past. Chelsea Reid.
Joseph Mengele: The Angel of Death.
A chilling memoir into the early years of one of the most notorious war criminals of modern times...
J
oseph Mengele. The name itself manifests such negative connotations within both the head and heart of many. How did such a reputable young man be later personified, little more than a mere twenty years later, as evil itself? Mengele was brought up with a typical middle-class lifestyle; this is hardly the place where evil cultivates. Therefore, why was it here in the small town of Günzburg that a man who ordered the killings of hundreds of thousands of people started his life? I believe that he, albeit very disturbed, was not the man everyone believed he was after the horrors of Auschwitz. A deep psychological problem was obviously apparent, yet whether it was from his cold and distant parents or his sickening ambition to succeed is still debatable. Many SS doctors within the concentration camp Auschwitz-Berkinau found the “selections” of suitable inmates to be the most stressful and often, disturbing. Dr. Ella Lingens, speaking in the book, People of Auschwitz, “Dr. Mengele was said “Hans Konig, who particularly cold and was deeply cynical.” Dr. Ella Lingens disgusted by the job, had also stated. to get drunk before they appeared on the ramp.” Said ramp was where the doctors stood to decide, ultimately, who would live and who would die. Not only does this suggest that “The Angel of Death” was particularly cruel, but at what point would his callousness actually end? Mengele was born in March of 1911, to
Karl Mengele and was the eldest of three sons. The Mengele family itself was Catholic, and since Karl wasn’t a Nazi sympathiser, it is safe to say that his early home life didn’t affect Joseph’s political views. His staunch Catholic upbringing turned Joseph into a cynic, and he saw the church and its events as a chance merely to gain wealth. Instead of taking over the family business, as was expected of him, Joseph found himself far more interested in music and natural sciences, longing to become a doctor. Walburga, Joseph’s mother, was seen to be incapable of love and, as a child, he also didn’t see much of his father. Were the cold and distant traits what Joseph had to call “paternal bonds” what drove him to rebel? Did their vulgar behaviour lead to Joseph’s vulgarity within Auschwitz? Even though Joseph can now be seen as a man beyond feeling, wasn’t it just that he was sick of caring too much, and it not being reciprocated?
Where did it all start? From an early age it is said that he seemed possessed with burning ambition. Speaking in Anatomy of an Auschwitz Death Camp, Julius Diesbach, a school friend, said. “He did not just want to succeed but to stand out from the crowd. It was his passion for fame. He once told me that one day I would read his name in an encyclopaedia.” Joseph eventually decided on medicine with an emphasis on “anthropology and human genetics, so [he] could study the whole range of medicine.” This idea furthered his ambition with becoming a well-known figure, recognised within the encyclopaedias of the world. In conjunction with his “harsh” upbringing, his ambitions may have been in conflict with his fathers’ on purpose. His want, his need to succeed
did he so easily succumb to the Nazi ideals? Yes, it may have stemmed from wanting to prove his father coincided with his research, but wasn’t it a longing wrong, that there was indeed a different path for for something more? Mengele wanted to be part of him; away from the Mengele factory. something, unlike the family he was never truly part In 1930, Mengele left the family home and of. Joseph needed a place to belong and the Nazi travelled east to Munich. It was around this time, party gave him that. In a sense, he was infuriated by in Munich, that Hitler blamed “corrupt” Jewish his parents’ lack of care or consideration for him, governors and politicians in Berlin for accepting and rebelled in the most gruesome way possible; the Germany’s surrender in World War I at Versailles. sickening events in It was this idea that Auschwitz. promoted anti FastSemitism throughout forward almost 6 the Nazi party, in years to January 1 conjunction with 1937 and, after a this they were then recommendation told by Hitler to deal from Professor with “Jewish vermin” Mollinson, Mengele by “exterminating was appointed the it, root and branch.” title of research It does in fact seem assistant at Third like here is where Reich Institute for Mengele embarked Heredity, Biology on his pseudoAuschwitz Birkenau and Racial Purity scientific route in at the University of life. Frankfurt. He joined the staff of Professor Otmar von Verschuer, who would turn out to be a prominent Politics. man in Mengele’s academic life. From that day forward Mengele’s ideas and ambitions reached new He studied philosophy at Munich University heights, and, as it is said in Mengele: The Complete and by the time Mengele had joined the university Story, “Von Verschuer almost certainly influenced student body, the Nazis had become one of Mengele’s subsequent appointment to Auschwitz.” the largest political parties in Germany. As an Von Verschuer was not only an outspoken admirer, impressionable young man, Mengele was said to but one of Europe’s foremost geneticists and, have been strongly attracted to the program and the conveniently, the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm whole organization of the Nazi party and by March Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity and 1931, he had joined the Stahlelm who, although Eugenics. This was just the beginning for Mengele’s they weren’t affiliated with the Nazi party, were ideas of racial supremacy and eugenics. « very nationalistic and right wing. Even though this doesn’t indicate an outright following of the Nazis, it is clear that Mengele held great admiration for them. Whilst studying philosophy at Munich and medicine later on at Frankfurt am Main University, Mengele learned of racial genetics and eugenics, which Hitler supported so avidly. The deciding factor in corrupting Joseph Mengele’s mind is still unclear, but almost certainly a catalyst in this would have been where and what he was studying. At Munich, then at Frankfurt, authors Posner and Ware believe he studied “under the leading exponents of this “unworthy life” theory.” Even though there was the obvious idea of a common ground in an interest in genetics that bonds Mengele to the Nazi Party, I believe there is another factor. Mengele is perceived by many as a sick and cruel man, yet why
Theorists estimate the total number of deaths to be around 6,000,000 but no one can be sure, many simply disappeared without a trace.