Prisoners in their makeshift beds
Shoes of those who were put to death
The gates of Auschwitz
Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz
Dr. Josef Mengele
I know I usually post on topics that are lighter, but I watched a fabulous special on the Military Channel today that fascinated me. I knew Josef Mengele, the horrible doctor who performed experiments on Jews was in hiding. He left Germany early on and was on the run for years. He lived in fear constantly, so while living in a shack in Brazil, he kept a pistol in his bed. He died while having a massive stroke swimming off the shore of his house in 1979.
In 1985, the authorities finally found his whereabouts. “The Angel of Death,” as he was known was just a pile of bones buried in his house. There were many tests to be done to determine if it was truly Dr. Mengele. The way they determined it was Dr. Mengele was by dental records and x-rays.
After nearly 50 years, the Nazi hunters could give some closure to the Jewish families affected by his horrible atrocities.
I am shocked at how many still try to locate Nazi officers on the run. It seems no one will ever forget the terrible crimes against humanity these men committed. Here are some pics of Josef Mengele and Auschwitz. Some of the pics are graphic. I contemplated posting this today, but feel it is important we never forget.
According to this documentary, many Nazi war criminals are still living in America.
Do you have any thoughts on the Holocaust or Dr. Mengele? I would love to hear your take.
Whether it was reading Anne Frank or some other event in my early childhood, from a young age (ten or earlier) I began to read a great deal about the atrocities of the Nazi regime, the Holocaust and WW2. Eventually gettiing through nearly every topic my local library had on the topic.
I believe then, as I do now, that humanity owes it to those who died and suffered in this bleakest period of human history to know, and pass along the knowledge of what happened, as much as possible about Holocaust. My reasoning being that if we never forget, never just brush what happened off as “a big mistake” our forefathers made, the world as a whole is less likely to ever repeat a horrific atrocity of this magnitude (or anywhere near it).
While it’s a great deal of fun to focus on the glamor and beauty of the mid-twentieth century, sometimes posts like this are truly vital to remind all that the past wasn’t always a bed of roses or like a Hollywood film. Thank you for covering such an important topic, Kori dear.
Wishing you a serene & wonderful weekend,
♥ Jessica
Hard to look at, yes, but these are actually not the worst photos that came out of the concentration camps. Not by a long shot.
Bravo for including this post. You’re absolutely right: we must never, ever forget about the horrors of the Holocaust. Mengele was a monster, pure and simple. I think he was worse even than Hitler.
Hard images to look at…It’s amazing the evil that people had to experience and endure, may we never forget!
Hugs,
Karyn
Have you read the book by Eli Weisel, Kori? It’s called, “Night”, and it is a dark read about the Nazis and his personal experience. Dark, yet insightful.
Stacy Mayer
My husband and I have conversations about this occasionally. How can you get so brainwashed into performing such atrocities on your fellow man? I know some people are just plain evil but to be brainwashed into believing your race is superior and condoning the killing and horrific torture to others? I’ll never understand. Never. Thank you for this. We should never forget history. She’s there to teach us if we only look.
Jen
I saw some photos of the camps at Eden Camp a while ago, the most graphic i’d ever seen and it really disturbed me. What happened was so horrific, and yet there are still people out there who deny the Holocaust. Sickening.
xx
It just baffles me that this all happened. That shoe picture is probably one of the most disturbing images I’ve ever seen back in high school. Well good that they found him. Hopefully it’ll let people sleep a lil more in peace.
The holocaust is alive & well in many other countries. Many “cleaning” of races takes place everyday by evil leaders.
Last summer I read “The Girl in the Green Sweater” & if you want to read a book about the atrocities of that era I reccommend it. You won’t soon forget it!!
The genocide of the Jews & what happened then makes me ashamed to be part of the human race…. WTH is wrong with people????
Marilyn
Great post. This is an important topic that I think is often overlooked. It’s so horrific what people can do to one another. Anyway, Elie Wiesel is a favorite writer of mine. I admire how his writing style documents the Holocaust in a still poetic way.
Hi!
I have an award for you…. Just wanted to let you know I was thinking about you!!
Love,
Marilyn
Thank you for visiting my blog and for your lovely comment!
I really enjoyed this post. It is such an enormous historic event, and I had never heard of Dr. Mengele until I read this.
It makes me sick to the stomach that so called humans can do this to their fellowman/woman. Evil is alive and well.
Thank God we also have kind, compassionate and giving people.
xxx
thanks for sharing.
Something as horrific as the Holocaust should never be forgotten, even though genocide still occurs.
I’m glad people are still trying to track these people down. Even if they’re not caught before they die, I want them to at least live in fear of capture at any moment for the rest of their lives. That might sound uncharitable, but I have nothing nice to say about anyone who was involved in the Holocaust.
I remember when I lived in Germany, I visited the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, just outside Berlin. It haunts me to this day, especially the “medical centre”, where they did unspeakable things.
I visited there ten years ago and it still gives me nightmares and it still makes me cry.
So thank you for posting this. This is something we must never forget.
This breaks my heart. It is so sad that this happened.
Wow, I read that article and it was really interesting. Kori xoxo
I read a book about him years ago and he was simply a monster. Complete psychopath.
wow didnt know this i guess they for got to mention this in school.
i cant believe it wow so harsh.
-cris
I just recently read this article about a town in Brazil that has an abnormally high rate of twins who all have blonde hair and blue eyes. Some people are saying it’s Mengele’s work because he hid out there. Here is the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/world/americas/23twins.html