Twins

Dr. Mengele was a physician assigned to work at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was responsible for keeping the prisoners healthy so they work or making sure those who were too sick died by a Phenol injection directly to the heart. He would also meet the trains in order to select who would be put into work group and who would be sent to die immediately (1). However, Dr. Mengele was also given permission to conduct genetic experiments* on the prisoners. Among the new arrivals, Dr. Mengele chose as many sets of identical twins as he could. “While the twins were spared from outright execution, they were delivered to a decidedly crueler fate. Mengele reserved a special barracks for his twin subjects, as well as for dwarfs, cripples and other "exotic specimens." The barracks was nicknamed the Zoo, Mengele's holding pen. The twins were his favorite subjects, and they were afforded special treatment, such as being able to keep their own hair and clothing, and receiving extra food rations. The guards were under strict orders not to abuse the children, and were to look after their well being lest one should fall ill and die. Mengele became explosively irate if one of his beloved specimens should happen to die. These twins were referred to as "Mengele's Children (2)." During selection, most often the families were separated at the train platform. Twins were chosen by Dr. Mengele and the rest he sent to gas chamber (3).

In his work, Dr. Mengele wanted to study the effects of different procedures or chemicals on people. What better way to determine the results than by affecting one twin and studying the changes, using the other twin as a baseline? “As twins, they were nature's natural guinea pigs. One child was used as a control and the other had experiments conducted on her/him. If a twin died, the other twin was killed by an injection into the heart and comparative autopsies were done on the two (4).”

“A camp [Auschwitz] where affection and comfort were lavished upon the children living in the Zoo, only so as to keep them healthy enough for twisted and pointless experimentation; a camp where Mengele himself escorted his beloved "children" to the gas chambers, referring to their walks as a game he called "on the way to the chimney (5)."

Auschwitz had another, less infamous, doctor who also performed horrendous experiments on children, though it is not clear if she singled out twins or all children. “Dr. Herta Oberhauser killed children with oil and evipan injections, removed their limbs and vital organs, rubbed ground glass and sawdust into wounds (6).”

In Auschwitz, an estimated 3,000 twins were chosen by Dr. Mengele. Of these, 160 were rescued by the Russian Army (7). Despite his barbaric experiments, many of the survivors who were younger children at the time recall Dr. Mengele as a nice man who treated them well, brought them presents, befriended them, and personally took them to their experiments. He was almost a surrogate father figure to them (8).

*The range of tests and cruelties performed on these children encompass both extremes: gentle measurements and barbarous and deadly surgeries or treatments or experiments. They are so numerous and varied, that I have chosen to relay them as direct quotes. They are explicit. Some people may wish to avoid reading them.*

“In addition to the selections and beatings, Mengele occupied his time with other numerous acts of the most base cruelty, including the dissection of live infants; the castration of boys and men without the use of an anesthetic; and the administering of high-voltage electric shocks to women inmates under the auspices of testing their endurance (9).”

“Ironically, it was his very experiments that extracted the heaviest physical toll on the children upon whom he lavished such care and affection, and hundreds ended up dying as a result of his gruesome deeds. As with other inmates at Auschwitz, Mengele's imagination knew no bounds when it came to devising physical torments for his victims. Preliminary examinations of the twins were routine enough. The children filled out a questionnaire, were weighed and measured. However, a more gruesome fate awaited them at Mengele's hands. He took daily blood samples from his children, and sent these to Professor von Verschuer in Berlin. He injected blood samples from one twin into another twin of a different blood type and recorded the reaction. This was invariably a searingly painful headache and high fever that lasted for several days. In order to determine if eye color could be genetically altered, Mengele had dye injected into the eyes of several twin subjects. This always resulted in painful infections, and sometimes even blindness. If such twins died, Mengele would harvest their eyes and pin them to the wall of his office, much like a biologist pins insect samples to styrofoam. Young children were placed in isolation cages, and subjected to a variety of stimuli to see how they would react. Several twins were castrated or sterilized. Many twins had limbs and organs removed in macabre surgical procedures that Mengele performed without using an anesthetic. Other twins were injected with infectious agents to see how long it would take for them to succumb to various diseases (10).”

"Dr. Mengele had always been more interested in Tibi. I am not sure why - perhaps because he was the older twin. Mengele made several operations on Tibi. One surgery on his spine left my brother paralyzed. He could not walk anymore. Then they took out his sexual organs. After the fourth operation, I did not see Tibi anymore (11).”

“The girls, like other twins, had to undergo hundreds of tests. Their heads and body parts were measured and compared. Once they had all their blood transfused with the blood of another set of twins. As a result of that experiment, the girls became very ill and developed a high fever.

The girls reported that Mengele injected his subjects’ eyes with chemicals and dyes to find out if they could be turned into the right shade of Aryan blue. He "swapped" parts of their organs from one set of twins to another. He injected their bodies with poisons and an unknown number of viruses and diseases to compare results from one set of twins to another.

"We had no idea of what was in store for us. The atmosphere was horrible." The girls went with other twins to face Mengele. They remember standing naked before him and the other SS men. They were told they would be impregnated by identical male twins. They remember having blood transfusions from incompatible donors in preparation for the breeding program (12).”

“At Auschwitz Mengele did a number of twin studies, and these twins were usually murdered after the experiment was over and their bodies dissected. He supervised an operation by which two Gypsy children were sewn together to create Siamses twins; the hands of the children became badly infected where the veins had been resected (13).”
“Mengele performed both physical and psychological experiments, experimental surgeries performed without anesthesia, transfusions of blood from one twin to another, isolation endurance, reaction to various stimuli. He made injections with lethal germs, sex change operations, the removal of organs and limbs, incestuous impregnations (14).”
“So called camp doctors, especially the notorious Josef Mengele, would torture Jewish children, Gypsy children and many others. "Patients" were put into pressure chambers, tested with drugs, castrated, frozen to death, and exposed to various other traumas (15).”
“Mengele was almost fanatical about drawing blood from twins, mostly identical twins. He is reported to have bled some to death this way (16).”
“Once Mengele's assistant rounded up 14 pairs of Gypsy twins during the night. Mengele placed them on his polished marble dissection table and put them to sleep. He then proceeded to inject chloroform into their hearts, killing them instantaneously. Mengele then began dissecting and meticulously noting each and every piece of the twins' bodies (17).”
“Near the end of the war, in order to cut expenses and save gas, "cost- accountant considerations" led to an order to place living children directly into the ovens or throw them into open burning pits (18).”

Sources:

(1) Hoss, Rudolph, and Primo Levi. Death Dealer: the Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz. Edited by Steven Paskuly. Translated by Andrew Pollinger. New York City: Da Capo Press, 1992.

(2) Lynott, Douglas. "Josef Mengele." Tru.TV. Time/Warner. http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/history/mengele/index_5.html (accessed April 13, 2011).

(3) Candles Holocaust Museum. Candles Holocaust Museum. http://www.candlesholocaustmuseum.org/ (accessed March 25, 2011).

(4) Candles Holocaust Museum. Candles Holocaust Museum. http://www.candlesholocaustmuseum.org/index.php?sid=4&id=4 (accessed March 25, 2011).

(5) Lynott, Douglas. "Josef Mengele." Tru.TV. Time/Warner. http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/history/mengele/index_6.html (accessed April 13, 2011).

(6) Louis Bulow. Angel of Death: Josef Mengele. http://www.auschwitz.dk/Mengele.htm (accessed April 15, 2011).

(7) Matalon Lagnado, Lucette, and Sheila Cohn Dekel. Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz. Reprint. New York City: Penguin, 1992.

(8) Louis Bulow. Angel of Death: Josef Mengele. http://www.auschwitz.dk/Mengele.htm (accessed April 15, 2011).

(9) Lynott, Douglas. "Josef Mengele." Tru.TV. Time/Warner. http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/history/mengele/index_4b.html (accessed April 13, 2011).

(10) Lynott, Douglas. "Josef Mengele." Tru.TV. Time/Warner. http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/history/mengele/index_5.html (accessed April 13, 2011).

(11) Louis Bulow. Angel of Death: Josef Mengele. http://www.auschwitz.dk/Mengele.htm (accessed April 15, 2011).

(4) Candles Holocaust Museum. Candles Holocaust Museum. http://www.candlesholocaustmuseum.org/index.php?sid=4&id=5 (accessed March 25, 2011).

(13) Louis Bulow. Angel of Death: Josef Mengele. http://www.auschwitz.dk/Mengele.htm (accessed April 15, 2011).

(14) Louis Bulow. Angel of Death: Josef Mengele. http://www.auschwitz.dk/Mengele.htm (accessed April 15, 2011).

(15) Louis Bulow. Angel of Death: Josef Mengele. http://www.auschwitz.dk/Mengele.htm (accessed April 15, 2011).

(16) Louis Bulow. Angel of Death: Josef Mengele. http://www.auschwitz.dk/Mengele.htm (accessed April 15, 2011).

(17) Louis Bulow. Angel of Death: Josef Mengele. http://www.auschwitz.dk/Mengele.htm (accessed April 15, 2011).

(18) Louis Bulow. Angel of Death: Josef Mengele. http://www.auschwitz.dk/Mengele.htm (accessed April 15, 2011).