Josef Mengele Research Paper

Josef Mengele was born on March 16, 1911, in Gunzburg, Germany. He was the born the oldest son of Walburga and Karl Mengele. His father was a “...prosperous manufacturer of farming implements” (www.ushmm.org). He had two younger brothers, Alois and Karl Jr Mengele. Through his schooling, Mengele was known to be incredibly intelligent and ambitious. He attended the Frankfurt University Institute of Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene, and also the Anthropological Institute at the University of Munich. He studied genetics and anthropology, and earned a Ph.D. in physical anthropology in 1935. During his time in university, he wrote three articles, most of which were dissertations. They were entitled “Racial-Morphological Examination of the Anterior Portion of the Lower Jaw in Four Racial Groups...Genealogical Studies in the Cases of Cleft-Lip-Jaw-Palate [and] Hereditary

transmission of Fistula Auris” (www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org). These articles and their topics were a predecessor to Mengele’s work and focus in the future.

Josef Mengele was affiliated with numerous nazi-related organizations before he made his appearance in Auschwitz, and also accomplished many things.

“In 1931 at the age of 20 he joined the Stahlhelm (Steel Helmet); he joined the SA in 1923 and upon being accepted into the Nazi party, he applied for membership in the SS” (www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org). Mengele earned a medical degree around the same time, and was drafted into the army in June 1940. While in the army, Josef served as a volunteer for the medical service Waffen-SS, and a medical officer with the SS Division “Wiking”. Josef also “...functioned as a medical expert for the Race and Settlement Main Office…” (www.ushmm.org). He began working for the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (KWI) under Dr. Otmar von Verschuer, a mentor from his university years, for Eugenics, Anthropology, and Human Genetics after he became injured during war in January 1943 and returned back to Germany. A few months later, Mengele was promoted to SS captain. With better opportunities for his studies and research in mind, Josef decided to relocate to a concentration

camp.

On May 30, 1943, Josef Mengele was transferred to the Auschwitz concentration camp, beginning as the medical officer for Birkenau’s “Gypsy Camp,” but he is soon promoted to Chief Camp Physician. Mengele became known as the “Angel of Death” or “White Angel” as a result of his “coldly cruel demeanor on the ramp” (www.ushmm.org) where he chose whether a person was sent to work or the gas chambers. This moniker became more relevant as he started his work, again, with von Verschuer who was “a leading scientific figure widely known for his research with twins” (www.ushmm.org). Mengele and von Verschuer began performing several “...legitimate research protocols using twins as test subjects throughout the 1930s” (www.ushmm.org). The work was usually immensely gruesome, so trained medical professionals were hired to handle jobs such as autopsies on the murdered victims, as well as other things. The experiments and tests executed in Auschwitz ranged from his famous work on twins, to documenting the effect of a morbid disease on camp inmates. In January 1945, Josef Mengele fled from Auschwitz to avoid arrest for his crimes. Mengele’s work at Auschwitz was not exactly beneficial to medicine, and it is important to remember the brutality of his experiments and the pain he caused his victims.

After attempting to escape arrest, Mengele found himself in US custody. However, he was released due to the country’s lack of knowledge of Mengele’s past and how he was a wanted war criminal. While he was hiding from officials, Mengele lived in and worked at a number of places. First, “From the summer of 1945 until spring 1949, the physician, under false papers, worked as a farm hand near Rosenheim, Bavaria” (www.ushmm.org). With help from his wealthy family, he later migrated to Argentina in South America to better his chances of escaping arrest. After hearing of the arrest of Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires that year, he made his way to Paraguay, followed by Brazil. He spent the last years of his life in Sao Paolo. “In declining health, Mengele suffered a stroke while swimming at a vacation resort near Bertioga, Brazil, on February 7, 1979, and drowned” (www.ushmm.org). Josef Mengele spent a total of 34 years hiding from arrest after he vanished from Auschwitz.