Have you heard about the medical experiments performed on twin children during the Holocaust?

Have you heard about the medical experiments performed on twin children during the Holocaust? Among the darkest stories of Holocaust perpetrators is that of Josef Mengele, a doctor who was the architect of cruel and unnecessary procedures.

Mengele earned the nickname “Angel of Death" at Auschwitz, where he worked shifts on the arrivals ramp, deciding which Jewish people would be gassed immediately and which would be temporarily allowed to live. Even when he was not on duty, Mengele could be spotted at the ramp, searching for twins.

Mengele performed legitimate research on twins prior to World War II. But at Auschwitz, the normal medical ethics did not apply. Mengele was not concerned if his experiments killed the young Jewish or Romani twins who were the subjects.

Sometimes both twins were forced to undergo painful and unnecessary medical procedures. Other times one twin was kept unharmed to be compared against the other. The twins in these photos were subjects of Mengele's experiments. While they survived, in some cases one or both twins were killed. 

Photo 1: USHMM, courtesy of anonymous donor

Photo 2: USHMM, courtesy of Irene Guttmann Slotkin Hizme

Photo 3: USHMM, courtesy of Yehudit Csengeri Barnea

#Twins #Holocaust #WWII #WW2 less