele was born in Günzburg on March 16, 1911 (1). Josef was the oldest son of a prosperous manufacturer of farming implements, named Karl Mengele (2). He attended the University of Munich in Germany, and earned a Ph.D,. physical anthropology (3). He studied with and became an assistant of Dr. Otmar von Verschuer in 1937 (4). Dr. Otmar von Verschuer was a leading scientific figure was located in Frankfurt and was known for his study of twins at the Institute for Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene (5). Mengele joined the Nazi Party in 1937, which was the same year he earned his medical degree and became a part of the SS (6). When drafted in the army in 1940, he joined the medical service of the Waffen-SS, also names the Armed SS (7). He returned to Germany after being wounded in early 1943 (8). After he began work under his former employer, van Verschuer, at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, he received a promotion to SS captain, and from there Mengele was transferred to Auschwitz in May of 1943 (9). Here, his gruesome “research” on twins and others began.
1. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007060
2. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007060
3. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007060
4. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007060
5. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007060
6. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007060
7. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007060
8. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007060
9. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007060MB
Movie Star
Mengele was often described as having "movie star qualities".
Nazi Party Pride
"The more we do it to you, the less you seem to believe we are doing it." -Josef Mengele
In His Habitat
Mengele in one of his operating rooms, where he conducted many gruesome procedures.