Description

Based on exclusive and unrestricted access to more than 5,000 pages of personal writings and family photos, this definitive biography of German physician and SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer Josef Mengele (1911-1979) probes the personality and motivations of Auschwitz's "Angel of Death." From May 1943 through January 1945, Mengele selected who would be gassed immediately, who would be worked to death, and who would serve as involuntary guinea pigs for his spurious and ghastly human experiments (twins were Mengele's particular obsession). With authority and insight, Mengele examines the entire life of the world's most infamous doctor.

Reviews

Well researched and wonderfully free of all the customary fantasy and exaggeration.... Fascinating.

It's a pity that the official search for him did not match the vigor with which Posner and Ware stalk their subject in print.

The fullest account yet published.... Posner and Ware examine the efforts to bring the doctor to trial, separate fact from legend, account for the false trails that enticed Israeli agents and self-appointed Nazi hunters, and explain why he was never caught. ... Mengele is filled with startling touches. The book is an exciting chronicle of escape, evasion, and close calls.

[A] welcome addition to the study of the Holocaust.... Mengele offers us insight into one of the most infamous perpetrators of the holocaust.

Michael Berenbaum, director, Sigi Ziering Institute, American Jewish University

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