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{{Short description|Nazi SS doctor at Auschwitz (1911–1979)}}
{{Redirect|Mengele}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Josef Mengele
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1911|03|16|df=yes}}
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1979|2|7|1911|3|16|df=yes}}
| birth_place   = [[Günzburg]], Germany
| death_place   = [[Bertioga]], São Paulo, Brazil
| image         = Josef Mengele, Auschwitz. Album Höcker (cropped).jpg
| caption       = Mengele at ''[[Solahütte]]'' in 1944
| signature     = Josef Mengele Signature.svg
| nickname      = {{plainlist|
* Angel of Death ({{langx|de|link=no|Todesengel}})
* White Angel ({{langx|de|link=no|der weiße Engel}} or {{lang|de|weißer Engel}}){{sfn|USHMM: Josef Mengele}}
* Wolfgang Gerhard (burial name){{sfn|USHMM: Josef Mengele}}
}}
| allegiance    = [[Nazi Germany]]
| branch        = {{lang|de|[[Schutzstaffel]]}}
| serviceyears  = 1938–1945
| rank          = SS-''[[Hauptsturmführer]]'' (captain)
| servicenumber = {{plainlist|
* [[Nazi Party]]&nbsp;#5,574,974
* SS&nbsp;#317,885
}}
| battles       = 
| unit          = 
| awards        = {{plainlist|
* [[Iron Cross First Class]]
* [[Iron Cross|Iron Cross Second Class]]
* [[War Merit Cross|War Merit Cross, 2nd class with Swords]]
* [[Wound Badge|Black Badge for the Wounded]]
* Medal for the Care of the German People
}}
| commands      = 
| spouse        = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Irene Schönbein|1939|1954|reason=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Martha Mengele|1958|<!--Per template docs, don't put "his death"-->}}
}}
| children      = 1
| alma_mater    = {{plainlist|
* [[University of Bonn]] 
* [[University of Munich]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
* [[Goethe University Frankfurt|University of Frankfurt]] ([[Doctor of Medicine|MD]])
}}
}}

'''Josef Mengele''' ({{IPA|de|ˈjoːzɛf ˈmɛŋələ|lang|Josef_Rudolf_Mengele.ogg}}; 16 March 1911{{spaced ndash}}7 February 1979), often dubbed the "'''Angel of Death'''" ({{langx|de|link=no|Todesengel}}), was a [[Nazi]] German {{lang|de|[[Schutzstaffel]]}} (SS) officer and physician during [[World War&nbsp;II]] at the Soviet front and then at Auschwitz during [[the Holocaust]].{{Sfn|Encyclopedia Britannica|2025}} He conducted research and [[Nazi human experimentation|experiments on prisoners]] at the [[Auschwitz concentration camp#Auschwitz II-Birkenau|Auschwitz II-Birkenau]] concentration camp, where he was a member of the team of doctors who selected victims to be murdered in the [[Gas chamber#Nazi Germany|gas chambers]].{{efn|New arrivals that were judged able to work were admitted into the camp, while those deemed unsuitable for labor were sent to the gas chambers.{{sfn|Piper|2000|pp=109–110}} }}

Before the war, Mengele received doctorates in [[anthropology]] and medicine, and he began a career as a researcher. He joined the [[Nazi Party]] in 1937 and the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] in 1938. He was assigned as a battalion medical officer at the start of World War II, then transferred to the [[Nazi concentration camps]] service in early 1943. He was assigned to Auschwitz, where he saw the opportunity to conduct genetic research on human subjects. With [[Red Army]] troops sweeping through [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|German-occupied Poland]], Mengele was transferred {{convert|280|km|miles|abbr=off}} away from Auschwitz to the [[Gross-Rosen concentration camp]] on 17 January 1945, ten days before the arrival of the [[Soviet forces]] at Auschwitz.

After the war, Mengele fled to Argentina in July 1949, assisted by a [[Ratlines (World War II)|network of former SS members]]. He initially lived in and around [[Buenos Aires]], but fled to Paraguay in 1959 and later Brazil in 1960, all while being sought by [[West Germany]], Israel, and [[Nazi hunter]]s such as [[Simon Wiesenthal]], who wanted to bring him to trial. Mengele eluded capture despite extradition requests by the West German government and [[clandestine operation]]s by the Israeli intelligence agency [[Mossad]]. He drowned in 1979 after suffering a stroke while swimming off the coast of [[Bertioga]], and was buried under the false name of Wolfgang Gerhard. His remains were disinterred and positively identified by forensic examination in 1985 and DNA analysis in 1992.

== Early life ==
Mengele was born into a Catholic family{{sfn|Gopnik|2020}} in [[Günzburg]], Bavaria, on 16 March 1911, the eldest of three sons of Walburga (née Hupfauer) and Karl Mengele.{{sfn|Astor|1985|p=12}} His two younger brothers were Karl&nbsp;Jr. and Alois. Their father was the founder of the Karl Mengele & Sons company (later renamed {{ill|Mengele Agrartechnik|de}}), which produced farming machinery.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=4–5}} In 1915, the company expanded, and switched to producing military equipment such as specialized wagons for military transport and parts for deploying naval mines. Karl joined the [[Nazi Party]] in 1933 and the [[SS]] in 1935, primarily as a way to advance his career in local politics. He served as a district economic advisor, and was found during [[denazification]] proceedings after World War II to have not been a committed Nazi.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=4–5}}

Mengele was successful at school and developed an interest in music, art, and skiing.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=6–7}} In 1924, he joined the {{ill|Greater German Youth League|de|Großdeutscher Jugendbund}}, a right-wing youth group, and remained a member until 1930, serving as leader of the local chapter from 1927.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=5}} He completed secondary school in April 1930 and went on to study medicine at the [[University of Munich]].{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=7}}{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=318}} After two semesters, he switched to the [[University of Bonn]],{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=13}} where he took his medical preliminary examination.{{sfn|US Justice Department|1992}} In 1931, he joined {{lang|de|[[Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten]]}}, a paramilitary organization that was absorbed into the Nazi {{lang|de|[[Sturmabteilung]]}} ('Storm Detachment'; SA) in 1934.{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=318}}{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=8, 10}} He spent part of 1933 studying at the [[University of Vienna]],{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=15–16}} and earned his [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] in anthropology from the University of Munich in 1935,{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=318}} studying for four years under {{ill|Theodor Mollison|de}}, a [[physical anthropologist]] and proponent of the pseudoscience of [[scientific racism]]. Mengele's dissertation, titled ''Rassenmorphologische Untersuchung des vorderen Unterkieferabschnittes bei vier rassischen Gruppen'' ("Racial morphological study of the anterior segment of the mandible in four racial groups"), attempted to prove that measurements of the lower jaw could be used to determine race.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=19}}

In January 1937, he joined the Institute for Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene in [[Frankfurt]], where he worked for [[Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer]], a German [[geneticist]] with a particular interest in researching twins.{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=318}} As Verschuer's assistant, Mengele focused on the genetic factors that result in a [[cleft lip and palate]] or a [[cleft chin]].{{sfn|Weindling|2002|p=53}} His thesis on the subject earned him a {{lang|la|[[Latin honors|cum laude]]}} doctorate in medicine ([[Doctor of Medicine|MD]]) from the [[Goethe University Frankfurt|University of Frankfurt]] in 1937.{{sfn|Allison|2011|p=52}}{{efn|Mengele's degrees from the University of Munich and the University of Frankfurt were revoked by the issuing universities in the 1960s.{{sfn|Levy|2006|p=234 (footnote)}}{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=191–193}} }} In a letter of recommendation, Verschuer praised Mengele's reliability and his ability to verbally present complex material clearly.{{sfn|Lifton|1986|p=340}}{{efn|The American author [[Robert Jay Lifton]] notes that Mengele's published works were in keeping with the scientific mainstream of the time, and would probably have been viewed as valid scientific efforts even outside [[Nazi Germany]].{{sfn|Lifton|1986|p=340}} }} In 1938, he hired him as a permanent assistant at his institute. As part of his duties, he assessed the racial heritage of applicants for the [[Aryan certificate]], a document required before a person could qualify for government jobs or German citizenship.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=35}}

On 28 July 1939, Mengele married Irene Schönbein, whom he had met while working as a medical resident in [[Leipzig]].{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=11}} Their only child, a son they named Rolf, was born in 1944.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=54}}

== Military career ==
Mengele joined the Nazi Party in 1937 and the {{lang|de|[[Schutzstaffel]]}} (SS) in 1938. He received basic training in 1938 with the {{lang|de|[[Gebirgsjäger]]}} (mountain light infantry) and was called up for service in the {{lang|de|[[Wehrmacht]]}} (Nazi armed forces) in June 1940, some months after the outbreak of World War II. He soon volunteered for medical service in the {{lang|de|[[Waffen-SS]]}}, the combat arm of the SS, where he served with the rank of SS-{{lang|de|[[Untersturmführer]]}} (second lieutenant) in a medical reserve battalion until November 1940. He was next assigned to the [[SS Race and Settlement Main Office]] in [[Poznań]], where one of his assignments was evaluating candidates for [[Germanisation in Poland (1939–1945)|Germanization]].{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=16}}{{sfn|Kubica|1998|pp=318–319}}

At the end of 1940, Mengele was assigned to the engineering battalion of the [[5th SS Panzer Division Wiking]], initially as an assistant medical officer and as primary medical officer from October 1941.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=45–46}} His unit was sent to the [[Ulm]] area for training in April 1941 and were eventually sent to an area southeast of [[Lublin]] to await the commencement of [[Operation Barbarossa]], the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The unit crossed into [[Ukraine]] on 30 June. On 2 July, the commander of the division's Westland Regiment was killed by a sniper. In response, members of the Wiking Division killed several thousand Jews. This was the beginning of a [[pogrom]] by the Wiking Division that continued into [[Zolochiv, Lviv Oblast|Zolochiv]] and nearby areas until 4 July. German historian Kai Struve estimates the total number of Jewish civilians killed by the Wiking Division in their first week of action during Barbarossa was 4,280 to 6,950 people. Historian [[David G. Marwell]] states that while Mengele did not participate in these killings, he must have known what was taking place.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=45–51}} Mengele was awarded the [[Iron Cross]] 2nd Class on 14 July for bravery.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=51}} The unit continued to see action in Ukraine and Russia as part of [[Case Blue]] (June to November 1942) and was ordered to move towards [[Stalingrad]] in late December.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=52–56}}

After rescuing two German soldiers from a burning tank, he was decorated with the Iron Cross 1st Class, the [[Wound Badge]] in Black, and the Medal for the Care of the German People. He was declared unfit for further active service in mid-1942, when he was seriously wounded in action near [[Rostov-on-Don]]. Following his recovery, he was transferred to the headquarters of the SS Race and Settlement Main Office in [[Berlin]]. He was promoted to the rank of {{lang|de|SS-[[Hauptsturmführer]]}} ([[captain (armed forces)|captain]]) in April 1943.{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=319}}{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=16–18}}{{sfn|Astor|1985|p=27}} For four months in early 1943, he also worked as an assistant to Verschuer, who was now at the [[Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics]] in Berlin.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=58–60}}

== Auschwitz ==
[[File:Selection Birkenau ramp.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Selection (Holocaust)|Selection]] of Hungarian Jews on the ramp at Birkenau, May/June 1944]]

In 1942, [[Auschwitz II-Birkenau]], originally intended to house slave laborers, began to be used instead as a combined [[Arbeitslager|labour camp]] and [[extermination camp]].{{sfn|Longerich|2010|pp=282–283}}{{sfn|Steinbacher|2005|pp=94, 96}} Prisoners were transported there daily by rail from all over Nazi-controlled Europe.{{sfn|Steinbacher|2005|pp=96–97}} By July 1942, SS doctors were conducting [[Selection (Holocaust)|selections]] where incoming Jews were segregated, and those considered able to work were admitted into the camp while those deemed unfit for labor were immediately murdered in the gas chambers.{{sfn|Rees|2005|p=100}} Those selected to be killed, about three-quarters of the total,{{efn|name=Hungarians|Of the Hungarians who arrived in mid-1944, 85 percent were murdered immediately.{{sfn|Steinbacher|2005|p=109}}}} included almost all children, women with small children, pregnant women, all the elderly, and all of those who appeared (in a brief and superficial inspection by an SS doctor) to be not completely fit and healthy.{{sfn|Levy|2006|pp=235–237}}{{sfn|Astor|1985|p=80}}

In early 1943, Verschuer encouraged Mengele to apply for a transfer to the [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camp]] service.{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=319}}{{sfn|Allison|2011|p=53}} Mengele's application was accepted and he was posted to Auschwitz in May 1943,{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=65}} where he was appointed by SS-{{lang|de|Standortarzt}} [[Eduard Wirths]], chief medical officer at Auschwitz, to the position of chief physician of the [[Gypsy family camp (Auschwitz)|Romani family camp]] at Auschwitz II-Birkenau.{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=319}}{{sfn|Allison|2011|p=53}} The SS doctors did not administer medical treatment to the Auschwitz inmates, but supervised the activities of inmate doctors forced to work in the camp medical service.{{sfn|Lifton|1985}} As part of his duties, Mengele was one of the doctors who made weekly visits to the hospital [[barracks]] and ordered any prisoners who had not recovered after two weeks in bed to be sent to the gas chambers.{{sfn|Astor|1985|p=78}}

Mengele's work also involved carrying out selections of new arrivals. This involved sorting new arrivals into those who would be admitted to the camp from those who would be killed immediately. He would sometimes visit the selection ramp when not on duty in the hope of locating sets of twins for his experiments.{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=609}} He also looked for physicians, pharmacists, and other medical professionals who could potentially assist him in his research.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=78–79}} In contrast to most of the other SS doctors, who viewed selections as one of their most stressful and unpleasant duties, he undertook the task with a flamboyant air, often smiling or whistling.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=27}}{{sfn|Lifton|1985}} He was one of the SS doctors responsible for supervising the administration of [[Zyklon B]], the [[cyanide]]-based pesticide that was used for the mass killings in the Birkenau gas chambers. He served in this capacity at the gas chambers located in crematoria IV and V.{{sfn|Piper|1998|pp=170, 172}}

When a [[typhus]] epidemic began in the women's camp, Mengele cleared one block of six hundred Jewish women and sent them to be killed in the gas chambers. The building was then cleaned and disinfected, and the occupants of a neighboring block were bathed, deloused, and given new clothing before being moved into the clean block. This process was repeated until all of the barracks were disinfected. Similar killings and disinfections were used for later epidemics of [[scarlet fever]], measles, and other diseases.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=67}} For these actions, Mengele was awarded the [[War Merit Cross]] (Second Class with swords) and was promoted in 1944 to First Physician of the Birkenau subcamp.{{sfn|Kubica|1998|pp=328–329}}

=== Human experimentation and research ===
{{See also|Nazi human experimentation}}

[[File:Richard Baer, Josef Mengele, Rudolf Hoess, Auschwitz. Album Höcker.jpg|thumb|left|(from l. to r.) [[Richard Baer]], Josef Mengele, and [[Rudolf Höss]] at ''[[Solahütte]]'' in 1944 ([[Höcker Album]])]]

Mengele used Auschwitz as an opportunity to continue his anthropological studies and research into heredity, using inmates for [[Nazi human experimentation|medical experimentation]].{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=320}} For this purpose, he set up his research facility in the Romani family camp.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=83}} He was particularly interested in [[identical twins]], people with [[heterochromia iridum]] (eyes of two different colors), people with [[dwarfism]], and people with physical abnormalities.{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=320}} He also studied blood proteins, did anthropological studies of the Romani population, and collected specimens for forwarding to the SS Medical Academy in [[Graz]].{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=83}} A grant was provided by the [[German Research Foundation]] at the request of Verschuer, who received regular reports and shipments of specimens from Mengele. The grant was used to build a pathology laboratory attached to Crematorium&nbsp;II at Auschwitz&nbsp;II-Birkenau.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=33}} [[Miklós Nyiszli]], who was forced to work on Mengele's behalf due to his pathologist background, prepared specimens and performed autopsies for this laboratory.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=33–34}}{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=89}}

When an outbreak of [[Noma (disease)|noma]]—a [[gangrenous]] bacterial disease of the mouth and face—struck the Romani camp in 1943, Mengele initiated a study to determine the cause of the disease and develop a treatment.{{sfn|Marwell|2020||p=86}} He enlisted the assistance of prisoner [[Berthold Epstein]], a Jewish [[pediatrician]] and professor at [[Prague University]]. The patients were isolated in separate barracks.{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=320}}{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=87}} The treatment involved administering vitamins and antibiotics to afflicted children, who saw significant improvement. However, once he was satisfied that it was effective, he discontinued treatment, and the children immediately fell ill again.{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=608}} The preserved heads and organs of several afflicted children were sent to the SS Medical Academy in Graz and other facilities for study.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=87}} This research was still ongoing when the Romani camp was liquidated and its remaining occupants murdered in 1944.{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=320}}

In his search for [[genetic marker]]s to indicate race, Verschuer had Mengele provide him with blood samples from around 200 racially diverse Auschwitz prisoners. The hypothesis was that each race had unique proteins that could be identified by laboratory testing. Most of the documentation from these experiments has not survived.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=110–111}}

Twin research was of particular interest to Mengele. One twin could serve as a subject with the other as the control.{{Sfn|Thornton|2006|p=1747}} Mengele viewed the opportunity to undertake twin research at Auschwitz as unique, as it is normally difficult to locate and study a significant number of subjects.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=92–94}} The research was conducted on behalf of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology and the German Research Foundation.{{sfn|Bergmann|Narvaez|2025}} Most of the twins he studied were children between the ages of two and sixteen. Historian [[Nikolaus Wachsmann]] estimates Mengele may have studied as many as a thousand sets of twins. Some were siblings who passed themselves off as twins to avoid being killed.{{sfn|Wachsmann|2015|p=437}} The research largely involved taking dozens of physical measurements and recording the characteristics of various anatomical features. Each examination could take several hours.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=96–98}} Mengele generally ordered the twins to undertake weekly physical examinations.{{sfn|Lifton|1986|p=350}} Nyiszli and others suggested that twin studies may have been pursued to uncover strategies for 'racially desirable' Germans to produce more twins.{{sfn|Lifton|1986|pp=358–359}}{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=89}} The actual purpose of Mengele's twin research is unknown.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=96, 97}}

In his 1945 deposition, Nyiszli testified that he watched Mengele kill 14 twins in a single night, first by injecting [[evipan]] to induce sleep, and then injecting their hearts with chloroform.{{sfn|Lifton|1985}} Nyiszli described it differently in his book; there, he said that he smelled chloroform in the hearts of twins he dissected. He added that he feared Mengele might have him killed for knowing this secret.{{Sfn|Nyiszli|1993|pp=62–63}}

[[File:66935A.jpeg|thumb|Jewish children kept alive in Auschwitz for use in Mengele's research. They were liberated in January 1945.]]

Mengele's research subjects were better fed and housed than the other prisoners, and temporarily spared from death in the gas chambers.{{sfn|Nyiszli|1993|p=57}} His research subjects lived in their own barracks, where they were provided with a marginally better quality of food and somewhat improved living conditions than other areas of the camp.{{sfn|Kubica|1998|pp=320–321}} When visiting his young subjects, he offered them sweets. Some children referred to him as "Uncle Mengele".{{Sfn|Kubica|1998|p=320}}

A former Auschwitz inmate doctor said of Mengele:

{{block quote|He was capable of being so kind to the children, to have them become fond of him, to bring them sugar, to think of small details in their daily lives, and to do things we would genuinely admire&nbsp;... And then, next to that,&nbsp;... the crematoria smoke, and these children, tomorrow or in a half-hour, he is going to send them there. Well, that is where the anomaly lay.{{sfn|Lifton|1986|p=337}} }}

Mengele's eye research involved introducing chemicals or hormones into the eyes of subjects. Although there has been speculation that Mengele was attempting to "Aryanize" prisoners' eyes by making them blue with dyes or other chemicals, this idea has been rejected by Marwell. He argues that Mengele would not be interested in a "cosmetic change" with "no genetic meaning".{{Sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=100–102}} According to Marwell, Mengele was most likely administering adrenaline drops into the eyes of subjects while researching the condition [[Heterochromia iridum|heterochromia]] (color differences of the [[Iris (anatomy)|iris]]), as part of his collaboration with biologist and eugenicist [[Karin Magnussen]], who carried out Reich-funded research on eye color at the [[Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology]] in Berlin. Magnussen was testing whether drugs or hormones such as adrenaline could alter pigmentation of the eyes of rabbits, as well as studying the anatomy of the eye and the genetics underlying heterochromia.{{Sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=101–102}}

Mengele's collaboration with Magnussen also included compiling genealogical records and documenting the eye characteristics of prisoners.{{Sfn|Marwell|2020|p=103}} He sent eyes removed from Auschwitz prisoners to her lab in Berlin for histological study. After the war, Magnussen stated she believed that the specimens were from prisoners who had died of natural causes.{{Sfn|Marwell|2020|p=104}} The inmate pathologist, Nyiszli, said that some of the samples were from the bodies of people who had been killed by lethal injection.{{Sfn|Marwell|2020|p=104}}

=== Myths and apocryphal anecdotes ===
Some testimonies regarding Mengele have been rejected or challenged by historians, including the claim that Mengele sewed two twins together to create [[conjoined twins]].{{Sfn|Marwell|2020|p=115}} Agnieszka Kita, a historian at the [[Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum]], has described this as a myth.{{Sfn|Auschwitz Museum|2024}} Marwell has rejected other stories about Mengele, including the suggestion that he surgically "connected the urinary tract of a 7-year-old girl to her own colon", or that he attempted to "make boys into girls and girls into boys" using "cross transfusions", or that he attempted to change people's eye color.{{Sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=100, 115}}

== After Auschwitz ==
Along with several other Auschwitz doctors, Mengele transferred to [[Gross-Rosen concentration camp]] in [[Lower Silesia]] on 17 January 1945, taking with him two boxes of specimens and the records of his experiments at Auschwitz. Most of the camp medical records had already been destroyed by the SS{{sfn|Levy|2006|p=255}}{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=57}} by the time the [[Red Army]] liberated Auschwitz on 27 January.{{sfn|Steinbacher|2005|p=128}} He was assigned as SS garrison physician on 5 February, but the camp was evacuated shortly thereafter, as the Soviet army arrived on 13 February. He and other camp personnel may have moved at this time to Reichenau concentration camp, located near [[Rychnov u Jablonce nad Nisou]], or to one of the other Gross-Rosen subcamps.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=131}} He later traveled westward to [[Žatec]] in Czechoslovakia, where he became part of a field hospital unit, which meant he could wear the uniform of a {{lang|de|Wehrmacht}} officer rather than his SS uniform.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=135}} He temporarily entrusted his incriminating documents to a nurse with whom he had struck up a relationship.{{sfn|Levy|2006|p=255}} He and his unit then hurried west to avoid being captured by the Soviets, but were taken [[prisoners of war]] by the Americans in June 1945. Although Mengele was initially registered under his own name, he was not identified as being on the major war criminal list due to the disorganization of the Allies regarding the distribution of wanted lists, and the fact that he did not have the usual [[SS blood group tattoo]].{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=63}} He had also developed a convincing backstory that did not include his SS background or his service at Auschwitz.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=136}} He was released by the US military authorities at the end of July and obtained a false clearance certificate under the name "Fritz Ulmann", which he later altered to read "Fritz Hollmann".{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=136}}{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=64, 68}}

After several months on the run (including a trip back to the Soviet-occupied area to recover his Auschwitz records), Mengele found work near [[Rosenheim]] as a farmhand.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=68, 88}} He was in contact with members of his family, including his brother and his wife. She pretended to outsiders that he was dead and talked to him about getting a divorce.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=146–147}} He left Germany on 17 April 1949,{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=87}}{{sfn|Levy|2006|p=263}} convinced that his capture would mean a trial and death sentence. Assisted by a network of former SS members, he used the [[Ratlines (World War II aftermath)|ratline]] to travel to [[Genoa]], where he obtained a passport from the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] under the alias "Helmut Gregor", and sailed to Argentina in July 1949.{{sfn|Levy|2006|pp=264–265}} His wife refused to accompany him, and they divorced by proxy in [[Düsseldorf]] in 1954.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=88,108}}{{sfn|Blumenthal, June 1985}}

== In South America ==
[[File:WP Josef Mengele 1956.jpg|thumb|Photograph from Mengele's Argentine identification document in 1956]]

Mengele worked as a carpenter in [[Buenos Aires]] while lodging in a [[boarding house]] in the suburb of [[Vicente López Partido|Vicente López]].{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=95}} After a few weeks, he moved to the house of a Nazi sympathizer in the neighborhood of [[Florida Este, Buenos Aires|Florida Este]]. He next worked as a salesman for his family's farm equipment company, Karl Mengele & Sons, and in 1951, he began making frequent trips to [[Paraguay]] as a regional sales representative for the firm.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=104–105}} He moved into an apartment in central Buenos Aires in 1953, used family funds to buy a part interest in a carpentry concern, and then rented a house in the suburb of [[Olivos, Buenos Aires|Olivos]] in 1954.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=107–108}} Files released by the Argentine government in 1992 indicate that while living in Buenos Aires, Mengele may have practiced medicine without a license, including performing abortions.{{sfn|Nash|1992}}

After obtaining a copy of his birth certificate through the West German embassy in 1956, Mengele was issued an Argentine foreign residence permit under his real name. He used this document to obtain a West German passport using his real name and embarked on a trip to Europe.{{sfn|Levy|2006|p=267}}{{sfn|Astor|1985|p=166}} He met with his son Rolf (who was told Mengele was his "Uncle Fritz"){{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=2}} and his widowed sister-in-law Martha for a ski holiday in Switzerland. He also spent a week in his home town of Günzburg.{{sfn|Astor|1985|p=167}}{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=111}} When he returned to Argentina in September 1956, Mengele applied for and received an Argentinian identity card under the name José Mengele, a variation of his real name.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=166}} Martha and her son Karl Heinz followed about a month later, and the three began living together. Josef and Martha were married in 1958 while on holiday in [[Uruguay]], and they bought a house in Buenos Aires.{{sfn|Levy|2006|p=267}}{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=112}} Mengele's business interests now included part ownership of Fadro Farm, a pharmaceutical company.{{sfn|Astor|1985|p=167}} Along with several other doctors, he was questioned in 1958 on suspicion of practicing medicine without a license when a teenage girl died after an abortion, but he was released without charge. Aware that the publicity could lead to his Nazi background and wartime activities being discovered, he took an extended business trip to Paraguay on a 90-day visitor's permit issued 2 October 1958.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=179}} He returned to Buenos Aires several times to settle his business affairs and visit his family. Martha and Karl lived in a boarding house in the city until December 1960, when they returned to West Germany.{{sfn|Levy|2006|p=273}} They later lived in Switzerland and Italy.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=181}}

Mengele's name was mentioned several times during the [[Nuremberg trials]] in the mid-1940s, but the Allied forces believed that he was probably already dead.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=76, 82}} Irene Mengele and the family in Günzburg also claimed that he had died.{{sfn|Levy|2006|p=261}} Meanwhile, author [[Ernst Schnabel]] was forwarded a letter from a woman who read his 1958 book ''Anne Frank: A Portrait in Courage''. She said a maid in the Mengele household had been told by Herr Mengele that his son was in South America, working as a doctor. Schnabel wrote to the state prosecutor in Ulm to pass along this information.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=169–171}} The court in Freiburg issued an arrest warrant on 25 February 1959.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=176}} That same month, Mengele may have traveled to West Germany to see his sick father.{{sfn|Bergmann|Narvaez|2025}}{{sfn|Zenthöfer|2025}} 

Working in West Germany, [[Nazi hunter]]s [[Simon Wiesenthal]] and [[Hermann Langbein]] collected information from witnesses about Mengele's wartime activities. In a search of public records, Langbein discovered Mengele's divorce papers, which listed an address in Buenos Aires. He and Wiesenthal pressured the West German authorities into starting extradition proceedings, and a second, revised arrest warrant that included data about Mengele's wartime activities was drawn up on 5&nbsp;June 1959.{{sfn|Levy|2006|p=271}}{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=121}}{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=177}} West Germany also offered a reward for Mengele's capture,{{sfn|Levy|2006|p=273}} but did not actively search for him before the end of the year.{{sfn|Bergmann|Narvaez|2025}} Argentina initially refused the extradition request because the fugitive was no longer living at the address given on the documents; by the time extradition was approved on 30&nbsp;June, Mengele had already fled to Paraguay and was living on a farm in [[Hohenau, Paraguay|Hohenau]], near the Argentine border.{{sfn|Levy|2006|pp=269–270, 272}}{{sfn|Brooke|1993}} Mengele reportedly worked as a [[veterinary surgeon]] under the alias of 'Francisco Fischer' while living in Hohenau.{{sfn|Gibbs|2024}}

In preparation for leaving Argentina, Mengele sold his shares of the Fadro Farm in March 1959 and granted Martha [[power of attorney]] to act on his behalf in legal matters. He made the move to Paraguay sometime before May 1959 and received his citizenship under the name José Mengele.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=178–179}} The [[extralegal]] capture of [[Adolf Eichmann]] in May 1960 meant that Paraguay's lack of any extradition treaties could no longer keep him safe. He decided to move to Brazil and live under an assumed name. With the help of [[Hans-Ulrich Rudel]], he obtained an identity card with the name "Peter Hochbichler", and arrived in Brazil in October 1960.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=181}}

After a request from Paraguayan Attorney General Clotildo Jimenez, the [[Supreme Court of Justice of Paraguay|Supreme Court of Paraguay]] annulled Mengele's citizenship in August 1979.{{sfn|Belnap|1979}}

Mengele stayed temporarily with Nazi supporter Wolfgang Gerhard on his farm near [[São Paulo]]. Gerhard helped Mengele cross the border into Brazil. In 1961, he relocated Mengele with Hungarian [[expatriates]] Géza and Gitta Stammer on their farm in [[Nova Europa]]. With the help of an investment from Mengele, he and the Stammers bought a coffee and cattle farm in [[Serra Negra]] in 1962, with Mengele owning a half interest.{{sfn|Levy|2006|pp=279–281}} Gerhard had initially told the Stammers that the fugitive's name was "Peter Hochbichler", but they discovered his true identity in 1963. Gerhard persuaded the couple not to report Mengele's location to the authorities by convincing them that they themselves could be implicated for harboring a fugitive.{{sfn|Levy|2006|pp=280, 282}} By 1963, the Brazilian police requested the complete 100-page long file on Mengele from the Argentinian authorities,{{sfn|Bergmann|Narvaez|2025}} which was seen by ''[[Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk]]'' journalists in 2025 but has not been released to the public.{{sfn|Zenthöfer|2025}} 

=== Efforts by Mossad ===
In May 1960, [[Isser Harel]], director of the Israeli intelligence agency [[Mossad]], personally led the successful effort to capture Eichmann in Buenos Aires. He was hoping to track down Mengele so that he too could be brought to trial in Israel.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=139}} Under interrogation, Eichmann provided the address of a boarding house that had been used as a [[safe house]] for Nazi fugitives. Surveillance of the house did not reveal Mengele or any members of his family, and the neighborhood postman claimed that although Mengele had recently been receiving letters there under his real name, he had since relocated without leaving a forwarding address. Harel's inquiries at a machine shop where Mengele had been a part owner also failed to generate any leads, so he was forced to abandon the search.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=142–143}}

In February 1961, West Germany widened its extradition request to include Brazil, having been tipped off by Wiesenthal to the possibility that Mengele had relocated there.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|p=182}}{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=168}} Meanwhile, [[Zvi Aharoni]], one of the Mossad agents who had been involved in the Eichmann capture, was placed in charge of a team of agents tasked with tracking down Mengele and bringing him to trial in Israel. Their inquiries in Paraguay revealed no clues to his whereabouts, and they were unable to intercept any correspondence between Mengele and his wife, Martha, who by this time was living in Italy. Agents who were following Rudel's movements also failed to produce any leads.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=166–167}} Aharoni and his team followed Gerhard to a rural area near São Paulo, where they identified a European man whom they believed to be Mengele.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=184–186}} This potential breakthrough was reported to Harel, but the logistics of staging a capture, the budgetary constraints of the search operation, and the priority of focusing on Israel's deteriorating relationship with Egypt led the Mossad chief to call off the manhunt in 1962.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=184, 187–188}}{{sfn|Horovitz|2018}}

In 1964, [[Meir Amit]], the new head of the Mossad, authorized a clandestine search of Martha Mengele's apartment in Bavaria. When they finally searched the premises in 1966, they found nothing to indicate she was currently in contact with Mengele. They tried again in May 1967, but again learned nothing specific. However, the contents of conversations monitored in Martha's home led them to believe that the two were still communicating. They decided to enlist the aid of Martha's boyfriend, a dentist named Siegfried Pereda. An Israeli agent posing as a patient visited his workplace to enlist his aid, but this line of inquiry produced no results either. The Mossad removed the listening devices from Martha's home on 27 October 1967, and an order calling for reduced efforts to catch Nazi war criminals was passed in Israel on 31 December 1968. No further investigations took place until 1977, when the government of [[Menachem Begin]] decided to resume the hunt for Nazis, and Mengele in particular. Operations included installing listening devices in the home of Mengele's son Rolf as well as contacting him in person to try to trick him into revealing his father's whereabouts, but again they obtained no information.{{sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=198–204}}

=== Later life and death ===
In 1969, Mengele and the Stammers jointly purchased a farmhouse in [[Caieiras]], with Mengele as half-owner.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=223}} When Wolfgang Gerhard returned to Germany in 1971 to seek medical treatment for his ailing wife and son, he gave his identity card to Mengele.{{sfn|Levy|2006|p=289}} The Stammers' friendship with Mengele deteriorated in late 1974, and when they bought a house in São Paulo, he was not invited to join them.{{efn|name=relationship|Based on entries in Mengele's journals and interviews with his friends, historians such as [[Gerald Posner]] and Gerald Astor believe that Mengele had a sexual relationship with Gitta Stammer.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=178–179}}{{sfn|Astor|1985|p=224}} }} The Stammers later bought a bungalow in the Eldorado neighborhood of [[Diadema, São Paulo]], which they rented out to Mengele.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=242–243}} Rolf, who had not seen his father since the ski holiday in 1956, visited him at the bungalow in 1977; he found an "unrepentant Nazi" who claimed he had never personally harmed anyone and [[Superior orders|only carried out his duties]] as an officer.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=2, 279}}

Mengele's health had been steadily deteriorating since 1972. He suffered a [[stroke]] in 1976,{{sfn|Levy|2006|pp=289, 291}} experienced high blood pressure, and developed an ear infection which affected his balance. On 7&nbsp;February 1979, while visiting his friends Wolfram and Liselotte Bossert in the coastal resort of [[Bertioga]],{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=746}} Mengele had a second stroke while swimming and drowned.{{Sfn|Marwell|2020|p=233}} His body was buried in Our Lady of the Rosary cemetery in [[Embu das Artes]] under the name "Wolfgang Gerhard",{{sfn|Montalbano|1985}} whose identification Mengele had been using since 1971.{{sfn|Blumenthal, July 1985|p=1}} Other aliases used by Mengele in his later life included "Dr. Fausto Rindón" and "S. Josi Alvers Aspiazu".{{sfn|Zentner|Bedürftig|1991|p=586}}

== Exhumation ==
[[File:Mengele US Navy Medicine (page 10 crop).jpg|thumb|upright|Forensic anthropologists examine Mengele's skull in 1986. The skeleton is stored at the São Paulo Institute for Forensic Medicine in Brazil.{{sfn|''The Guardian''|2017}}]]

Sightings of Mengele were reported all over the world in the decades following the war. Wiesenthal claimed to have information that placed Mengele on the Greek island of [[Kythnos]] in 1960,{{sfn|Segev|2010|p=167}} in [[Cairo]] in 1961,{{sfn|Walters|2009|p=317}} in Spain in 1971,{{sfn|Walters|2009|p=370}} and in Paraguay in 1978, eighteen years after he had left the country.{{sfn|Levy|2006|p=296}} He insisted as late as 1985 that Mengele was still alive—six years after he had died—having previously offered a reward of [[USD|US$]]100,000 ({{Inflation|US|100,000|1982|fmt=eq|r=-5}}) in 1982 for the fugitive's capture.{{sfn|Levy|2006|pp=297, 301}} Worldwide interest in the case was heightened by a mock trial held in [[Jerusalem]] in February 1985, featuring the testimonies of over one hundred victims of Mengele's experiments. Shortly afterwards, the West German, Israeli, and U.S. governments launched a coordinated effort to determine Mengele's whereabouts. The West German and Israeli governments offered rewards for his capture, as did ''[[The Washington Times]]'' and the [[Simon Wiesenthal Center]].{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=306–308}}

On 31 May 1985, acting on intelligence received by the West German prosecutor's office, police raided the house of Hans Sedlmeier, a lifelong friend of Mengele and sales manager of the family firm in Günzburg.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=89, 313}} They found a coded address book and copies of letters sent to and received from Mengele. Among the papers was a letter from Wolfram Bossert notifying Sedlmeier of Mengele's death.{{sfn|Levy|2006|p=302}} German authorities alerted the police in São Paulo, who then contacted the Bosserts. Under interrogation, they revealed the location of Mengele's grave{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=315, 317}} and the remains were exhumed on 6 June 1985. Extensive [[forensic]] examination indicated with a high degree of probability that the body was indeed that of Josef Mengele.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=319–321}} Rolf Mengele stated on 10 June 1985 that the body was his father's and that news of his father's death had been concealed to protect people who had sheltered him.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=322}}

In 1992, [[DNA test]]ing confirmed Mengele's identity beyond doubt,{{sfn|Saad|2005}} but family members refused repeated requests by Brazilian officials to repatriate the remains to Germany.{{sfn|Simons|1988}} The skeleton is stored at the São Paulo Institute for Forensic Medicine, where it is used as an educational aid during forensic medicine courses at the [[University of São Paulo]]'s medical school.{{sfn|''The Guardian''|2017}}

== Later developments ==
<!--PLEASE DO NOT ADD TO THIS SECTION: (1) Boys from Brazil book/film or (2) Angel of Death track by Slayer. Both are trivial popular culture items that do not belong in this article, as discussed on Talk page and deprecated in [[WP:MILPOP]]-->

In 2007, the [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] received as a donation the [[Höcker Album]], an album of photographs of Auschwitz staff taken by [[Karl-Friedrich Höcker]]. Eight of the photographs include Mengele.{{sfn|USHMM: SS Auschwitz album}} In February 2010, a 180-page volume of Mengele's diary was sold by [[Alexander Autographs]] at auction for an undisclosed sum to the grandson of a Holocaust survivor. The unidentified previous owner, who acquired the journals in Brazil, was reported to be close to the Mengele family. A Holocaust survivors' organization described the sale as "a cynical act of exploitation aimed at profiting from the writings of one of the most heinous Nazi criminals".{{sfn|Oster|2010}} Rabbi [[Marvin Hier]] of the Simon Wiesenthal Center was glad to see the diary fall into Jewish hands, calling the acquisition significant.{{sfn|Hier|2010}} In 2011 (centenary of Mengele's birth), a further 31 volumes of Mengele's diaries were sold—again amidst protests—by the same auction house to an undisclosed collector of World War II memorabilia for US$245,000.{{sfn|Aderet|2011}}

== Publications ==
* ''Rassenmorphologische Untersuchung des vorderen Unterkieferabschnittes bei vier rassischen Gruppen'' ("Racial morphological study of the anterior segment of the mandible in four racial groups"). This dissertation, completed in 1935 and first published in 1937, earned him a PhD in anthropology from Munich University. In this work, Mengele sought to demonstrate that there were structural differences in the [[Human mandible|lower jaws]] of individuals from different ethnic groups, and that racial distinctions could be made based on these differences.{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=318}}{{sfn|Lifton|1986|p=339}}
* ''Genealogical Studies in the Cases of Cleft Lip-Jaw-Palate'' (1938), his medical dissertation, earned him a doctorate in medicine from Frankfurt University. Studying the influence of genetics as a factor in the occurrence of this deformity, Mengele conducted research on families who exhibited these traits in multiple generations. The work also included notes on other abnormalities found in these family lines.{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=318}}{{sfn|Lifton|1986|pp=339–340}}
* ''Hereditary Transmission of Fistulae Auris''. This journal article, published in {{lang|de|Der Erbarzt}} ('The Genetic Physician'), focuses on [[Preauricular sinus and cyst|fistula auris]] (an abnormal fissure on the external ear) as a hereditary trait. Mengele noted that individuals who have this trait also tend to have a [[dimple]] on their chin.{{sfn|Lifton|1986|p=340}}

==See also==
* {{anl|Aribert Heim}}
* {{anl|Carl Clauberg}}
* {{anl|Shiro Ishii}}
* {{anl|Eva Mozes Kor}}
* {{anl|Hans Münch}}
* {{anl|Nazi eugenics}}
* {{anl|The Boys from Brazil (film)|''The Boys from Brazil''}}
* {{anl|The German Doctor|''The German Doctor''}}

== Informational notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite news |last=Aderet |first=Ofer |title=Ultra-Orthodox man buys diaries of Nazi doctor Mengele for $245,000 |date=22 July 2011 |newspaper=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/ultra-orthodox-man-buys-diaries-of-nazi-doctor-mengele-for-245-000-1.374642 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924163812/http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/ultra-orthodox-man-buys-diaries-of-nazi-doctor-mengele-for-245-000-1.374642 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |url-status=dead |access-date=20 May 2020}}
* {{cite book |last=Allison |first=Kirk C. |editor1-last=Friedman |editor1-first=Jonathan C |title=Routledge History of the Holocaust |year=2011 |chapter=Eugenics, race hygiene, and the Holocaust: Antecedents and consolidations |pages=45–58 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=Milton Park; New York |isbn=978-0-415-77956-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Astor |first=Gerald |title=Last Nazi: Life and Times of Dr Joseph Mengele |publisher=Donald I. Fine |location=New York |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-917657-46-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/lastnazilifetime00asto}}
* {{Cite web |author=Auschwitz Museum |date=9 December 2024 |title=Doctor Josef Mengele and his experiments in the camp (transcript of the podcast) |url=https://www.auschwitz.org/en/education/e-learning/podcast/doctor-josef-mengele-and-his-experiments-in-the-camp/ |access-date=12 May 2025 |website=auschwitz.org}}
* {{cite news |last1=Belnap |first1=David F. |author1-link=David Belnap |title=Mengele Hunt Focuses on Paraguay |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/08/10/mengele-hunt-focuses-on-paraguay/101ad31d-e3a0-480c-bfea-7b116792ed2a/ |date=10 August 1979 |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |language=en |access-date=20 December 2024}}
* {{cite news |last1=Bergmann |first1=Christian |last2=Narvaez |first2=Luis |title=KZ-Lagerarzt Mengele - Geheime Akte in Argentinien aufgetaucht |publisher=[[Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk]] |date=6 May 2025 |url=https://www.mdr.de/investigativ/josef-mengele-polizeiakte-argentinien-100.html  |language=de |trans-title=Concentration camp doctor Mengele – Secret files surface in Argentina: Manuscript |access-date=3 August 2025}}
* {{cite news |last1=Blumenthal |first1=Ralph |author-link=Ralph Blumenthal |title=Investigators Turn Attention to Mengele Family Contacts |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/11/world/investigators-turn-attention-to-mengele-family-contacts.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=26 January 2024 |language=English |date=11 June 1985 |ref={{sfnRef|Blumenthal, June 1985}} }}
* {{Cite news |last=Blumenthal |first=Ralph |title=Scientists Decide Brazil Skeleton Is Josef Mengele |work=The New York Times |date=22 July 1985 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/22/world/scientists-decide-brazil-skelton-is-josef-mengele.html |access-date=1 February 2014 |ref={{sfnRef|Blumenthal, July 1985}} }}
*{{cite news|last=Brooke |first=James |author-link=James Brooke (journalist)|title=Hohenau Journal; Sure, Mengele Was at Home Here, but Bormann?|newspaper=The New York Times|location=New York|date=1 June 1993|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/01/world/hohenau-journal-sure-mengele-was-at-home-here-but-bormann.html|access-date=31 May 2024}}
* {{Cite web |author=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=9 May 2025 |title=Josef Mengele |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Josef-Mengele |access-date=26 May 2025 |website=britannica.com}}
* {{cite book |last=Evans |first=Richard J. |author-link=Richard J. Evans |year=2008 |title=The Third Reich at War |publisher=Penguin |location=New York |isbn=978-0-14-311671-4 |title-link=The Third Reich at War}}
* {{Cite news |last=Gibbs |first=Stephen |title=
Shadow of Josef Mengele still hangs over his Paraguayan bolthole |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/latin-america/article/josef-mengele-nazi-war-criminal-paraguay-gssdw3p77|newspaper=[[The Times]] |date=19 December 2024 |language=en |access-date=20 December 2024 }}
* {{cite magazine |last1=Gopnik |first1=Adam |author-link=Adam Gopnik |title=Revisiting Mengele's Malignant "Race Science" |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/22/revisiting-mengeles-malignant-race-science |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=1 January 2023 |date=15 June 2020}}
* {{cite web |last=Hier |first=Marvin |author-link=Marvin Hier |title=Wiesenthal Center Praises Acquisition of Mengele's Diary |year=2010 |publisher=Simon Wiesenthal Center |url=http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=5711859&ct=7985857 |access-date=2 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508051147/http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=5711859&ct=7985857 |archive-date=8 May 2017 |url-status=dead}}
*{{cite news |last1=Horovitz |first1=David |title=Mossad chose not to nab Mengele, didn't hunt down Munich terrorists, book claims |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/mossad-chose-not-to-nab-mengele-didnt-hunt-down-munich-terrorists-book-claims/ |work=[[Times of Israel]] |date=26 January 2018 |access-date=20 December 2024}}
* {{cite web |title=In the Matter of Josef Mengele: A Report to the Attorney General of the United States |url=https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/criminal-hrsp/legacy/2011/06/06/10-30-92mengele-exhibits.pdf |publisher=US Department of Justice, Office of Special Investigations Criminal Division |access-date=24 June 2022 |date=October 1992 |page=208 |ref={{sfnRef|US Justice Department|1992}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Kubica |first=Helena |editor1-last=Gutman |editor1-first=Yisrael |editor2-last=Berenbaum |editor2-first=Michael |title=Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp |url=https://archive.org/details/anatomyofauschwi00gutm_1 |url-access=limited |chapter=The Crimes of Josef Mengele |pages=[https://archive.org/details/anatomyofauschwi00gutm_1/page/317 317]–337 |year=1998 |orig-year=1994 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington, Indiana |isbn=978-0-253-20884-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Levy |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Levy |title=Nazi Hunter: The Wiesenthal File |edition=Revised 2002 |year=2006 |orig-year=1993 |publisher=Constable & Robinson |location=London |isbn=978-1-84119-607-7}}
* {{Cite news |last=Lifton |first=Robert Jay |author-link=Robert Jay Lifton |date=21 July 1985 |title=What Made This Man? Mengele |work=The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/21/magazine/what-made-this-man-mengele.html |archive-date=30 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630052408/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/21/magazine/what-made-this-man-mengele.html |url-status=live |access-date=7 May 2025}}
* {{cite book |last=Lifton |first=Robert Jay |title=The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide |year=1986 |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-465-04905-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/nazidoctorsmedic0000lift}}
* {{cite book |last=Longerich |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Longerich |title=Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-19-280436-5 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford; New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Marwell |first=David G. |author1-link=David G. Marwell |title=Mengele: Unmasking the "Angel of Death" |date=2020 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York |isbn=978-0-393-60953-0 |language=en}}
* {{cite news |last1=Montalbano |first1=William D. |title='Gerhard' Was Anxious, Feared Jews: Man Thought to Be Mengele Called Shy |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-06-08-mn-7187-story.html |access-date=12 May 2025 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=8 June 1985}}
* {{Cite news |last=Nash |first=Nathaniel C. |title=Mengele an Abortionist, Argentine Files Suggest |date=11 February 1992 |journal=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/11/world/mengele-an-abortionist-argentine-files-suggest.html |access-date=31 August 2014}}
* {{cite book |last=Nyiszli |first=Miklós |author-link=Miklós Nyiszli |title=Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account |year=1993 |orig-year=1960 |publisher=Arcade Publishing |location=New York |isbn=978-1-55970-202-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z6oR_Ung_OcC }}
* {{cite news |last=Oster |first=Marcy |title=Survivor's grandson buys Mengele diary |date=3 February 2010 |publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |url=https://www.jta.org/2010/02/03/news-opinion/united-states/survivors-grandson-buys-mengele-diary |access-date=2 February 2014}}
* {{cite book |last=Piper |first=Franciszek |author-link=Franciszek Piper |editor1-last=Gutman |editor1-first=Yisrael |editor1-link=Yisrael Gutman |editor2-last=Berenbaum |editor2-first=Michael |title=Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp |url=https://archive.org/details/anatomyofauschwi00gutm_1 |url-access=limited |chapter=Gas Chambers and Crematoria |pages=[https://archive.org/details/anatomyofauschwi00gutm_1/page/157 157]–182 |year=1998 |orig-year=1994 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington, Indiana |isbn=978-0-253-20884-2}}
*{{cite book |last=Piper |first=Franciszek |editor-last1=Długoborski |editor-first1=Wacław |editor-last2=Piper |editor-first2=Franciszek |title=Auschwitz, 1940–1945. Central Issues in the History of the Camp |title-link=Auschwitz 1940–1945 |volume=III: Mass Murder |date=2000 |publisher=Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum |location=Oświęcim |oclc=929235229 |isbn=978-8385047872}}
* {{cite book |last1=Posner |first1=Gerald L. |author-link1=Gerald Posner |last2=Ware |first2=John |author-link2=John Ware (TV journalist) |title=Mengele: The Complete Story |year=1986 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |isbn=978-0-07-050598-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/mengelecompletes00posn }}
* {{cite book |last=Rees |first=Laurence |author-link=Laurence Rees |title=Auschwitz: A New History |year=2005 |publisher=Public Affairs |location=New York |isbn=978-1-58648-303-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/auschwitznewhist00rees}}
* {{cite journal |last=Saad |first=Rana |title=Discovery, development, and current applications of DNA identity testing |journal=Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings |date=1 April 2005 |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=130–133 |pmc=1200713 |pmid=16200161 |doi=10.1080/08998280.2005.11928051}}
* {{cite book |last=Segev |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Segev |title=Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends |year=2010 |publisher=Doubleday |location=New York |isbn=978-0-385-51946-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/simonwiesenthall00toms}}
* {{Cite news |last=Simons |first=Marlise |title=Remains of Mengele Rest Uneasily in Brazil |journal=The New York Times |date=17 March 1988 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/14/world/remains-of-mengele-rest-uneasily-in-brazil.html |access-date=2 February 2014}}
* {{cite web |author=Staff |title=Josef Mengele |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |year=2024 |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/josef-mengele |access-date=17 May 2025 |ref={{sfnRef|USHMM: Josef Mengele}}}}
* {{cite news |author=Staff |title=Nazi doctor Josef Mengele's bones used in Brazil forensic medicine courses |date=11 January 2017 |newspaper=The Guardian |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jan/11/josef-mengele-bones-brazil-forensic-medicine |access-date=24 August 2019 |ref={{sfnRef|''The Guardian''|2017}}}}
* {{cite web |author=Staff |title=SS Auschwitz album |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |year=2007 |url=https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn518658 |access-date=30 January 2019 |ref={{sfnRef|USHMM: SS Auschwitz album}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Steinbacher |first=Sybille |author-link=Sybille Steinbacher |title=Auschwitz: A History |year=2005 |orig-year=2004 |publisher=Verlag C. H. Beck |location=Munich |isbn=978-0-06-082581-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/auschwitzhistory00stei}}
* {{cite book |last=Walters |first=Guy |author-link=Guy Walters |title=Hunting Evil: The Nazi War Criminals Who Escaped and the Quest to Bring Them to Justice |year=2009 |publisher=Broadway Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7679-2873-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Thornton |first=Larry |editor1-last=Merriman |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John M. Merriman |editor2-last=Winter |editor2-first=Jay |editor2-link=Jay Winter |title=Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction |year=2006 |chapter=Mengele, Josef (1911–1979) |pages=1747 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/europesince1914e0003unse_k6g3/page/1747/mode/1up |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |location=Detroit, Michigan |isbn=0684314975}}
* {{cite book |last1=Wachsmann |first1=Nikolaus |author1-link=Nikolaus Wachsmann |title=KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps |date=2015 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |location=New York |isbn=978-0-374-11825-9 |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last=Weindling |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Weindling |editor1-last=Burley |editor1-first=Justine |editor2-last=Harris |editor2-first=John |title=A Companion to Genethics |year=2002 |series=Blackwell Companions to Philosophy |chapter=The Ethical Legacy of Nazi Medical War Crimes: Origins, Human Experiments, and International Justice |pages=[https://archive.org/details/companiontogenet0000unse/page/53 53–69] |publisher=Blackwell |location=Malden, MA; Oxford |isbn=978-0-631-20698-9 |doi=10.1002/9780470756423.ch5 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/companiontogenet0000unse/page/53}}
* {{cite news |last=Zenthöfer |first=Jochen |title=MDR hält Akte zu Josef Mengele geheim |trans-title=MDR keeps Josef Mengele files secret |language=de |publisher=[[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]] |date=23 May 2025 |url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien-und-film/medienpolitik/mdr-haelt-akte-zu-ns-verbrecher-josef-mengele-geheim-110495795.html |access-date=3 August 2025}}
* {{cite book |last1=Zentner |first1=Christian |last2=Bedürftig |first2=Friedemann |title=The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich |year=1991 |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |isbn=978-0-02-897502-3}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |last1=Benzenhöfer |first1=Udo |last2=Ackermann |first2=Hanns |last3=Weiske |first3=Katja |year=2007 |chapter=Wissenschaft oder Wahn? Bemerkungen zur Münchener Dissertation von Josef Mengele aus dem Jahr 1935 [Science or madness? Comments on Josef Mengele's Munich dissertation from 1935] |editor1-last=Benzenhöfer |editor1-first=Udo |title=Studien zur Geschichte und Ethik der Medizin mit Schwerpunkt Frankfurt am Main |trans-title=Studies on the history and ethics of medicine with a focus on Frankfurt am Main |language=German |pages=31–41 |location= |publisher=Wetzlar |url=http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/35003 |isbn=978-3-9811345-4-4 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book | last1 = Benzenhöfer | first1 = Udo | last2 = Weiske | first2 = Katja | date =2010 | chapter =Bemerkungen zur Frankfurter Dissertation von Josef Mengele über Sippenuntersuchungen bei Lippen-Kiefer-Gaumenspalte [Comments on Josef Mengele's Frankfurt dissertation on family examinations for cleft lip and palate]| url = http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/57212 | title = Mengele, Hirt, Holfelder, Berner, von Verschuer, Kranz: Frankfurter Universitätsmediziner der NS-Zeit | editor1-last = Benzenhöfer | editor1-first = Udo |publisher=Klemm & Oelschläger | location = Münster | pages = 9–20 | language = German|trans-title= Mengele, Hirt, Holfelder, Berner, von Verschuer, Kranz: Frankfurt university doctors of the Nazi era| isbn = 978-3-932577-97-0 | ref = none}}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Benzenhöfer | first1 = Udo | date = April 2011 | title = Bemerkungen zum Lebenslauf von Josef Mengele unter besonderer Berücksichtigung seiner Frankfurter Zeit | url = https://www.laekh.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Heftarchiv/PDFs_ganze_Hefte/2011/HAEBL_04_2011.pdf | journal = Hessisches Ärzteblatt | volume = 72 | issue = | pages = 228–230, 239–240 | language = German|trans-title=Comments on Josef Mengele's curriculum vitae with special reference to his time in Frankfurt | ref = none}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Halioua |first1=Bruno |last2=Marmor |first2=Michael F. |date=2020 |title=The eyes of the angel of death: Ophthalmic experiments of Josef Mengele |journal=Survey of Ophthalmology |volume=65 |issue=6 |pages=744–748 |doi=10.1016/j.survophthal.2020.04.007 |pmid=32387532 |s2cid=218586577 | issn = 0039-6257 | ref = none}}
* {{cite book |last=Harel|first=Isser |title=The House on Garibaldi Street: the First Full Account of the Capture of Adolf Eichmann |publisher=[[Viking Press]] |location=New York |year=1975 |isbn=978-0-670-38028-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/houseongaribaldi00isse | ref = none}}
* {{cite book |last=Lieberman |first=Herbert A. |title=The Climate of Hell |url=https://archive.org/details/climateofhell00lieb |url-access=registration |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location=New York |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-671-82236-1 | ref = none}}<!-- [[Climate of Hell]] redirects here -->
* {{Cite book |last=Weindling |first=Paul |title=Victims and Survivors of Nazi Human Experiments: Science and Suffering in the Holocaust |date=2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4725-7993-5 |language=en | ref = none}}

== External links ==
{{Commons}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{cite news | last1 = Belnap | first1 = David F. | title = Mengele Hunt Focuses on Paraguay | date = 10 August 1979 | newspaper = [[Washington Post]] | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/08/10/mengele-hunt-focuses-on-paraguay/101ad31d-e3a0-480c-bfea-7b116792ed2a/?noredirect=on | url-access=subscription | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216153535/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/08/10/mengele-hunt-focuses-on-paraguay/101ad31d-e3a0-480c-bfea-7b116792ed2a/?utm_term=.a4f036833ff3 | archive-date=16 February 2019 | ref = none}}
* {{cite web | last = Breitman | first = Richard | title = Historical Analysis of 20 Name Files from CIA Records | date = April 2001 | publisher = US National Archives | url = https://www.archives.gov/iwg/declassified-records/rg-263-cia-records/rg-263-report.html | ref = none}}
* {{cite web | last = Papanayotou | first = Vivi | title = Skeletons in the Closet of German Science | date = 18 September 2005 | website = [[Deutsche Welle]] | url = http://www.dw.de/skeletons-in-the-closet-of-german-science/a-1587766-1 | ref = none}}
* {{cite web | last1 = Posner | first1 = Gerald | last2 = Ware | first2 = John | title = How Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele cheated justice for 34 years | date = 18 May 1986 | work = [[Chicago Tribune|Chicago Tribune Magazine]]| url = http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-05-18/features/8602040597_1_josef-mengele-field-hospital-red-army | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140218223706/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-05-18/features/8602040597_1_josef-mengele-field-hospital-red-army | url-status = dead | archive-date = 18 February 2014 | ref = none}}
* {{cite web | last1 = Siegert | first1 = Alice | title = His secret out, Rolf Mengele talks about his father | date = 30 June 1985 | work = Chicago Tribune Magazine | url = https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-06-30-8502120086-story.html | ref = none}}

{{Holocaust Poland}}

{{NSDAP}}

{{Nazis South America}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mengele, Josef}}

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