Dr Josef Mengele was born on March 16, 1911 in Bavaria. He trained as a physician in Frankfurt and soon joined the SS. His intense belief in Nazi ideology quickly gained him a high rank in the German SS as an officer. This led him to practice as a surgeon at the several Nazi Concentrations camps in Poland including the most infamous- Auschwitz.
Trained as a physician, he quickly became notorious for determining which of the prisoners would live and who be killed. Worse was his penchant for performing human experiments on camp prisoners. Over the decades, he became known as the “angel of death.” He believed that genetic makeup could be altered in the fetus and was particularly interested in identical twin research and dwarfs. He also attempted to change eye color by injecting various dyes into the eyes of children and also performed gruesome surgeries like amputations, sterilization and shock treatments- many times without anesthesia.
After the war ended in 1945, Mengele escaped Germany through an organization called the Odessa network. He fled to South America and lived in Argentina where it is believed he worked for a pharmaceutical company for several years. Shortly after the capture of Adolf Eichmann in 1954 by Mossad, Mengele left Argentina and went to Paraguay where he remained safe under the regime of Dictator, Alfredo Stroessner. Despite aggressive efforts by Mossad to capture Mengele, he remained free.
Mengele whose health had worsened over the years died on Feb. 7, 1979 in Bertioga, Brazil while swimming. His death was listed as accidental drowning.
Over the years, Mengele showed little remorse for his activities. He evaded capture for over 34 years and very little is known of him during that time.