Josef Mengele: "Angel of Death" ☠

    Josef Mengele will forever be known as one of the most terrible men in all of human history. A SS garrison physician of Auschwitz, Mengele was responsible to select and differentiate between those who were destined for the gas chambers, and those who would be used in the concentration camp workforce. Joining the Nazi party in 1937, two years after getting his Ph.D. in physical anthropology from the University of Munich, Mengele would use his doctorate degree to carry out some of the worst known crimes against humanity. Why was Mengele known infamously as the "Angel of Death"? Not only was he the one who chose your fate: whether you died from poison gas or worked, but also because of his cruel demeanor. Hundreds of survivors recall seeing Mengel's white, emotionless face on the ramp- startling against the thousands of prisoners. But, Mengele was not just walking through the crowds differentiating between survivors and workers- but also searching for twins.
      During the 1930s, the new frontier for genetic studies, heredity and environmental factors on human upbringing were shifting;  Mengele became interested in studying identical and fraternal twins. While at University, he was able to use legitimate research protocols to study twins. But with WW2 and the persecution of Jews, Gypsies, etc, Mengele was given a "full license" to do any necessary tests on his subjects. If the outcome on the subjects from the lethal experiments was death; it would by no means be illegal. With a "bottomless pool" of hopeless subjects at his immediate disposal, Mengele brought together hundreds of pairs of twins. He measured their body parts, taking careful notes in their differences. It was common for him to inject one twin with a substance, and looked at what physical changes ensued. He would put clamps on their limbs to cause gangrene and "injected dye in their eyes".
          If a twin was killed during the testing process, the other would be immediately killed with an injection of chloroform into the heart. The hearts would then be dissected and observed. There was an occasion where Mengele killed 14 pairs of twins with chloroform to the heart, and autopsied them all throughout the night. He stitched twins together at the back and even removed the eyes of individuals with different colored irises. One of the most notable experiments was when "Mengele supervised an operation where two Gypsy children were sewn together." The children died when their appendages got infected from where the veins had been cut. All this was done in the name of "furthering science" and looking at the physical limits of a human being.

    But, the tests were not just done on twins. General studies were also conducted. This included:

1) High Altitude Experiments: victims were put into low pressure chambers and the altitude environment was changed. Obviously, death and suffering ensued.
2) Phosphorus Burns: Phosphorus matter was taken from incendiary bombs, and inflicted upon victims. Various German pharmaceuticals were tested to cure the burns.
3)Freezing: Mengele forced victims into a tank of ice water for around 3 hours or forced them to stand outside naked in the cold for hours. They screamed in pain as their bodies froze, as the Germans then tested ways to unfreeze him.
4) Sea Water Tests: The German scientists and engineers also attempted to make sea water drinkable. Victims were not given any food and only sea water that was chemically processed/changed.
5)Malaria experiments: Over 1000 victims died from German's injecting them with malaria and then futile tests to try to cure them.
6)Sulfanilamide Experiments: Wounds were inflicted on victims, and they were then exposed to gas gangrene, tetanus, and streptococcus. Blood supply would be tied off from the wounds, and then wood shavings and ground glass would be forced INTO the wounds. Sulfanilamide and other drugs would be tested to cure these "battle wounds"(what the Germans tried to imitate).

         Unfortunately, Mengele was NOT tried at the Nuremburg Trials and charged with crimes against humanity, although he brutally tortured men, women and children. He was able to avoid the Allies troops and left the country in 1949. Why was this major criminal not caught? Escaping to South America, governments in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay were SYMPATHETIC to Nazi's who took refuge there. Although there were Israeli Efforts to capture him (After the Jewish homeland was established), it was diverted when another SS lieutenant was then captured. He died in 1979 when he went for a swim and had a stroke. He drowned and died. After his death, friends and family admitted that they had known that he was hiding, and that they had "sheltered him from justice all his life". On June 6th 1935, Brazilian police exhumed the body of a man who was named "Wolfgang Gerhard", and this was  none other than Mengele. The worst thing to know is that "Wolfgang" escaped justice although he committed some of the worst crimes known to mankind. Although, yes, he was supported by more doctors and SS officers, his name became synonymous with torture and made him the last face many saw before they were brutally murdered- seeing the face of the Angel of Death that took their life away.







Sources:
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007060
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/josef-mengele-nazi-experiments
http://www.mengele.dk/new_page_6.htm