Josef Mengele

By Sara Belida and Isaac Howard

Mengele was born on March 16^th, 1911 (three years before WWI). He grew up in Gunsburg, which is located on the banks of the Danube River. His family was of very high class. Josef did not suffer during the depression. Mengele was not very good in school. His favorite subject was anthropology, the study of humans.

Mengele worked in Auschwitz as the person who yelled “left,” which meant that the individual was to be gassed, and “right,” which meant the individual was to be put to work. He did tests such as putting cement in woman’s uterus to see if that would make her stop having babies, and put methane in peoples eyes to see if that would change brown eyes to blue. That particular test only made the person die or suffer from horrible infection and blindness.

After the war, Mengele began to run all over the world, using fake names such as Wolfgang Gerhard, Jose Mengele, and Frizholloman.  Mengele is rumored to have died in Embu, Brazil while swimming and having a stroke. His gravestone was named under “Wolfgang Gerhard.” However, after a trial at Yad Vashmar, the body was examined and it turned out to be Josef Mengele. Josef Mengele was a sick and twisted man that was never brought to justice. 

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