Joesph Mengele Essay Research Paper Joseph Mengele

Joesph Mengele Essay, Research Paper

Joseph Mengele and his Atrocities

Three thousand twins entered Auschwitz between 1940 and 1944. Only two hundred and fifty pairs of twins ever had the smell of freedom again. Why did this unfortunate event occur. It occurred because the Nazis party was in control and Adolf Hitler was the Fuhrer and he wanted a perfect race. “Right, left”, what kind of a man could send people to their death with a flick of a cane, without one scent of remorse or one inkling of guilt. -his name was Josef Mengele. (Nazi304) Hitler gave Mengele all the resources he could and this is the main reason why he went to Auschwitz, because the of the availability of the victims he could do his work on. The stories and pictures of Auschwitz tell a gruesome tale of death and torture. Josef Mengele performed horrific experiments on twins, justified by official Nazis party policies to try and create the “perfect human being”. To this day, he serves as a warning signal of the evil, man is capable of doing by trying to do good for one’s own race with the exclusion of others.

Josef Mengele was born March 16, 1911 in Gunzburg, Germany and his parents were Karl (1881-1959) and Walburga (.-1946) Mengele. He had two younger brothers; Karl (1912-1949 and Alois (1914-1974). He had several nicknames, one of them being Beppo. He was a bright and cheerful child in his early days. (Mengele32) He was full of ambition and had high hopes for his future. In 1930 he graduated from the Gymnasium and in 1935 he was awarded a PhD from the University of Munich. In 1937 he was appointed a research assistant at the Third Reich Institute for Heredity, Biology, and Racial Purity at the University of Frankfurt; worked with Professor Otmar Freiherr von Vershuer. (Mengele54) In May 1938 he joined the SS (Schutzstapple – elite unit which protected Hitler and his important dignitaries) and in 1940 he joined the medical corps (Sanitatsinspektion) of the Waffen SS. (an actual army unit that fights on the front lines made up of the SS – they were very widely feared) (grandparents2) In July 1939 Mengele married Irene Schoenbein. Although Mengele may have been considered evil, in January 1942 he earned a Iron Cross second class and he also earned an Iron Cross first class by pulling two of his fallen comrades out of a burning tank while under enemy fire. He also earned a Black Badge for the Wounded and the Medal for the Care of the German People; wounded. At the end of 1942 he was promoted to the rank of Haupsturmfuhrer (equivalent to captain). (Mengele 101) He arrived at Auschwitz May 30, 1943 where he conducted racial based experiments on twins, dwarfs, giants and some of the other abnormal races that were not fit to live, because of their lack of normal human characteristics. During his stay at Auschwitz he was nicknamed the “Angel of Death.” When the trains arrived at Auschwitz they would sit i the cars for days before being herded out like cattle. After this hellish journey, the first thing that people saw when they left the cars was Josef Mengele, the Angel of Auschwitz standing in his immaculate SS uniform, shining boots, perfectly brushed and pressed shirt and pants, and glistening silver skulls.(Mengele156) He would perch there and would yell “left!” or “right!”, left meaning a quick end as you headed to the gas chambers and right meant you were placed on a starvation diet and had to work as a slave. During this time in Auschwitz his first and only son, Rolf, was born on March 11, 1944. His moment of happiness in Auschwitz (his perverse perception of happiness) was short lived. In the middle of January in 1945 he fled Auschwitz and went to Grossen- Rosen camp. He then fled before the Russians liberated it on February 11, 1945. After fleeing Grossen-Rosen he was captured as a prisoner of war and held in a POW camp in Munich. He stole some papers from a fellow prisoner and the American Army released him not realizing he was part of the SS. During his life on the run he went under several aliases, these include; Fritz Ulmann, Fritz Hollmann, Helmut Gregor, G. Helmuth, Jose Mengele, Ludwig Gregor, and Wolfgang Gerhard. (Mengele196) In 1949 he escaped to Argentina then in 1954 he divorced from his wife Irene and later in 1958 married his brother, Karl’s, widow – Martha Mengele. On June 7, 1959 West Germany issued its first arrest warrant for Josef Mengele. After the arrest warrant the Universities of Frankfurt and Munich withdrew his academic degrees. There had always been a strong Nazi presence in South America, so with funds from his family, he went off the Argentina. Mengele lived with a farming family in Argentina for awhile, but Mengele was very scared of being caught, so between 1945 and 1979 Mangel moved to and from different countries in South America. There was a great hunt for the elusive Doctor Mangel, there were rewards, warrants, and even Nazi Hunters after him, but no one ever found him. (Mengele234)No one knew it when he died. Josef Mengele was living in Brazil with the Bossert family, when for the first time, he went out in the sun in a public place. Mengele was paranoid that he would be caught, so he often only went out at night. On January 7, 1979, the Bossert family persuaded him to go for a swim to ease his mind. He did, but while out at sea he had a stroke, Mengele’s body was paralyzed, and he started to drown. People managed to drag him out of the water, but it was too l