How Did Josef Mengele Use Scientific Experiments

At the German concentration camps, Josef Mengele, conducted depraved experiments by developing and testing pharmaceuticals and treatment methods for injuries and illnesses. Many of the people he performed experiments on were Jews and twins. Most of them were tested against their will. He and other doctors performed many experiments, such as the malaria experiments, mustard gas experiments, pharmaceutical testing, spotted fever (typhus) experiments, sulfanilamide experiments, and experiments with poisons. When Mengele performed the malaria experiments, he wanted to discover the immunization for and treatment of malaria. He infected the victims with mosquitos, or by injections of extracts of the mucous glands of mosquitoes. After he consumed …show more content…
Why he did these things it is not known, but there are many theories. One reason he could have been interested in twins is because of their difference from the normal community. In that era different people, such as people of color, could be considered “rare” in a way. This might have drawn him towards experimenting on twins. Twins were also ideal because one could act as a control test and the other would be tested on. “During the 1930s, twin research was seen as an ideal tool in weighing the invariant factors of human heredity and environment,” (ushmm.org). This would allow Mengele a good way to watch the changes that he caused. The experiments also took place because the Germans were trying to improve their ethnic group. In other words the Germans wanted to make themselves better and stronger each generation. This would allow the Germans to have a stronger military and withstand battle longer. Further, Mengele could have had an interest in twins because of a more personal experience, such as having twins as friends in the past. This would have give Mengele greater experience dealing with twins. Mengele could also have experimented on twins because it would give him multiple tests and outcomes. “...famous for experimenting with identical and fraternal twins in order to trace the genetic origins of various diseases,”(ushmm.org). The twins being so alike, gave Mengele two consistent science subjects. …show more content…
Eva Moses and her twin, Miriam are two of the few lucky survivors. After the camp was liberated the twins were put into the famous film done by the Soviets, showing the horrors of the Holocaust. Another twin Jona Laks, she and her twin were taken straight to the gas chambers. However, before they got there Jona’s older sister told Mengele that they were twins and were take to his laboratories. This was an attempt to avoid being killed in the gas chambers, but it led them deeper into the horror of the death camp laboratories. Another twin recalled his brothers death: “One surgery on his spine left my brother paralyzed. He could not walk anymore….After the fourth operation, I did not see Tibi anymore,” (auschwitz.dk). Although, Mengele’s experiments usually killed the patients, the survivors remember the doctor to be kind and giving. “Strangely enough, many of them recall Mengele as a gentle, affable man who befriended them as children and gave them chocolates,”(auschwitz.dk). Dr. Mengele probably acted like this because he wanted to make the twins think he was nice so they would easily participate in his horrible