Josef Mengele

Josef Mengele

Josef Mengele (1911 - 1979) was a German physician and researcher who worked in the Auschwitz death camp. Mengele had obtained a Ph.D. based on the study of racial differences in the anatomy of the jaw. His degrees from the Universities of Frankfurt and Munich were revoked in 1964. He was one of the greatest supporters of Nazi theories of racial superiority with questionable research claims. He also strongly supported the murder of the physically and mentally disabled.

He performed experiments on humans in the concentration camps attempting to prove that disease was the product of racial inferiority and in order to genetically engineer a new species, which was the aim of his organization, the Frankfurt based Institute of Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene. He amputated healthy limbs and performed other unusual operations on prisoners. After the war he fled to Brazil where he drowned due to a stroke while swimming.

He has been criticized to this day because of his unethical and cruel operations on prisoners.