Everett Cannon

Ms. Schmidt

Honors English 9

27 February 2018

An Annotated Bibliography: Dr. Josef Mengele

Adams, Cecil. “ Did Josef Mengele Produce Any Useful Medical Research?” Washington City

Paper, 12 Mar. 2015, www.washingtoncitypaper.com/columns/straight/article/13046655/did-

josef-mengele-produce-any-useful-medical-research-data-gathered.

People debate weather Dr. Mengele’s research was ever even useful to the medical field,

with some saying his research was incredibly useful and others saying they’ve never seen

him credited for anything substantial.

Research back then was much less safe, with participants usually not told what was really

going on. For example in the 40’s, some inmates in a new York correctional facility were

forced to ingest certain substances so the researchers could study a stomach bug. In

another instance, rural men contracted syphilis. They weren’t allowed to get treatment so

they could study the disease. Many of these experiments produced helpful results that

benefitted many people in the future. On the opposite end, Nazi medical experimentation

tended to be unscientific and needlessly violent. In fact only two of the documented

experiments have produced useful results. These experiments involved subjecting people

to extreme testing in freezing water, often ending with their death. Despite the many

failed trials and innocent lives lost, this led to the development of the technique called
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rapid active rewarming. This ended up saving many lives, but costing more than 90

innocent lives to develop.

This experiment had nothing to do with Mengele, his experiments were so mindless and

sadistic, they produced no meaningful results. He often performed the same experiments

over and over again. His experiments always ended with the death of the patient. He

often donated the brains and corpses of his victims to other institutions that were able to

produce research of medical value. To sum it up, Dr. Mengele’s experiments did not

produce any notable conclusions that benefited anyone.

“Dr. Josef Mengele: The Cruelest Nazi Doctor of the Holocaust.” Medical Bag, 15 June 2016,

www.medicalbag.com/despicable-doctors/dr-josef-mengele-the-cruelest-nazi-doctor-of-the-

holocaust/article/472824/.

This source talks about Dr. Mengele’s early life. Josef was born as the oldest of three

children, he earned his PhD in 1935 and became the assistant to Dr. Otmar von Verschuer,

A doctor known for his research on twins. Mengele then went on to become a part of the

Nazi party and join the SS in 1940, going off to war before he was injured and sent back.

He then applied to work in the concentration camp of Auschwitz. Mengele went on to

accepted and start his work which would put him down in history as the cruelest doctor of

all time.

He first gained the attention of many by being present for the selection process, and while

other doctors dreaded the selection task, Mengele enjoyed it and even showed up for
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shifts where he wasn’t assigned. Mengele was very trigger happy in that when an

outbreak occurred, instead of treating them he often just sent them to the gas chambers, in

one instance even throwing live children into a pit of fire. Later he would move on to

human experimentation, attempting to breed the perfect German race.

His experiments were cruel and often ended with the patient dying. He was fascinated by

heterochromia and twins, often performing blood transfusions to attempt to change one

twins eye color. He would also inject chemicals into people’s eyes often leading to them

getting infections. After the war was over he escaped to south America to attempt to

continue his research. He later died with his remains being gone for many years before

they found them and identified them as his. In short Mengele was a cruel man who only

wanted to harm and ruin others lives

Minster, Christopher. “Who Was Dr. Josef Mengele, the Auschwitz ‘Angel of Death’?”

ThoughtCo, 12 Oct. 2017, www.thoughtco.com/ten-facts-about-dr-josef-mengele-2136588.

The Mengele family was actually quite wealthy. The family gained its wealth from their

company that produced farm machinery. Mengele was also incredibly smart, gaining a

doctorate in anthropology. He studied and did his thesis on cleft palates. Mengele saved

two fellow German soldiers from a burning tank, gaining him a few medals. This event

wounded him and sent him home, this put the wheels in motion for him going to

Auschwitz.

Many people seem to think that he was in charge of Auschwitz, when in reality he was

just one of the many physicians assigned to the camp. Because of his rank he was able to
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have a lot of freedom when it came to his experiments. His experiments were considered

completely inhuman. The nickname given to him was the angle of death. He was given

this name due to his presence in the selection process.

After the war His plan was to escape and live his life in Argentina. When he first got

there, life want too bad, he had many contacts and was able to live comfortably. This luck

didn’t last long though, he was one of the few infamous Nazis that weren’t caught,

because of this, he was the worlds most wanted Nazi. A rumor went around that he is the

reason that a town had an unusual amount of twins, when in reality, after the war, he led a

relatively normal life as an average doctor until his death in a swimming accident in

1979.

“What Were the Josef Mengele Experiments?” History, 1 June 2017,

www.historyonthenet.com/what-were-the-josef-mengele-experiments/.

Dr. Mengele was not the head physician at Auschwitz but actually part of a team of

doctors. This team were the ones In charge of the selection process, sending suitable

people to work and the rest to the gas chambers. Most doctors despised the selection

process, but not doctor Mengele. Dr. Mengele loved the selection process, showing up to
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his shift happy and even coming to selections where he was unassigned. The other

doctors would often have to force themselves to get through the shift.

When given the opportunity he continued his previous research on genetic, specifically

twins and children. More often than not, after he was done experimenting on a subject he

would kill them regardless of their physical condition. His attitude toward the patients

were mostly very kind and calm. He would often play games with the children and they

would call him uncle Mengele. The living conditions were usually better for those living

under Dr. Mengele’s care, that was until it came time for experimentation.

The procedures he performed were often ruthless and gave no mind to the patient’s

safety. He performed blood transfusions between the twins to transfer diseases from one

to the other. He also attempted to create Siamese twins but often ended up killing them in

the process. He was also very interested in heterochromia, often dissecting the eyes of his

victims for further research. He also experimented on pregnant women, attempted sex

change procedures and tried to transfer organs from one patient to another. Most of his

experiments were done in secrecy. The only reason we know as much as we do is because

his assistant documented the atrocities.

Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux,

2017.

In the book night, Dr. Mengele is encountered on multiple different occasions. The first

time he is seen is when the group first gets to Auschwitz. Elie and his father walk out into

the platform to begin the sorting process. Dr. Mengele is seen sorting the people from
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those that are fit to work and those that aren’t. Because of this Dr. Mengele is partially to

blame for Elie being separated from his mother and sisters.

Dr. Mengele is seen again much later in the book, when another selection is taking place.

This time he is not seen for too long as Elie runs past him as fast as possible. He most

likely does this to avoid him for as long as possible to increase his chance of survival.

The book does not really touch on the experiments performed by him. The book does

however talk about his nickname, the angle of death. The doctor is seen as an incredibly

cruel person to many of the prisoners. It seems that they know of his experiments and

what really goes on during the selection. It also shows how the doctor was no stranger to

the process and actually enjoyed it quite a bit. Most doctor had to force themselves

through the process but Mengele enjoyed it. The book shows how truly cruel the doctor

really was.