An Historical Approach

 The largest of Nazi Germany’s concentration/extermination camps  About 1.1 million people died at this camp  Auschwitz claimed more lives than any other concentration camp

“Work Makes You Free”

 Eugenics: the theory that the human race can be improved by discouraging reproduction from humans deemed “inferior”  People considered “inferior”: Handicapped Degenerate Homosexual Feeble-minded Religious Lazy or “Idle” Weak Insane Criminals

 Because they were considered too inferior to pass on their genetic traits, more than 400,000 people were sterilized (made so that they couldn’t have children) against their will.  Dr. Mengele was the notorious doctor of Auschwitz. Block 10 was where he conducted his medical experiments.

 Dr. Mengele was fascinated by identical twins. He would put them in separate barracks and perform experiments on them, usually in the form of dissecting them, either alive or dead.  One of his experiments involved joining two twins to make conjoined (“Siamese”) twins  Other cruel experiments: Burning people alive to see how long it would take first, second, and third degree burns to occur. Trying to change eye color through injections to the colored portion of the eye.

 Nicknames: The White Angel  Because his coat caused his arms to look like wings as he outstretched his hands to point victims to the gas chambers or on to the camps. Angel of Death  Because of his cruelty  Part of Dr. Mengele’s duty was to oversee the separation of the newcomers into two groups: those who could live on and work at Auschwitz, and those who went immediately to the gas chambers. He sometime used ridiculous means to decide this. One such example: drawing a line and any child who couldn’t reach it went to the gas chamber.