Isaac Meadows
Lindberg
History
February 25th, 2014
Dr. Mengele’s Twin Research
The Holocaust was definitely a horrible time during the World War. However, I feel the most horrid feature that The Holocaust had to offer were Dr. Mengele’s research studies on twins. Over the course of the holocaust, Dr. Mengele performed numerous gruesome and painstakingly horrid experiments on twins. Not only did he perform these grotesque experiments, he performed them without anesthesia for the most part.
Dr. Mengele was obsessed about twins. More common than not, Dr. Mengele would have his assistants round up twins and abduct them during the night. One report says that one of his assitants rounded up 14 pairs of Gypsy twins during the night. Once abducted, 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 on the spot. He then began dissecting and began noting each and every piece of the twins' bodies. (www.auschwitz.dk)
During his time in Auschwitz, Dr. Mengele did a number of twin studies. These twins were then usually murdered after the experiment was over and their bodies dissected. He even supervised an operation by which two Gypsy children were sewn together to create Siamese twins. Unfortunately, the hands of the children became badly infected where the veins had been sewn together. (www.auschwitz.dk)
Dr. Mengele was also infatuated with eye color. On numerous occasions, he injected chemicals into the eyes of children in an attempt to change their eye color. What he hoped to accomplish was to change the eye color from deep brown, to the “Arian Blue”. Yet, like all of his experiments, the test subjects usually died either during or immediately after the experiment. (www.auschwitz.dk)
Twins enduring his experiments didn't know what the heck was going on, nor did they know why Dr. Mengele was doing what he did. It is known that he had a special pathology lab where he performed autopsies on twins who had died from experiments, which, ironically, was located next to the crematorium. (www.auschwitz.dk)
Dr. Mengele performed both physical and psychological experiments, experimental surgeries performed without anesthesia, transfusions of blood from one twin to another, isolation endurance, and reaction to various stimuli. He made injections with lethal germs, sex change operations, the removal of organs and limbs, and impregnations. (www.auschwitz.dk)
Here is an actual quote from a surviving twin that was subject to Dr. Megele’s operations:
"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. I cannot tell you how I felt. It is impossible to put into words how I felt. They had taken away my father, my mother, my two older brothers - and now, my twin ..." (www.auschwitz.dk)
All of Mengele’s twins were examined from head to toe. Measurements of every inch were taken. Dr. Mengele demanded specific and careful exams; if any detail was missed the staff, usually a prisoner doctor, would be punished. The twins were allowed to keep their hair for the first several days of the examination. After all the living data was taken, the twins would be killed by a single injection of chloroform in the heart. Care was taken to insure the twins died at the same time. The twins were then dissected with the organs being sent to research centers. (www.auschwitz.dk)
Prisoner doctors tell of the fate of two Hungarian twins who arrived at Auschwitz late in 1943. Dr. Mengele was at the camp selection. The train had arrived in the very early morning. Three sets of twins were found and then were taken to the experimental block. Dr. Mengele ordered the two Hungarian twins be placed