1.6 million People were sent to concentration camps during World War II, of which one million died. Death was caused by starvation, people becoming too weak that they were unfit and were killed off, and being hung due to insubordination. Medical experiments on the prisoners also resulted in death. Dr. Mengele, the man who had done taboo medical experiments on prisoners. This is the life of Josef Mengele from his life as a young individual, to becoming a very well known “doctor”, to becoming a wanted victim. This is the Angel of Death.
Born on March 16, 1911 in Gunzburg , Josef Mengele was the oldest son of Karl Mengele. He lived in an upper middle class family which ran a machine tool business. His family was described as a “Strict Catholic” family. His peers in the town he lived in would describe Mengele as an intelligent and popular person. “A young person with intelligence but more or less ordinary” were the words of description from a close relative. From a very young age Josef Mengele was interested in the racial theories of Alfred Rosenberp, a philosopher of National Socialism. In 1935 Mengele graduated from the University of Munich with a Ph. D in physical anthropology. After graduating he got into believing racism towards Jews. Two years later he became an assistant of Dr. Omar Von Verschuer who was most and commonly known for researching twins. He then served as a medical officer in the beginning of World War II with the invasion of the Soviet Union, he redeemed four medals for his actions. That same year he joined the Nazi Party. Mengele was then transferred to Auschwitz in which he was most closely with selection duty than any other medical officer in Auschwitz. When Josef Mengele became a medical officer in Auschwitz he was able to take his research to the extreme. “He was brutal but in a gentlemanly way” said a survivor of his experiments. Mengele