Dr. Mengele is most notoriously known for his experiments on twins. One survivor remembered, “When the convoys arrived, soldiers scouted the ranks… hunting for twins… Mothers hoping for special treatment for their twin children, readily gave them up…” (Roleff 130). When twins first arrived at Auschwitz, they were sent to a special part of the camp. There, they were asked a series of questions. They were also asked to fill out an information form. For younger children who could not read or write, an older twin, called a Twins’ Father, assisted in filling out the forms. One Twins’ Father explains, “One of my duties as Twins’ Father was to help them fill it [the information sheet] out… The forms contained dozens of detailed questions related to a child’s background, health, and physical characteristics...age, weight, and height...eye color… color of their hair.” (Lagnado 59-60). After the forms were filled out, the children were examined for blemishes like scars, wounds, and pimples. Those who were considered too ‘damaged’ to be of use were sent to the gas chambers and then their bodies were sent to research facilities in Germany. Twins that survived the selection were then taken to barracks. Under instruction of Mengele, no twin was tattooed or shaved. This was to prevent any blemishes, and so Mengele could study hair patterns for different races.
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"Mengele would look at each of the twins and see what interested him the most. We were his guinea pigs." |
"Mengele performed some very painful experiments on my sister, Rachel. She was very ill during her entire stay at the camp." -Vera Blau |
Twins had to endure countless, gruesome, often unnecessary experiments that usually ended up with the death of the children. Twice a week, blood was drawn from both twins through the arm, fingers, and for smaller children, the neck. Sometimes, blood was transferred between the two of them. This made the twins very sick, and sometimes these transfusions proved to be fatal. Spinal taps were also common experiments done to twins. This could paralyze the twin, which caused them to be gassed. One surviving twin stated, “One day, my twin brother, Tibi, was taken away for some special experiments… One surgery on his spine left my brother paralyzed… After the fourth operation, I did not see Tibi anymore… They had taken way my father, my mother, and two older brothers- and now, my twin” (Lagnado 71). If one twin died from natural causes, the other twin was killed so that they could be dissected at the same time. In some cases, Mengele killed both twins at the same time with a chloroform injection to the heart. Chloroform causes blood clots, leading to instant death. The twins’ bodies were then shipped to research facilities in Germany for studying.
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However, twins also got special accommodations under Mengele’s care. Besides being able to keep their hair, Mengele permitted certain convoys of twins to keep their belongings and clothing. In special circumstances, mothers got permission to live with their twins for a period of time. Often however, the mother was soon killed, and her twins followed shortly. Young children often got candy after daily expectations, and Mengele was known to give small gifts to his favorite twins. One doctor remembered, “He [Mengele] brought chocolate for them, the most beautiful clothes, white pants, even aprons, and the girls had ribbons in their hair” (Posner & Ware 35). Children who were liberated before they could be experimented on never knew the true character of Josef Mengele.
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"There was Mengele, standing at the head of the line. He was telling people where to go, in what direction- to the right or to the left... When it was our turn, Mengele immediately asked us if we were twins... Mengele ordered us to go in a certain direction- and our mother too." |