DEKEL, LUCETTE MATALON LAGNADO SHEILA COHN by CHILDREN OF THE FLAMES Page A
Authors: CHILDREN OF THE FLAMES
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“sacrificed his pure scientific knowledge in order to secure for himself the applause and the favor of the Nazi tyrants.”
By 1938, Mengele was beginning to enjoy considerable professional success and recognition. He had just completed and published his second doctoral dissertation, which was along similar lines of his earlier Munich treatise, a study of the general area of the human jaw.
This new thesis clearly reflected Verschuer’s influence. While the earlier paper had been primarily a factual study, Mengele now began to formulate theories on the “racial origins” of hereditary traits such as the cleft palate and the harelip.
Mengele’s personal life, once limited to group outings and casual flirtations, was also flourishing. That same year he became engaged to Irene Schoenbein, a lovely young German woman he had met while on holiday. But even as they set a wedding date, Mengele was summoned for a three-month stint in the Wehrmacht, the German Army. Preparations for war were under way, and young men around the country were being called up for training. Mengele was assigned to a mountain regiment in the Tyrol-seemingly an ideal assignment for the young man who enjoyed skiing and hiking.
But Mengele’s experience in the Wehrmacht proved to have a fateful impact on his life. According to Dr. Kurt Lambertz, one of his best friends from the period, Mengele developed an intense dislike of the unit’s commanding officer. The personality clash ended in a brawl between the two. Although Mengele completed his training period, his career in the Wehrmacht was finished. He decided instead to join the SS-the Nazis’ most elite and ruthless corps of soldiers. As a young officer/ doctor Mengele was assured of a distinguished future, serving with the brightest, the most dashing-and the most fanatic-Nazis.
Mengele and Irene were married in July 1939. Weeks later, war broke out and Mengele found himself drafted. His first assignment was an administrative post at the SS Race and Resettlement Office, reviewing applications for German citizenship. In the countries surrounding Germany, such as the Soviet Union and other Slavic lands, there were hundreds of thousands of people who claimed German ancestry. In Hitler’s view of the world, the German “nation” encompassed all Germans-wherever they might be living. It was the duty of the Reich to bring them back into the fold. Mengele’s office was charged with sorting through the applications to determine the “real” Germans: those who met the racial and genealogical criteria.
It was almost two years before Mengele got his first taste of combat.
In June 1941, he was sent to the Ukraine as part of the Waffen SS.
He proved to be an excellent soldier, and received the Iron Cross, Second Class, for his heroic service on the battlefield. The following year, he joined the SS Viking Division as a field physician. Here, Mengele finally practiced medicine, but under the worst conditions.
Epidemics were common during the hot, sticky summers. Winters were so cold as to be unbearable. Thousands of men died every day in fierce battles, and there was neither enough equipment nor medication to keep the wounded alive.
It was on the Russian front that Mengele honed the art of selection.
Due to the shortage of time and supplies, he was forced to make snap decisions as to who among the wounded would be treated, and who would be left to die. The task of choosing among the German soldiers was gruesome to Mengele, and he hated it, he later told friends and colleagues. But he resolved to be dedicated and brave. He ended up being awarded the Iron Cross, First Class, for pulling two wounded soldiers from a burning tank under enemy fire. As one commendation he received stated, Mengele had “conducted himself brilliantly in the face of the enemy.
TWINS’ FATH R (ZYL SPIEG L): “Were you ever a soldier?” Mengele asked me after he had pulled me out of the selection line.
I had been standing
By 1938, Mengele was beginning to enjoy considerable professional success and recognition. He had just completed and published his second doctoral dissertation, which was along similar lines of his earlier Munich treatise, a study of the general area of the human jaw.
This new thesis clearly reflected Verschuer’s influence. While the earlier paper had been primarily a factual study, Mengele now began to formulate theories on the “racial origins” of hereditary traits such as the cleft palate and the harelip.
Mengele’s personal life, once limited to group outings and casual flirtations, was also flourishing. That same year he became engaged to Irene Schoenbein, a lovely young German woman he had met while on holiday. But even as they set a wedding date, Mengele was summoned for a three-month stint in the Wehrmacht, the German Army. Preparations for war were under way, and young men around the country were being called up for training. Mengele was assigned to a mountain regiment in the Tyrol-seemingly an ideal assignment for the young man who enjoyed skiing and hiking.
But Mengele’s experience in the Wehrmacht proved to have a fateful impact on his life. According to Dr. Kurt Lambertz, one of his best friends from the period, Mengele developed an intense dislike of the unit’s commanding officer. The personality clash ended in a brawl between the two. Although Mengele completed his training period, his career in the Wehrmacht was finished. He decided instead to join the SS-the Nazis’ most elite and ruthless corps of soldiers. As a young officer/ doctor Mengele was assured of a distinguished future, serving with the brightest, the most dashing-and the most fanatic-Nazis.
Mengele and Irene were married in July 1939. Weeks later, war broke out and Mengele found himself drafted. His first assignment was an administrative post at the SS Race and Resettlement Office, reviewing applications for German citizenship. In the countries surrounding Germany, such as the Soviet Union and other Slavic lands, there were hundreds of thousands of people who claimed German ancestry. In Hitler’s view of the world, the German “nation” encompassed all Germans-wherever they might be living. It was the duty of the Reich to bring them back into the fold. Mengele’s office was charged with sorting through the applications to determine the “real” Germans: those who met the racial and genealogical criteria.
It was almost two years before Mengele got his first taste of combat.
In June 1941, he was sent to the Ukraine as part of the Waffen SS.
He proved to be an excellent soldier, and received the Iron Cross, Second Class, for his heroic service on the battlefield. The following year, he joined the SS Viking Division as a field physician. Here, Mengele finally practiced medicine, but under the worst conditions.
Epidemics were common during the hot, sticky summers. Winters were so cold as to be unbearable. Thousands of men died every day in fierce battles, and there was neither enough equipment nor medication to keep the wounded alive.
It was on the Russian front that Mengele honed the art of selection.
Due to the shortage of time and supplies, he was forced to make snap decisions as to who among the wounded would be treated, and who would be left to die. The task of choosing among the German soldiers was gruesome to Mengele, and he hated it, he later told friends and colleagues. But he resolved to be dedicated and brave. He ended up being awarded the Iron Cross, First Class, for pulling two wounded soldiers from a burning tank under enemy fire. As one commendation he received stated, Mengele had “conducted himself brilliantly in the face of the enemy.
TWINS’ FATH R (ZYL SPIEG L): “Were you ever a soldier?” Mengele asked me after he had pulled me out of the selection line.
I had been standing
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