Josef Mengele:

Angel of Death

         

        Josef Mengele was born March 16, 1911 in Bavaria.  He had two younger brothers Alois and Karl Jr.  His parents ran an implement factory in Germany.  The three boys didn't receive a lot of love or attention at home.  

    Mengele was a very smart student.  He studied philosophy at Munich and medicine at Frankfurt. While studying, Mengele became attracted to racial theories. 

        In 1937, Mengele became a member of the Schutzstaffel, or SS.  He worked as a medical officer in France and the Soviet Union.  

       A jury declared Mengele unsuitable for military use.  

       In 1943, Mengele went to Auschwitz voluntarily to conduct medical examinations.  There he became known as the Angel of Death and the Great Selector because he supervised the selections of "patients."  Mengele was always clean, wore hand-tailored clothing, white gloves, carried a riding crop, and whistled an opera tune while selecting.  He loved the power he was given.  

      

      In 1943 Heinrich Himmler appointed Mengele chief doctor at Auschwitz.   

       On a wall in Mengele's office was a collection of human eyeballs.  They were pinned to the wall with regular pins just like we sometimes pin insects to Styrofoam today.  

       Survivors said that Mengele was always a very kind fatherly type figure.  He would bring the children candy and chocolates and ask them if they enjoyed their trip.  Mengele loved to hear his captives tell about how they miss their families, and how mean the guards were, and how people would say that they were so scared when a gun was pointed at them.  

       Mengele really hated Jews, but he disliked Roma and Sinta, or Gypsies, even more.  

       Eva Mozes Kor, a survivor, said, "No other strip of land on the face of this universe has seen so much heartache.  The first time I went to use the latrine located at the end of the children's barrack, I was greeted by the scattered corpses of several children lying on the dirty ground."  She said, "Yet being on Mengele's list was better than being on no list."  

       Sora Seiler Vigorito said, "There was fear, a tremendous amount of fear."  

      Several survivors said that Mengele wore this look that said, "I am the power." 

        

Mengele left Auschwitz in 1945 and became a fugitive.  He never worked as a Physician again.  Mengele went from country to country in South America, most likely with the help of his family.  Most of the time he did not let himself be seen when it was light outside, but while hiding in a family's house, they encourage him to go for a swim to clear his mind.  At first Mengele refused, but he soon gave in.  While swimming in the ocean, Mengele suffered a severe stroke and became paralyzed.  He was unable to make it to shore and drowned in 1979.  

       Some people still believe that Mengele is living.  This is almost impossible to be true.

       All of Mengele's research and terrible experiments died with him. 

 

Krystle Thompson

7th Grade Rossville Jr. High

Spring 2001

Bibliography

Experiments