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Holocaust Twin Experiments
The Holocaust twin experiments were some of the largest examples of genetic
experiments conducted by Dr. Josef Mengele, well-known as the ‘angel of death.’ TheAuschwitz concentration camp has come to symbolize the tragedy of the Holocaust itself.
And, much like the ambitions of Adolf Hitler, the pseudo-scientific twin experiments simply
justified the sadism and ideological obsession of Joseph Mengele.
The Auschwitz concentration camp was the place where an estimated 8 million Jews
were killed by Nazis. In addition, when Dr. Mengele, an extreme anti-Semite, came, the camp
was turned into a research center. Nazi human experimentation was a part of the racial stateideology and the ‘Aryan super race’ project. Robert Jay Lifton writes that “because identicaltwins possess the same genetic constitution, they have traditionally been used in research on
hereditary influences.” Mengele was looking for the twins as genetic specimens and ownersof the sought-after pathogenic genes. For him, it was a material in which he hoped to find
racial factors of hereditary pathology.
Dr. Mengele was searching for twins with unhealthy collectibility and considered thefindings as a treasure. In one place he collected “175 sets of twins” (Lifton). In hisoperations, he cut and sewed bodies and organs. All of his operations had been done withoutanesthesia. Eva, a survival of the twin experiments, recalls that Mengele wanted even tocreate “Siamese twins by connecting blood vessels and organs” (Mozes-Kor 5). Debates
range on how it could carry any scientific value. Of course, Mengele’s sadism is a matter ofethics. Philosophers like Jean-François Lyotard and Emmanuel Levinas agreed that theHolocaust has changed our thinking on ethics.
According to Josef Mengele’s practical logic, Jews were going to die either way, so
he thought it a good idea to select the human bodies for further deadly experiments. Professor
Paul Weindling noted that the man had “academic enthusiasm for Nazism.” At the same time
this enthusiasm was fueled by human pain and suffering.

YourLastName 2In conclusion, the matter of Dr. Mengele is a match of scientific interest coinciding
with dominant ideology. The twin genetics research considered the human body as a material
human resource first and formost. The case of Mengele shows a sadistic lack of empathy, anda scientific bubble under which the murders were hiding. The same victims said it was
unclear what was better: to be killed, or to be selected by Dr. Mengele for furtherexperiments. However, there is a clear answer to the question of whether he was more sadistor scientist.

Works Cited
Lifton, Robert Jay. “What Made this Man? Mengele.” The New York Times, 21 July 1985,
www.nytimes.com/1985/07/21/magazine/what-made-this-man-mengele.html.
Mozes-Kor, Eva. “Mengele Twins and Human Experimentation: A Personal Account.” TheNazi Doctors and the Nuremberg Code: Human Rights in Human Experimentation.
Edited by Annas G.J. & Grodin, M.A. Oxford University Press, 1992.
Weindling, Paul. “The Ethical Legacy of Nazi Medical War Crimes: Origins, HumanExperiments, and International Justice.” A Companion to Genethics. Edited by Justine
Burley and John Harris. Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2008.