Random Chilling Facts About Nazi Doctor Josef Mengele (21 items)

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  (#1) Mengele Was Obsessed With Studying Twins

  One of the most well-known facts about Mengele is his chilling fascination with twins. His experiments began as a way to further explore the Nazi Party's pet concept of eugenics, a philosophy advocating the improvement of human genetic traits through a systematic weeding out of perceived negative parts of DNA. After working with Professor Otmar Freiherr von Vershuer, Mengele believed that in studying twins, he could gain insight into understanding how one goes about physically removing genetic makeup.

  Because twins were valuable to Mengele, they were afforded some basic human rights that other of the prisoners at Auschwitz were denied, like keeping their hair and wearing clothes. That's where the benefits of being considered one of "Mengele's Children" ended. The twins were subjected to brutal experiments that ultimately seemed to be more about inflicting terror than genuine scientific investigation. 
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  (#13) Mengele's Early Work Was Focused On Cleft Palates

  Before he was known as the Angel of Death, Mengele held a respectable position as a physician who focused on oral embryology and in the developmental anomalies of cleft palate and harelip. This curiosity about fixing genetic anomalies may have been a precursor to his evil experimentation.
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  (#17) He Was Well Known For Whistling Famous Classical Music While Deciding Which New Prisoners Should Be Gassed

  Mengele was known as a well-educated music enthusiast who embodied the "cultured" ideal of the Third Reich. When he wasn't "working", he would often relax by listening to compositions by famous German and Austrian composers, notably Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert. In the memoirs of multiple Birkenau survivors, they recounted Mengele standing on the train platform, whistling famous classical arias while choosing which new arrivals were to be sent to the gas chambers.

   
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  (#15) He Hoarded Body Parts

  In 2015, a member of the Max Planck Psychiatric Institute in Munich discovered a cache of body parts and brains stashed away in their archives. The hoarded remains were either used in or the results of wartime experiments, many conducted by Mengele at Auschwitz. The Institute immediately began set out to identify the remains while reminding people that their research had nothing to do with all of the brains found in their office.

  In a statement published on its website, the Institute wrote: “We are embarrassed by these findings, and the blemish of their discovery in the archives."
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  (#21) His Research Was Supported By The Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute

  It's nearly impossible to find a long-standing German institution without any ties to the country's xenophobic past. That said, in 2005, it came to light that the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute supported Mengele's work, even though they weren't crazy about the German super-race component of his research.

  To be fair, in 1997, the Institute decided on their own to delve into their murky past to expose any skeletons that might be hiding in their closets. According to The project's Director of Research, Dr. Susanne Heim, told The Guardian in 2005:

  We wanted to discover how and why the limits of science were crossed and why there was such a blur between animal and human trials. It was formerly believed that scientists in Germany were oppressed by the Nazi regime, that there were only a few guilty people. But in truth, these doctors were in paradise[...] I appreciate our revelations must be disturbing for the Max Plank Institute, but the institute should be wary not to sit back and think that they have done their bit. They should use these findings as a platform to discuss science today and make sure that researchers keep within the ethical boundaries.
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  (#16) Historians Found A Collection Of Mengele's Daily Documents From The War

  In 2010, a collection of food receipts from Auschwitz were found in the attic of a house close to the camp. The receipts paint a picture of the day-to-day lives of the men and women who ran the camp. The records show that Mengele bought butter and sugar while at the camp, among other mundane details.

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