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Josef Mengele's role in Selection
Mengele's role in Selection
Josef Mengele played a large role in selection. Mengele was the man who welcomed the prisoners by sending them to the left or right. The prisoners would either be sent to gas chambers or sent to do work. This process was called selection. He would usually send the young and elderly to the gas chambers while sending the healthy teenagers and adults to do work. On some occasions, Mengele would take twins or people with genetic abnormalities to perform medical experiments. He was known to come to selection even if it was not him performing it because he was looking for twins. He occasionally used odd methods to see who would live and die. For example, Mengele was once on a soccer field with 2000 boys performing selection. He asked a guard to nail a piece of wood into a goalpost at a certain height. If the head of the boy did not hit the wood he would be sent to the gas chambers. John F. Grabowski states in his book josef mengele, "He didn't take pleasure in inflicting pain, but in the power he exerted by being the man who had to decide between life and death within the ideology of a concentration camp doctor"(Grabowski,50). Josef Mengele performed selection with pride and played a large role in it.
Tour of Gas Chambers:
Tour of Gas Chambers: