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| Dr Robert Jay Lifton |
THE NAZI DOCTORS:
Medical
Killing and
the
Psychology
of Genocide © |
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358 |
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| AUSCHWITZ: THE RACIAL CURE |
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There is also recent evidence that, during his Auschwitz
time, Mengele periodically visited his professor and was received by the
latter's family. Verschuer destroyed all of their correspondence shortly after
the war and, despite this incriminating act, claimed ignorance about Auschwitz
and about any potentially criminal ways in which Mengele might have gathered
the material.35*
Dr. Lottie M. could
thus say of his interest in twins: “That was his question … genetics
… genetics and environment. I think he did as he could have if he worked
as assistant of Professor Verschuer.” And Teresa W. also emphasized his
opportunity to study hereditary principles which, whatever her and others’
criticism of the work, rendered it “undoubtedly of the highest value for
anthropology.”
Ernst B., his Auschwitz friend, described the work
as “pure scientific research,” making use of twins to study questions
of identical inherited dispositions (selbe Erbanlagen) Mengele had begun
to investigate under his professor at the university. The research could take
advantage of “the extreme conditions of the camp”: one could, for
instance, give protein to one twin to observe its effect in preventing disease
in comparison to the other twin to whom it was not given; and one could pursue
investigations with a “potentially fatal outcome.” Dr. B. knew that
Mengele was “in constant touch with his old institute,” but thought
he told people there little about Auschwitz conditions because “he was
ashamed to talk about this with his former colleagues.” Mengele
nonetheless expressed to Ernst B. pride in his colleagues’ encouragement
and “used that as justification” for pursuing scientific work
Dr. B. said something else of great importance, not generally
appreciated: Mengele had begun work on his Habilitation the academic
presentation necessary for a formal appointment as university lecturer and
ultimately professor; and the clear implication was that his Auschwitz research
with twins was to constitute a major portion of that “Habilitation
work.” Mengele's academic ambition, that is, was bound up with his passion
for Auschwitz research — as was his feeling, again quoted by Dr. B., that
“it would be a sin, a crime, … irresponsible [toward science], not to
utilize the possibilities that Auschwitz had for twin research. There would
never be another chance like it.”
All that seems clear enough but
the prevailing opinion in Auschwitz about Mengele’s research was quite
different Most inmates believed as Dr. Abraham C. put it, that Mengele
“wanted to find the cause of multiple pregnancies in order to be able to
repopulate Germany, which had been subjected to considerable losses.” Dr.
C. even claimed that Mengele “spoke of it very freely.” And as
“Mengele’s radiologist” (C.’s own term), he was in a
position to observe and hear a great deal. Dr. Miklos Nyiszli, |
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* Dr. Helmut Verschuer, the
professor’s son, also remembered his mother’s reporting that she once
asked Mengele whether what he had to do was demanding; he answered, “It is
horrible, I can’t talk about it.”36 That memory is difficult to
evaluate and should not in my view be taken as clear evidence of Mengele’s
having been uncomfortable in Auschwitz. |
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THE NAZI DOCTORS:
Medical Killing and the
Psychology of
Genocide
Robert J. Lifton
ISBN 0-465-09094
©
1986 |
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