Dwarfs

One group of people across Europe which is often overlooked in the Holocaust is those with Dwarfism. Not precisely sought out, despite being considered genetically inferior, when these “little people” showed up in concentration camp transports, they were treated much as other physically disabled or handicapped people. Some were worked to death or starved to death, others were sent to the gas chamber, and still others were taken by Nazi doctors, such as Josef Mengele, for experimentation, and ultimately death (1). “Like a demonic impresario casting the ultimate freak show, SS doctor Josef Mengele plucked out from the masses that passed before him, twins, and unusual mutations: hunchbacks, pinheads, hermaphrodites, giants, dwarfs, obese men and corpulent women (2).”

While most families were whittled down to one or two survivors, or even completely annihilated, one family kept eleven members alive, as well as eleven non-members whom they shielded by claiming blood relations. This family contained seven people with dwarfism, and had arrived at Auschwitz in a group. Dr. Mengele chose this extended group for his torturous experiments (3).

He went so far as to have them put together in special living quarters where they were given clean bedding, a private bucket behind a curtain, a washbasin, and good food. They were even allowed to keep their clothes, hair, and cosmetics (4)(5). During Dr. Mengele’s experiments on heredity, he had specialists from every branch of medicine examine and extract samples from the little people. “… to extract bone marrow, pull out teeth, pluck hairs, place drops in the dwarfs' eyes that would blind them for hours. They poured first boiling then freezing water into the ears. The married female dwarfs were subjected to close gynaecological scrutiny (6).”

There were other “dwarfs” brought into Auschwitz, as well as other concentration camps. Two little people had arrived after the Ovitze family, and they, too, were taken from the gas chamber line. However, they were killed, boiled in water until their bones were clean of flesh, and their skeletons were given to a museum of anthropology (7).

Another ‘dwarf” at Auschwitz met a far different fate than that of the Ovitze family. Primo Levi, in his book “Survival in Auschwitz” mentions him: “Elias Lindzin, 141565, one day rained into the Chemical Kommando. He was a dwarf, not more than five feet high, but I have never seen muscles like his. … If Elias regains his liberty he will be confined to the fringes of human society, in a prison or a lunatic asylum. … In the Lager (concentration camp) Elias prospers and is triumphant. He is a good worker and a good organizer, and for this double reason, he is safe from selections (gas chamber) and respected by both leaders and comrades (8).” His fate is unknown at this time.

“Mengele had several hundred twins at his disposal, and he made notoriously cruel experiments on them. But since he had only one family of dwarfs, he was careful not to put their lives at risk. This enabled the Ovitzes to see liberation, on January 27th, 1945 (9).”

Others were not so “lucky”.

Sources:

(1) Pine, Dan. "‘Giants’ a Stirring Story of Jewish Dwarfs Who Survived the Holocaust." JWeekly, February 18, 2005. http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/25140/-giants-a-stirring-story-of-jewish-dwarfs-who-survived-the-holocaust/ (accessed April 27, 2011).

(2) Yehuda, Koren. "Mengele and the Family of Dwarfs." History Today 55, no. 2 (February 2005): 32-33. http://web.ebscohost.com.jsc-proxy.libraries.vsc.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=18&sid=9e5c25c8-0c1a-4b41-91ad-48b63bf73365%40sessionmgr15&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVybCx1aWQmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl#db=aph&AN= (accessed April 27, 2011).

(3) Yehuda, Koren. "Mengele and the Family of Dwarfs." History Today 55, no. 2 (February 2005): 32-33. http://web.ebscohost.com.jsc-proxy.libraries.vsc.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=18&sid=9e5c25c8-0c1a-4b41-91ad-48b63bf73365%40sessionmgr15&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVybCx1aWQmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl#db=aph&AN= (accessed April 27, 2011).

(4) Yehuda, Koren. "Mengele and the Family of Dwarfs." History Today 55, no. 2 (February 2005): 32-33. http://web.ebscohost.com.jsc-proxy.libraries.vsc.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=18&sid=9e5c25c8-0c1a-4b41-91ad-48b63bf73365%40sessionmgr15&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVybCx1aWQmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl#db=aph&AN= (accessed April 27, 2011).

(5) Pine, Dan. "‘Giants’ a Stirring Story of Jewish Dwarfs Who Survived the Holocaust." JWeekly, February 18, 2005. http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/25140/-giants-a-stirring-story-of-jewish-dwarfs-who-survived-the-holocaust/ (accessed April 27, 2011).

(6) Yehuda, Koren. "Mengele and the Family of Dwarfs." History Today 55, no. 2 (February 2005): 32-33. http://web.ebscohost.com.jsc-proxy.libraries.vsc.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=18&sid=9e5c25c8-0c1a-4b41-91ad-48b63bf73365%40sessionmgr15&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVybCx1aWQmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl#db=aph&AN= (accessed April 27, 2011).

(7) Yehuda, Koren. "Mengele and the Family of Dwarfs." History Today 55, no. 2 (February 2005): 32-33. http://web.ebscohost.com.jsc-proxy.libraries.vsc.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=18&sid=9e5c25c8-0c1a-4b41-91ad-48b63bf73365%40sessionmgr15&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVybCx1aWQmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl#db=aph&AN= (accessed April 27, 2011).

(8) Levi, Primo, and Philip Roth. Survival in Auschwitz: the Nazi Assault on Humanity. Translated by Stuart Woolf. New York City: Touchstone: Simon & Schuster, 1996, pages 95, 97-98.

(9) Yehuda, Koren. "Mengele and the Family of Dwarfs." History Today 55, no. 2 (February 2005): 32-33. http://web.ebscohost.com.jsc-proxy.libraries.vsc.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=18&sid=9e5c25c8-0c1a-4b41-91ad-48b63bf73365%40sessionmgr15&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVybCx1aWQmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl#db=aph&AN= (accessed April 27, 2011).