The Angel of Death

A detailed Summary of The Angel of Death

The medical professions of Germany, including academic medicine, played a critical role in the evolution of Nazism's programs of human destruction, programs that were based in genocide and the exploitation of the dead. The atrocities associated with the Holocaust are staggering, especially when the words "Auschwitz" and "Mengele" are mentioned. Dr. Josef Mengele was a man that was twisted by Nazi ideology and notions of Aryan supremacy into a madman who was responsible for so many deaths at Auschwitz. Through his responsibilities as a selector at the arrival gates and a human experimenter in his laboratory behind the scenes, Mengele brutalized and slaughtered thousands of men, women and children. Once he had acquired a sense of power and control from being stationed at Auschwitz, Josef Mengele grew insane with this power and became an actual "angel of death", victimizing the feeble and weak at the arrival gates and performing unethical human experiments on so many young subjects.

In October of 1930, Josef Mengele enrolled at Munich University and began studying philosophy and medicine. # At about the same time, the City of Munich was going though ideological revolution due to the rising popularity and power of the Nazi pa

Auschwitz mentioned what Mengele's attitude was towards these selections: "Only if there is a demand for workers does Dr. Mengele pass Jews into camp," the barber said, adding, "At times they are short of gas".# Gas chambers were not the only method of execution used. Lethal injections and firing squads were used many times in order to make room for the healthy, working prisoners. However, one of the main reasons that Mengele wanted to be at the gates when the new trains arrived, was to ensure that all twins would be sent to his laboratory. Mengele ordered the SS guards who assisted him in the selection process to scour the lines of prisoners for twins. "Zwillinge, zwillinge," or "Twins, twins" would be shouted by the guards as they would search the trains.# Even when Mengele was not scheduled to be at the ramps, he would often be there to ensure that all twins that arrived were sent to him.# He had an obsession with being an actual "Angel of Death" in that he had power to decide one's fate. He also had an obsession with his research that would inevitably involve the experimentation of twins due to his involvement in genetics and racial characteristics.

The use of twins was at the forefront of Josef Mengele's research. His stated mission at Auschwitz was to perform research on human genetics.# Mengele believed that if sets of twins without many hereditary defects were carefully analysed, a researcher

Lynott, Douglas. "Josef Mengele: Mengele's Research". http://va.crimelibrary.com/mengele/research.htm. The Crime Library, 2000.

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Approximate Word count = 1320
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History