The Uncovered

The Uncovered

            After watching the film Forgiving Dr. Mengele, I began to wonder why there wasn’t more information given on him or why they didn’t show more history on this terrible man. The film touched base on several different aspects, but it never told us what ever happened to him and never gave us too much information on him. I found the film interesting because it was something that I was never aware of and such a big issue back in those times. I never knew of the horrible experiments that they had to endure just because they were twins. And the question that kept playing through my mind as we watched the film, would they have been better off being sent to the gas chamber or living through those experiments?

            Dr. Josef Mengele was born March 16, 1911; he was born in to a wealthy Bavarian family that had a strict catholic background. The oldest of three sons, he was the son of father Karl Mengele and mother Walburga Mengele. “He studied philosophy in Munich, where he met the racial ideology of Alfred Rosenberg. In 1931, at the age of 20, he joined the Stahlhelm (Steel Helmet), then the SA in 1933, and applied for party membership in 1937. Upon being accepted into the Nazi party, he applied for membership in the SS. He later studied medicine at the University of Frankfurt, after which he joined the Institute for Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene in 1934. It was here that he developed his studies in physical anthropology and genetics”. (http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk)

            “The memory of this slightly built man, scarcely a hair out of place, his dark green tunic neatly pressed, his face well scrubbed, his Death's Head SS cap tilted rakishly to one side, remains vivid for those who survived his scrutiny when they arrived at the Auschwitz railhead. Polished boots slightly apart, his thumb resting on his pistol belt, he surveyed his prey with those dead gimlet eyes. Death to the left, life to the right. Four hundred thousand souls - babies, small children, young girls, mothers, fathers, and grandparents - are said to have been casually waved to the lefthand side with a flick of the cane clasped in a gloved hand”. (http://www.auschwitz.dk)

            Dr. Josef Mengele known as “the angel of death” was the chief doctor at the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War. Prior to Dr. Mengele’s arrival of Auschwitz there were several substantial articles on genetic abnormalities and racial variations that he had published in primary features.” His career in academia looking bright, but the war interrupted his progress, and he was placed with reserve medical corps and a Waffen SS unit. Wounded, he was declared unfit for combat, but promoted to captain. An ardent Nazi, he served as medical officer with the Waffen SS during WW2, and was appointed chief doctor at the Auschwitz concentration camp where Jews were selected either for labour, extermination or medical experimentation”.( http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk)

            Known as the “Angel of Death” Dr. Mengele was in charge of massive numbers of fatal, abnormal and inhuman medical experiments that killed over 400,000 victims. Dispute surrounds the results of such horrendous experiments, as their irregularly sophisticated findings have evidenced of undeniable use. After the war it was said that Dr. Mengele escaped and fled somewhere in South America where he later surfaced in 1961. This is where he met another Nazi Wolfgang Gerhard, in Brazil. “Recent forensic advances, involving a body exhumed in 1985, suggest that he had assumed Gerhard’s identity upon his death, and was buried under that name”. (http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk)

                After researching all of this information on Dr. Mengele I have come to conclusion that he was a very cold hearted and evil man. It wasn’t something that he was just made to do but after researching it was something that he enjoyed doing and he. He tortured and killed thousands of people which he was later to escape. According to the research they actually don’t have a specific time as to when he passed away. This remains a mystery and I  plan on doing some further research to find out more.

           

           

 Works Cited

            "Josef Mengele, Angel of Death." Josef Mengele, Angel of Death. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2013.

                 "Josef Mengele Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 01 May 2013.

                "Josef Mengele Biography." Josef Mengele. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2013.