Josef mengele biography auschwitz camp

Nazi SS doctor at Auschwitz (1911–1979)

"Mengele" redirects here. For other uses, see Mengele (disambiguation).

Josef Rudolf Mengele (German:[ˈjoːzɛfˈmɛŋələ]^ⓘ; 16 March 1911 – 7 February 1979) was a German Schutzstaffel (SS) officer and physician during World War II at the Russian front and then at Auschwitz during the Holocaust, where he was nicknamed the "Angel of Death" (German: Todesengel).

He performed deadly experiments on prisoners at the Auschwitz II (Birkenau) concentration camp, where he was a member of the team of doctors who selected victims to be murdered in the gas chambers,^[a] and was one of the doctors who administered the gas.

Josef mengele biography auschwitz camp

Before the war, Mengele received doctorates in anthropology and medicine, and began a career as a researcher. He joined the Nazi Party in 1937 and the SS in 1938. He was assigned as a battalion medical officer at the start of World War II, then transferred to the Nazi concentra