Theodor Gilbert Morell (22 July 1886 – 26 May 1948) was a German medical doctor known for acting as Adolf Hitler's personal physician. Morell was well known in Germany for his unconventional treatments. He assisted Hitler daily in virtually everything he did for several years and was beside Hitler until the last stages of the Battle of Berlin. Morell was granted high awards by Hitler, and became a multi-millionaire from business deals with the Nazi government made possible by his status.

Early years[edit]

Morell was the second son of a primary school teacher, born and raised in the small village of Trais-Münzenberg in Upper Hesse.[1] He studied medicine in Grenoble and Paris, then trained in obstetrics and gynecology in Munich in 1910. On 23 May 1913, he completed his doctoral degree and was fully licensed as a physician.[1] He served as a ship's doctor until 1914, when he volunteered for service at the Front during the First World War. Morell served as an army battalion medical officer until 1917.[1] By 1918, he was in Berlin with his own medical practice, and in 1920 he married Hannelore Moller, a wealthy actress. He furnished his office with the latest medical technology through his wife's fortune.[2] He targeted his unconventional treatments at an upscale market, his practice becoming fashionable for treatment of skin and venereal diseases,[3] and turned down invitations to be personal physician to both the Shah of Persia and the King of Romania.[4]

Career[edit]Hitler's physician[edit]

Morell joined the Nazi Party when Hitler came to power in 1933.[1] In 1935, Hitler's personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann, was successfully treated by Morell. Hoffmann told Hitler that Morell had saved his life.[5] Hitler met Morell in 1936, and Morell began treating Hitler with various commercial preparations, including a combination of vitamins and hydrolyzed strain of E. coli bacteria called Mutaflor (probiotic strain, isolated in 1917),[6] which successfully treated Hitler's severe stomach cramps.[1][5] Through Morell's prescriptions, a leg rash which Hitler had developed also disappeared.[5] Hitler was convinced of Morell's medical genius and Morell became part of his social inner circle.[7][8]

Some historians have attempted to explain this by citing the reputation he had gained in Germany for success in treating syphilis, along with Hitler's own (speculated) fears of the disease, which he associated closely with Jews.[citation needed] Others have commented on the possibility that Hitler had visible symptoms of Parkinson's disease, especially towards the end of the war.[9]

Hitler recommended Morell to others of the Nazi leadership, but most of them, including Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, dismissed Morell as a quack. As Albert Speer related in his autobiography:[10]

In 1936, when my circulation and stomach rebelled...I called at Morell's private office. After a superficial examination, Morell prescribed for me his intestinal bacteria, dextrose, vitamins and hormone tablets. For safety's sake I afterward had a thorough examination by Professor von Bergmann, the specialist in internal medicine at Berlin University. I was not suffering from any organic trouble, he concluded, but only from nervous symptoms caused by overwork. I slowed down my pace as best I could and the symptoms abated. To avoid offending Hitler I pretended that I was carefully following Morell's instructions, and since my health improved, I became for a time Morell's showpiece. – Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich (1969)

When Hitler was troubled with grogginess in the morning, Morell would inject him with a solution of water mixed with a substance from several small, gold-foiled packets, which he called "Vitamultin". Hitler would arise, refreshed and invigorated. Hitler gave a packet to Himmler, who immediately became suspicious and instead secretly ordered one of his SS physicians, Ernst-Günther Schenck, to have it tested in a laboratory. It was found to contain methamphetamine. On at least one occasion, Hitler ordered his private train stopped so that Morell could inject him without worrying about the train jostling.[citation needed]

Speer characterised Morell as an opportunist, who once he achieved status as Hitler's physician, became extremely careless and lazy in his work. By 1944, Morell developed a hostile rivalry with Dr. Karl Brandt, who had been attending Hitler since 1934. Though criticized by Brandt and other physicians, Morell was always "restored to favor".[11]

Morell was not popular with Hitler's entourage, who complained about the doctor's crude table manners, poor hygiene and body odor. Hitler is said to have responded "I do not employ him for his fragrance, but to look after my health."[12] Hermann Göring called Morell Der Reichsspritzenmeister, ("Reich Master of Injections"), and variations on that theme,[13][14] implying that Morell resorted to using drug injections when faced with medical problems, and overused them.

Substances administered to Hitler[edit]

Morell kept a medical diary of the drugs, tonics, vitamins and other substances he administered to Hitler, usually by injection (up to 20 times per day) or in pill form. Most were commercial preparations, some were Morell's own mixes. Since some of these compounds are considered toxic, historians have speculated that Morell inadvertently contributed to Hitler's deteriorating health. The fragmentary list (below) of some 74 substances (in 28 different mixtures)[15] administered to Hitler include psychoactive drugs such as heroin as well as commercial poisons. Among the compounds, in alphabetical order, were:[8]

Brom-Nervacit: Bromide, sodium diethylbarbiturate, Pyramidon, since August 1941 a spoonful of this tranquilizer almost every night, to counteract stimulation from methamphetamine and to allow sleep.[8]Cardiazol and Coramine: since 1941 for leg oedema.Chineurin: Quinine-containing preparation for common colds and flu.Cocaine and adrenaline (via eye drops).[16]Coramine: Nikethamide injected when unduly sedated with barbiturates. In addition, Morell would use Coramine as part of an all-purpose "tonic".Cortiron: Desoxycorticosterone acetate IM injections for muscle weaknesses, influencing carbon hydrate metabolism.Doktor Koster's Antigaspills: 2–4 pills before every meal, for a total of 8–16 tablets a day,[17] since 1936 Belladonna extractum and Strychnos nux vomica in high doses, for meteorism.[18][19]Enbasin: Sulfonamide, intragluteal 5 cc, for diverse infections.Euflat: Bile extract, Radix Angelica, Aloes, papaverine, caffeine, pancreatine, Fel tauri – pills, for meteorism, and treatment of digestion disorders.Eukodal: heavy doses oxycodone, for intestinal spasms, painkiller.[20]Eupaverin: Moxaverine, an isoquinoline derivative for intestinal spasms and colics.Glucose: 1938 until 1940 every third day Glucose injections 5 and 10%, for potentiation of the Strophanthus effect.Glyconorm: Metformin,[8] metabolism enzymes (cozymase I and II), amino acids, vitamins – injectable solution as a strengthener tonic.Homatropin: Homatropine HBr 0.1 g, NaCl 0.08 g; Distilled water added 10 mL. Eye drops for right eye problems.Intelan: Twice a day Vitamins A, D3 and B12 – tablets as a strengthener, tonic.Camomilla Officinale: Chamomile – intestinal enemata, on the patient's personal request.Luitzym: After each meal, enzymes with cellulase, hemicellulases, amylase, and proteases, for intestinal problems, meteorism.Mutaflor: Emulsion of Escherichia coli-strains – enteric coated tablets for improvement of intestinal flora. They were prescribed to Hitler for flatulence in 1936, the first unorthodox drug treatment from Morell; bacteria cultured from human feces, see: "E. coli".[21]Omnadin: Mixture of protein compounds, biliary lipids and animal fat, taken at the onset of infections (together with Vitamultin).Optalidon: Caffeine, propyphenazone – tablets at the beginning of infections (together with Vitamultin).Orchikrin: An extract of bovine testosterone, pituitary gland, and glycerophosphate, as a tonic, strengthener. Marketed also as an aphrodisiac.[19]Penicilline-Hamma: Penicillin – powder topical antibiotic. After the attempted assassination of July 20, 1944 to treat his right arm.Pervitin: methamphetamine injections for mental depression and fatigue.[8][19]Progynon B-Oleosum: Estradiol valerate, benzoic ester of follicle hormone, for improvement of the circulation in the gastric mucosa.Prostacrinum: Two ampoules every second day for a short period in '43, extract of seminal vesicles and prostate – injected IM for mental depression.[19]Prostophanta: Strophantine 0.3 mg, glucose, vitamin B, nicotinic acid – IM heart glycoside, strengthener.Septoid: intravenous injections of 10 cc of 3% iodine (in potassium iodide form) with 10 cc of 20% glucose, two or three times a day, to improve heart's condition and the altered Second Sound.[1]Strophantin: 1941–44 – cycle of 2 weeks of homeopathic Strophanthus gratus glycoside 0.2 mg per day for coronary sclerosis.Sympatol: oxedrine tartrate since 1942, 10 drops daily for increasing the cardiac minute volume.Testoviron: Testosterone propionate as a tonic, strengthener.Tonophosphan: 1942–1944, phosphoric preparation – SC tonic, strengthener.Ultraseptyl: Sulfonamide for respiratory infections.Veritol: since March 1944 hydroxyphenyl-2-methylamino-propane – eyedrops for left eye treatment.Vitamultin-Calcium: Caffeine, vitamins.

An almost complete listing of the drugs used by Morell, wrote historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, was compiled after the war from his own meticulous daily records and unlikely to have been exaggerated.[15] Interestingly Morrell was trained as a general practitioner physician. However, his speciality was neither training in either dermatology or v

The health of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945, has long been a subject of popular controversy. Both his physical and mental health have come under scrutiny.

During his younger days, Hitler's health was generally good, despite his lack of exercise and a poor diet, which he later replaced with a mostly vegetarian one. Even then, though, Hitler had a very strong sweet tooth, and would often eat multiple cream cakes at a sitting.[1][2] Later, however, as the tension and pressure of being the Führer of Germany began to take its toll, Hitler's health took a downturn from which he never really recovered. Exacerbated by the many drugs and potions he was given by his unconventional doctor, Theodor Morell, and undermined by Hitler's own hypochondria, his premonition of a short lifespan, and his fear of cancer (which killed his mother), the dictator's health declined almost continuously until his death by suicide in 1945.

By the time of his last public appearance just days before his death, in the garden of the New Reich Chancellery building, where he reviewed and congratulated teenaged Volkssturm ("people's storm") and Hitler Youth soldiers for their efforts in the Battle of Berlin against the Soviet Red Army, Hitler was bent over, shuffled when he walked, and could not stop his left arm, which he held behind him, from trembling. His eyes were glassy, his skin was greasy, and his speech could sometimes barely be heard. He looked to be much older than his actual age, which was 56, and hardly resembled the charismatic orator who had led the Nazi Party to power.

Trauma[edit]First World War[edit]

Hitler’s mustard gas claim has been disputed by many historians. Supposedly, during World War I, Hitler served as a dispatch runner for the List Regiment of the Bavarian Army. On the night of 13–14 October 1918, he and his comrades were victims of an Allied mustard gas attack near Ypres, Belgium. They had been leaving their dug-out to retreat when the attack occurred, and were partially blinded by it. Hitler received initial treatment in Flanders, and on 21 October was sent to the military hospital in Pasewalk near Stettin in Pomerania. It is believed that instead of being treated for a gas attack, Hitler was being treated for syphilis. It was there that Hitler learned that Germany had asked the Allies for an armistice.[3] He also learned that revolution was in the air. Hitler later claimed that it was while recuperating at Pasewalk that he became a virulent anti-Semite, although historians consider this to be unlikely, especially when Hitler referred to his conversion in terms of a vision he received. He left the hospital on 19 November, eight days after the Armistice.[4]

1944 assassination attempt[edit]

As a result of the 20 July 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler – in which he survived a bomb explosion at his Wolf's Lair headquarters – both of his eardrums were punctured, and he had numerous superficial wounds, including blisters, burns and 200 wood splinters on his hands and legs, cuts on his forehead, abrasions and swelling on his left arm, and a right arm that was swollen, painful and difficult to raise, causing him to use his left hand to greet Benito Mussolini, who arrived that day for a previously scheduled summit meeting. The punctured eardrums were the most serious of these injuries.[5] Weeks later, blood was still seeping through Hitler's bandages, and he suffered sharp pain in the right ear, as well as hearing loss. The eardrums took several weeks to heal, during which Hitler suffered from dizziness and a loss of balance which made him awkwardly hew to the right when walking. In addition, his blood pressure was high. One unusual result was that the trembling in Hitler's hands and left leg, which had increasingly afflicted him for sometime, abated for a time after the explosion, which Morell attributed to nervous shock; they returned in mid-September.[6][7]

Syphilis[edit]

Adolf Hitler's tremor and irregular heartbeat during the last years of his life could have been symptoms of tertiary (late stage) syphilis,[8] which would mean he had a syphilis infection for many years. However, syphilis had become curable in 1910 with Dr. Paul Ehrlich's introduction of the drug Salvarsan.

In The Man with the Miraculous Hands, his biography of Dr. Felix Kersten, journalist Joseph Kessel wrote that in the winter of 1942, Kersten heard of Hitler's medical condition. Consulted by his patient, Himmler, as to whether he could "assist a man who suffers from severe headaches, dizziness and insomnia", Kersten was shown a top-secret 26-page report. It detailed how Hitler had contracted syphilis in his youth and was treated for it at a hospital in Pasewalk. However, in 1937, symptoms re-appeared, showing that the disease was still active, and by the start of 1942, signs were evident that progressive syphilitic paralysis (Tabes dorsalis) was occurring. Himmler advised Kersten that Morell (who in the 1930s claimed to be a specialist venereologist) was in charge of Hitler's treatment, and that it was a state secret. The book also relates how Kersten learned from Himmler's secretary, Rudolf Brandt, that at that time, probably the only other people privy to the report's information were Nazi Party chairman Martin Bormann and Hermann Göring, the head of the Luftwaffe.[9] Interestingly Morrell was trained as a General Practitioner Physician. However his specialty was neither training in either Dermatology or Venereology but was in fact Obstetrics and gynaecology. Despite his lack of training, Morrell did treat Hitler [who had a obsessive fear of VD] with Arsenobenzol, designated “606,” Salvarsan, Neosalvarsan with bismuth and Iodine salts[10]

Monorchism[edit]See also: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball and Adolf Hitler's possible monorchism

It has been alleged that Hitler had monorchism, the medical condition of having only one testicle. In 2008, a British newspaper reported that in 1916, a German doctor named Johan Jambor had encountered an injured Hitler during the Battle of the Somme.[11] Jambor allegedly asserted that Hitler—who is known to have suffered a groin injury in the battle—had in fact lost a testicle. Jambor had supposedly described the dictator's condition to a priest, who later wrote down what he had been told.[11]

Soviet doctor Lev Bezymensky, allegedly involved in the Soviet autopsy, stated in a 1967 book that Hitler's left testicle was missing. Bezymensky later admitted that the claim was falsified.[12]

Hitler was routinely examined by many doctors throughout his childhood, military service and later political career, and no clinical mention of any such condition has ever been discovered. Eduard Bloch, Hitler’s childhood doctor, told U.S. interrogators in 1943 that Hitler's genitals were in fact "completely normal".[13]

Huntington's disease[edit]

It has been speculated that Hitler had Huntington's disease. When many of the physical symptoms shown in newsreels during his later life – his hand tremor and shuffling gait – are coupled with his alleged mental and psychological deterioration, they may also point toward Huntington's. This is only conjecture, since a definitive diagnosis would require DNA testing.[14] Although Huntington's Disease was known and considered a hereditary disease during the time period, even appearing in state papers on the sterilization list, it is not known if Hitler knew of this condition.[15][16]

Parkinson's disease[edit]

It has also been speculated Hitler had Parkinson's disease. Newsreels of Hitler show he had tremors in his left hand and a shuffling walk (also a symptom of tertiary syphilis, see above) which began before the war and continued to worsen until the end of his life. Morell treated Hitler with a drug agent that was commonly used in 1945, although Morell is viewed as an incompetent doctor by most historians and any diagnoses he may have made are subject to doubt.[17]

Dr. Werner Haase, Hitler's personal physician, who was in attendance every day from 21 April until Hitler's suicide on 30 April, was convinced that Hitler had Parkinson's.[18] In addition, Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck, who worked at an emergency casualty station in the Reich Chancellery during April 1945, also claimed Hitler might have Parkinson's disease. However, Schenck only saw Hitler briefly on two occasions and, by his own admission, was extremely exhausted and dazed during these meetings; at the time, he had been in surgery for numerous days without much sleep.[19][18]

Other complaints[edit]

From the 1930s Hitler suffered from stomach pains. In 1936 a non-cancerous polyp was removed from his throat. Hitler also developed eczema on his legs.[20] Some doctors dismiss Hitler's ailments as hypochondria, pointing out the apparently drastic decline of Hitler's health as Germany began losing World War II. According to a medical examination from 1924, Hitler was 175 cm tall and weighed 77 kg,[21] making him slightly overweight.

Mental health[edit]See also: Psychopathography of Adolf Hitler

As debated as Hitler's physical medical issues may be, his mental health is a minefield of theories and speculation. This topic is controversial, as many believe that if a psychological cause can be found for Hitler's behavior, there would be more reasoning behind his actions.

In 1993, the interdisciplinary team Desmond Henry, Dick Geary and Peter Tyrer published an essay in which they expressed their common view that Hitler had antisocial personality disorder as defined in ICD-10. Tyrer, a psychiatrist, was convinced that Hitler furthermore showed signs of paranoia and of histrionic personality disorder. Robert G. L. Waite, who wrote an extensive psychohistory of Hitler, concluded that he suffered from borderline personality disorder, which manifested its symptoms in numerous ways and would imply Hitler was in full control of himself and his actions. Others have proposed Hitler may have been schizophrenic,[citation needed] based on claims that he was hallucinating and delusional during his last year of life. Many people believe that Hitler had a mental disorder and was not schizophrenic nor bipolar, but rather met the criteria for both disorders, and was therefore most likely a schizoaffective. If true, this might be explained by a series of brief reactive psychoses in a narcissistic personality which could not withstand being confronted with reality (in this case, that he was not the "superman" or "savior of Germany" he envisioned himself to be, as his plans and apparent early achievements collapsed about him). In addition, his regular methamphetamine use[22][23] and possible sleep deprivation in the last period of his life must be factored into any speculation as to the cause of his possible psychotic symptoms, as these two activities are known to trigger psychotic reactions in some individuals. Hitler never visited a psychiatrist, and under current methodology, any such diagnosis is speculation.

Drug use[edit]Further information: Theodor Morell § Substances administered to Hitler

Presc

Peter Becker describes indoctrination and being in the Hitler Youth | Holocaust Encyclopedia (ushmm.org)

PETER BECKER DESCRIBES INDOCTRINATION AND BEING IN THE HITLER YOUTH

Peter was six years old when his

YOUTH

Peter was six years old when his 

mother enrolled him in a special Hitler boarding school for future Nazi Party officials in 1935. He studied traditional academic subjects, but was constantly exposed to Nazi ideas and prepared for a military life. Peter was also a member of the Hitler Youth. He came to believe in Hitler as the savior of Germany. Peter would later describe his indoctrination as a subtle process. It took two years after the war had ended for Peter to come to terms with the atrocities that the Germans had in reality committed—a process he described as very painful. He eventually moved to the United States. He became a historian and professor of Modern German History at the University of South Carolina.

 Transcript

Now it was in the activities, I think that my life differed from that of a normal boy who went to public school and went home after school was over and had a normal life at home. Our life was much more structured. And it was much more directed. So that whatever Hitler wanted to do with us we imbibed in a very careful fashion. That is, we were not aware of being indoctrinated. We were not being aware of what was being done to us. It was all a very, very subtle process. By the time that I–the war ended in 1945 when I was 15, I had become a Nazi without ever really being aware that I was one. That is, I didn’t know how I’d become one. I knew that I was one. Because to me Hitler was the great man in Germany’s life. I had become convinced that Hitler was the savior of Germany. All of that I could believe because our knowledge of what had gone on in the past was very limited. We were carefully kept from, I think, knowing certain things or having a broad picture of history. We were not aware of what Germany had done before. Our history–our life, really–essentially started as far as we were concerned with the First World War, with the depressing period of the Weimar Republic, as we were told. Then, after Germany had been beaten down as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, had been disarmed, had been saddled with reparations, et cetera, et cetera, all of a sudden, well, then finally, Hitler came along to lift Germany out of this muck and mire and bring it back to greatness. And we felt that we were part of that and we were very proud of that and thought that Hitler really was the greatest thing that had ever come–had come down the pike.

The Holocaust altered Eva Kor’s body forever in a way that she still doesn’t fully understand.

When she was ten years old, Kor and her twin sister, Miriam — along with 1,500 other sets of twins — were test subjects of Dr. Josef Mengele, a Nazi physician who used fraternal and identical twins at Auschwitz in very much the same way that scientists use rats in experiments today: He’d measure and inject them, cut them open, stitch them up and in some cases sew them together to advance Nazi medical research and figure out how to alter the human genome to produce a dominant “Aryan” race.

But the twins never knew what exactly was in Dr. Mengele’s needles, and they never asked.

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In her 20s, Eva Kor had two miscarriages followed by two high-risk pregnancies. In her 60s, she developed tuberculosis, and later pericarditis, an inflammation of the outer layer of the heart. And in her 70s, she got eosinophilia, a rampant autoimmune disease similar to leukemia.

Now she’s 81 and still searching for answers.

Eva and Miriam, the only survivors of their Romanian-Jewish family, spent one year in Auschwitz hoarded together with 200 to 300 other twins. After arriving from their farm in Romania, they were separated from their parents and two sisters within 30 minutes. “When we got to the selection platform, they were yelling ‘Twins!’” Kor told the Forward. The twins had their own barracks and a fenced-in area.

Some days, Eva and Miriam were kept in a room with 30 or 40 other sets of twins, naked, as Mengele and his colleagues took detailed measurements of just about every part of their bodies — three hours on an earlobe, four hours on an arm — to see how close the young prisoners were to the Nazi’s Aryan ideal.

On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, the twins went to what Kor called the Blood Lab, where Kor would receive up to five injections. “The rumor was that they were germs, diseases and drugs, but the contents of those injections we didn’t know then or today.”

What they did know, though, was that when one twin would disappear, the other followed a week or two later. “If I had died, Miriam would’ve been killed immediately with an injection to the heart so that Mengele could do a comparative autopsy to understand how to create multiples and see how the germs worked,” said Kor, who now lives in Terre Haute, Indiana.

After one session of experiments, Kor became ill with a very high fever. As the fever climbed, her arms and legs swelled and red spots covered every surface of her body. On her next Blood Lab visit, Mengele’s colleagues measured her fever and transferred her to the hospital in another barrack, which was less a healing quarters and more a dreaded final destination. “Nobody ever came back from the hospital.”

Mengele marched in with four other doctors to check up on the 10-year-old Kor. “He never examined me; he just looked at my charts and, laughing sarcastically, he said, ‘Too bad she only has two weeks to live,’” Kor remembered. “I knew he was right, and I refused to die. This is where I resisted. I remember those two weeks crawling on the barrack floor because I couldn’t walk. I’d fade in and out of consciousness and wouldn’t let go of dear life.”

Kor described the twins’ relationship to Mengele as one of the most complicated human entanglements: As a Nazi, Mengele was responsible for sending the twins’ families to their deaths, but simultaneously, he was also the twins’ savior. “I never liked Mengele, but I also understood that I was going to be alive as long as he wanted me to be alive,” Kor said. “And obviously he didn’t want me to be alive that long,” she added, “because he injected me with something that was supposed to kill me.”

Two weeks later, her fever broke.

Kor, who is among the 250 individual “Mengele twins” who survived the Holocaust (he used a total of 3,000 individuals in his experiments), later wondered whether she had been injected with Spotted Fever, an epidemic that ran through the camp. “It would very much help many people to at least know what was injected into our bodies,” said Kor. “There were worries among the Mengele twins still alive today that their children would somehow be deformed, because nobody knew what the experiments were. The [Mengele survivors] also suffer from all different problems — there was a lot of cancer among the twins, kidney diseases, and now there is some mental disorder and depression.”

Surviving Twins: Eva Kor, depicted with her son Alex, points at a photo of herself taken shortly after the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945. Image by Courtesy of Eva kor

But it’s unclear whether these issues stem from old age and life in general, if they are a result of the experiments or if they are the effects of the profound trauma experienced during the Holocaust. So Kor can only theorize about her long list of health problems.

“I know that my tuberculosis had to be from Auschwitz because they had tested us in school after we got back and I was TB positive, but I never had TB before that,” she said. “What I’m assuming, because I don’t really know, is that I had to have been injected with it, and that they then injected us with antibiotics for the TB not to develop, just to have latent TB. So the dormant tuberculosis injected in me at Auschwitz was never cured.”

Having more information about Mengele’s experiments could have saved Kor’s twin sister, Miriam, who died of kidney failure in 1993. Miriam’s kidneys had never grown past the size of a 10-year-old’s.

Eva Kor has been on a four-decade quest to find out what happened to her body at Auschwitz. But so far, it’s been nearly impossible. In 1991, she traveled with her twin sister and three other Mengele twins to Gunzburg, Germany, the town where Mengele grew up, and where his family had a farm equipment factory. “I wanted to understand what kind of a place created a Josef Mengele, to see if we could make some connections,” Kor said. “I wanted to talk to the director of the factory, but I was told if we dared tried to reach him, he’d send dogs to greet us.”

A decade later, Kor began her search for the physical files. Despite the fact that the Nazis were notorious for keeping meticulous notes on every facet of their operation, only 10 to 15 % of Nazi files from Auschwitz still exist today: Nazis destroyed much of the documentation of their crimes at the war’s close.

There were allegedly two sets of files for every set of twins: One set apparently remained with Mengele, and the other was supposedly kept at Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Society (now called the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science), which was the institute in charge of Mengele’s experiments.

But when Kor made her way to the Max Planck Society in 2001, she was told that every single file was gone. “My effort in trying to find out who had the files was fruitless,” Kor said. “But the number one question is, would Mengele have destroyed this major project that he worked on? And my response to that is absolutely not. And if he didn’t destroy the files, they have to be somewhere. So the question is: where?”

This summer, Kor traveled to Auschwitz to testify as a witness in the trial of 94-year-old Oskar Groening — the “bookkeeper of Auschwitz” recently found guilty of accessory to murder of 300,000 people in the camp and sentenced to four years in prison — Kor wanted to ask Groening how much he knew about what was going on in the Mengele experiments. No luck.

“Groening did not know a thing,” Kor told the Forward. “He knew no details. He said that he knew who Mengele was, but that he himself was a very low-ranking guard who was basically involved in taking the loot from the cattle cars, and he didn’t think Mengele even knew who he was.”

The surviving twins will likely never be able to gain a solid understanding of what was added to their bloodstreams. But Kor continues her hunt for answers not only for her own peace of mind, but also for her family. The experiments certainly affected Kor herself, but there’s a possibility that they may have affected her children as well.

While Miriam’s daughters and grandchildren are healthy to date, Eva’s son, Alex Kor, was diagnosed with advanced-stage testicular cancer at age 26, followed by skin cancer. Did his ailments have anything to do with his mother’s suffering? “There’s no way to say it’s in any way from my mom’s experience,” he said.

But Dr. Rachel Yehuda, a New York-based researcher focusing on trauma survivors and their offspring, has done studies that suggest that certain environmental exposures and traumatic experiences leave a chemical mark on a gene, which in turn could have a major impact on how one’s genes are expressed. This area of research is called epigenetics.

“It’s very possible that a traumatic experience like the Holocaust or being experimented on during the Holocaust would change the way your genes function,” Yehuda, who works at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the Bronx, said. “And they can endure into the next generation, potentially.”

Although nobody knows what was in Mengele’s needles, it is certainly possible that his shots could have altered the twins’ genes, Yehuda said, similar to the way that Agent Orange affected Vietnam veterans and their families. Veterans exposed to Agent Orange ­— a chemical herbicide used by the U.S. to destroy enemy resources, forests and crops during the Vietnam War — later experienced severe health issues including cancer, tumors, neurological problems and skin diseases. In many cases, their children suffered birth defects, too.

“So the effect of chemical exposures and toxins can be very longstanding and diverse,” Yehuda said. “Although we can’t say for sure without a study what causes what, it’s pretty clear that there’s a there there.”

“There’s enough evidence from research that suggests that it is possible and likely that experiences that occurred to mothers may have had enduring effects in the offspring or may have been expressed in a child,” added Yehuda. “But whether a specific expression in a child comes from a specific environmental exposure [experienced by the parent], we don’t know yet.”

There is some cruel irony in the fact that it would require experiments to find out precisely what Mengele’s experiments did to the twins. But with only roughly 50 Mengele twins still alive, it would be impossible to draw reliable scientific conclusions from any of their anecdotes. They have lived in different environments and countries, so there is no controlled way to conduct research.

But if there were a way, Kor would be open to it. In fact, Kor now lectures extensively to doctors, medical ethics groups and hospital research groups. She emphasizes that when experiments are done, it’s crucial to keep in mind that research is performed not for the sake of advancing science, but rather for the sole purpose of helping human beings.

“I would find it very ironic, but I’m not against human experimentation — I see the value in it,” she said, explaining that her son survived testicular cancer because he was part of a medical trial. “The difference is: My son entered voluntarily, with informed consent; I did not.”

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (German: [ˈhaɪnʁɪç ˈluːɪtpɔlt ˈhɪmlɐ] ⓘ; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was the Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany, and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany, primarily known for being a main architect of the Holocaust.

As a member of a reserve battalion during the First World War, Himmler did not see active service or combat. Having joined the Nazi Party in 1923 and the SS in 1925, he was appointed Reichsführer-SS by Adolf Hitler in 1929. Over the next sixteen years, Himmler developed the SS from a 290-man battalion into a million-strong paramilitary group. He was known for good organisational skills and for selecting highly competent subordinates, such as Reinhard Heydrich in 1931. From 1943 onwards, he was both Chief of the Kriminalpolizei (Criminal Police) and Minister of the Interior, overseeing all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo (Secret State Police). He also controlled the Waffen-SS, the military branch of the SS.

Himmler's interest in occultism and Völkisch topics influenced the development of the racial policy of Nazi Germany; he also incorporated esoteric symbolism and rituals into the SS. He was the principal overseer of Nazi Germany's genocidal programs, forming the Einsatzgruppen and administering extermination camps. In this capacity, Himmler directed the killing of some six million Jews, between 200,000 and 500,000 Romani people, and other victims. A day before the launch of Operation Barbarossa, Himmler commissioned the drafting of Generalplan Ost, which was approved by Hitler in May 1942. The total number of civilians killed by the Nazi regime is estimated to be between 11 and 14 million people, most of whom were Polish and Soviet citizens.

Late in the Second World War, Hitler briefly appointed Himmler as military commander and later Commander of the Replacement (Home) Army and General Plenipotentiary for the administration of the entire Third Reich (Generalbevollmächtigter für die Verwaltung). Specifically, he was given command of the Army Group Upper Rhine and the Army Group Vistula. After Himmler failed to achieve his assigned objectives, Hitler replaced him in these posts. Realising the war was lost, Himmler attempted to open peace talks with the western Allies without Hitler's knowledge, shortly before the end of the war. Hearing of this, Hitler dismissed him from all his posts in April 1945 and ordered his arrest. Himmler attempted to go into hiding but was detained and then arrested by British forces once his identity became known. While in British custody, he died by suicide on 23 May 1945.

Early lifeHimmler as a child[2]

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was born in Munich on 7 October 1900 into a conservative middle-class Roman Catholic family. His father was Joseph Gebhard Himmler (1865–1936), a teacher, and his mother was Anna Maria Himmler (née Heyder; 1866–1941), a devout Roman Catholic. Heinrich had two brothers: Gebhard Ludwig (1898–1982) and Ernst Hermann (1905–1945).[3]

Himmler's first name, Heinrich, was that of his godfather, Prince Heinrich of Bavaria, a member of the royal family of Bavaria, who had been tutored by Gebhard Himmler.[4][5] He attended a grammar school in Landshut, where his father was deputy principal. While he did well in his schoolwork, he struggled in athletics.[6] He had poor health, suffering from lifelong stomach complaints and other ailments. In his youth he trained daily with weights and exercised to become stronger. Other boys at the school later remembered him as studious and awkward in social situations.[7]

Himmler's diary, which he kept intermittently from the age of 10, shows that he took a keen interest in current events, dueling, and "the serious discussion of religion and sex".[8][9] In 1915, he began training with the Landshut Cadet Corps. His father used his connections with the royal family to get Himmler accepted as an officer candidate, and he enlisted with the reserve battalion of the 11th Bavarian Regiment in December 1917. His brother, Gebhard, served on the western front and saw combat, receiving the Iron Cross and eventually being promoted to lieutenant. In November 1918, while Himmler was still in training, the war ended with Germany's defeat, denying him the opportunity to become an officer or see combat. After his discharge on 18 December, he returned to Landshut.[10] After the war, Himmler completed his grammar-school education. From 1919 to 1922, he studied agriculture at the Munich Technische Hochschule (now Technical University Munich) [11] following a brief apprenticeship on a farm and a subsequent illness.[12][13]

Although many regulations that discriminated against non-Christians—including Jews and other minority groups—had been eliminated during the unification of Germany in 1871, antisemitism continued to exist and thrive in Germany and other parts of Europe.[14] Himmler was antisemitic by the time he went to university, but not exceptionally so; students at his school would avoid their Jewish classmates.[15] He remained a devout Catholic while a student and spent most of his leisure time with members of his fencing fraternity, the "League of Apollo", the president of which was Jewish. Himmler maintained a polite demeanor with him and with other Jewish members of the fraternity, in spite of his growing antisemitism.[16][17] During his second year at university, Himmler redoubled his attempts to pursue a military career. Although he was not successful, he was able to extend his involvement in the paramilitary scene in Munich. It was at this time that he first met Ernst Röhm, an early member of the Nazi Party and co-founder of the Sturmabteilung ("Storm Battalion"; SA).[18][19] Himmler admired Röhm because he was a decorated combat soldier, and at his suggestion Himmler joined his antisemitic nationalist group, the Bund Reichskriegsflagge (Imperial War Flag Society).[20]

In 1922, Himmler became more interested in the "Jewish question", with his diary entries containing an increasing number of antisemitic remarks and recording a number of discussions about Jews with his classmates. His reading lists, as recorded in his diary, were dominated by antisemitic pamphlets, German myths, and occult tracts.[21] After the murder of Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau on 24 June, Himmler's political views veered towards the radical right, and he took part in demonstrations against the Treaty of Versailles. Hyperinflation was raging, and his parents could no longer afford to educate all three sons. Disappointed by his failure to make a career in the military and his parents' inability to finance his doctoral studies, he was forced to take a low-paying office job after obtaining his agricultural diploma. He remained in this position until September 1923.[22][23]

Nazi activist

Himmler joined the Nazi Party on 1 August 1923,[24] receiving party number 14303.[25][26] As a member of Röhm's paramilitary unit, Himmler was involved in the Beer Hall Putsch—an unsuccessful attempt by Hitler and the Nazi Party to seize power in Munich. This event would set Himmler on a life of politics. He was questioned by the police about his role in the putsch but was not charged because of insufficient evidence. However, he lost his job, was unable to find employment as a farm manager, and had to move in with his parents in Munich. Frustrated by these failures, he became ever more irritable, aggressive, and opinionated, alienating both friends and family members.[27][28]

In 1923–24, Himmler, while searching for a world view, came to abandon Catholicism and focused on the occult and in antisemitism. Germanic mythology, reinforced by occult ideas, became a religion for him. Himmler found the Nazi Party appealing because its political positions agreed with his own views. Initially, he was not swept up by Hitler's charisma or the cult of Führer worship. However, as he learned more about Hitler through his reading, he began to regard him as a useful face of the party,[29][30] and he later admired and even worshipped him.[31] To consolidate and advance his own position in the Nazi Party, Himmler took advantage of the disarray in the party following Hitler's arrest in the wake of the Beer Hall Putsch.[31] From mid-1924 he worked under Gregor Strasser as a party secretary and propaganda assistant. Travelling all over Bavaria agitating for the party, he gave speeches and distributed literature. Placed in charge of the party office in Lower Bavaria by Strasser from late 1924, he was responsible for integrating the area's membership with the Nazi Party under Hitler when the party was re-founded in February 1925.[32][33]

That same year, he joined the Schutzstaffel (SS) as an SS-Führer (SS-Leader); his SS number was 168.[26] The SS, initially part of the much larger SA, was formed in 1923 for Hitler's personal protection and was re-formed in 1925 as an elite unit of the SA.[34] Himmler's first leadership position in the SS was that of SS-Gauführer (district leader) in Lower Bavaria from 1926. Strasser appointed Himmler deputy propaganda chief in January 1927. As was typical in the Nazi Party, he had considerable freedom of action in his post, which increased over time. He began to collect statistics on the number of Jews, Freemasons, and enemies of the party, and following his strong need for control, he developed an elaborate bureaucracy.[35][36] In September 1927, Himmler told Hitler of his vision to transform the SS into a loyal, powerful, racially pure elite unit. Convinced that Himmler was the man for the job, Hitler appointed him Deputy Reichsführer-SS, with the rank of SS-Oberführer.[37]

Around this time, Himmler joined the Artaman League, a Völkisch youth group. There he met Rudolf Höss, who was later commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, and Walther Darré, whose book The Peasantry as the Life Source of the Nordic Race caught Hitler's attention, leading to his later appointment as Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture. Darré was a firm believer in the superiority of the Nordic race, and his philosophy was a major influence on Himmler.[34][38][39]

Rise in the SSHimmler in 1929

Upon t

The Reichstag ("Diet of the Realm"),[2] officially the Greater German Reichstag (Großdeutscher Reichstag) after 1938, was the national parliament of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. Following the Nazi seizure of power and the enactment of the Enabling Act of 1933, it functioned purely as a rubber stamp for the actions of Adolf Hitler's dictatorship — always by unanimous consent — and as a forum to listen to Hitler's speeches. In this purely ceremonial role, the Reichstag convened only 20 times, the last on 26 April 1942. The President of the Reichstag (German: Reichstagspräsident) throughout this period was Hermann Göring.

During this period, the Reichstag was sometimes derisively referred to by the German public as the "teuerste Gesangsverein Deutschlands" (the most expensive singing club in Germany) due to frequent singing of the national anthem during sessions. To avoid holding scheduled elections during World War II, in 1943 Hitler extended the term of office of the current Reichstag (elected in late 1938 to serve in 1939–1943) to serve a special eight-year term to end on 30 January 1947.

History[edit]Background[edit]

In 1920–1923 and from 1930 on, the Weimar Republic's democratically elected Reichstag was frequently circumvented by two legal instruments:

The use of special powers granted to the President of Germany under an Emergency Decree in Article 48 of the Weimar ConstitutionThe use of Enabling acts (which were seen as constitutional since they were passed by a two-thirds majority, the same as was required for an amendment), especially during 1919–1923 and then finally in 1933The Reichstag building in 1932, before the fire

The former practice became more and more common after 1930. Due to the Reichstag's complex system of proportional representation, it was extremely difficult for a government to have a stable majority. Frequently, when a Chancellor was voted out of office, his successor could not be assured of a majority. As a result, Chancellors were forced to use Article 48 simply to conduct the ordinary business of government.

Following the Reichstag fire on 27 February 1933, Hitler persuaded President Paul von Hindenburg to issue the Decree for the Protection of People and State, which suspended most of the civil rights enshrined in the constitution. When elections in March did not yield a Nazi majority, Hitler had to rely on his coalition partner, the German National People's Party (DNVP), to command a majority in the Reichstag.

At the new Reichstag's first session, Hitler introduced the Enabling Act of 1933, which allowed the government to enact laws on its own authority for a four-year period. With certain exceptions (which were in practice disregarded), those laws could deviate from articles in the constitution. Though formally only the Government as a whole could enact laws, Hitler in effect exercised that right by himself.

Adolf Hitler declaring war against the United States at the Reichstag, 11 December 1941

The Nazis used the provisions of the Reichstag Fire Decree to arrest all deputies from the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and detain several deputies from the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Several other SPD deputies saw the writing on the wall and fled into exile. Ultimately, the Enabling Act passed by a margin of 444–94, with only the SPD voting against it. However, the session took place in such an intimidating atmosphere that even if all 81 KPD deputies and 120 SPD deputies had been present, the Enabling Act would have still passed by more than the two-thirds majority required.

Before the summer was out, all other parties had either been banned or intimidated into closing down (some were even intimidated into joining NSDAP), and the Nazi Party was the only legally permitted party in Germany – for all intents and purposes, Germany had become a one-party state with the passage of the Enabling Act. With the formal ban of opposition parties by the "Law Against the Formation of Parties" (14 July 1933), the provision of Article 48 that allowed the Reichstag to demand the cancellation of the emergency measures was effectively negated.

In the parliamentary elections of 12 November 1933, voters were presented with a single list from the Nazi Party under far-from-secret conditions (see below). The list carried with 92.1 percent of the vote. As a measure of the great care Hitler took to give his dictatorship the appearance of legal sanction, the Enabling Act was subsequently renewed by the Reichstag in 1937 and 1941.

The Reichstag only met 12 times between 1933 and 1939, and enacted only four laws — the "Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich" of 1934 (which turned Germany into a highly centralized state) and the three "Nuremberg Laws" of 1935. All passed unanimously. It would only meet eight more times after the start of the war. On 30 January 1939, in the aftermath of Kristallnacht and rising international tensions, Adolf Hitler made a speech proclaiming that a war would lead to the "annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe."[3][4] On 1 September 1939 Hitler addressed the Reichstag, announcing the invasion of Poland and the beginning of World War II.[5]

Kroll Opera HouseBuilding[edit]Main articles: Reichstag (building), Reichstag fire, and Kroll Opera House

The original Reichstag building (German: Reichstagsgebäude) was unusable after the Reichstag fire, so the Kroll Opera House was modified into a legislative chamber and served as the location of all parliamentary sessions during the Third Reich. It was chosen both for its convenient location facing the Reichstag building and for its seating capacity. The Kroll Opera House was devastated by Allied bombing on 12 November 1943 (coincidentally, the tenth anniversary of the first Nazi Reichstag's election). It was then essentially destroyed in the Battle of Berlin in 1945.

Elections and plebiscites in Nazi Germany[edit]Referendum ballot in April 1938. It reads: "Do you agree with the reunification of Austria with the German Reich that was enacted on 13 March 1938, and do you vote for the party of our leader Adolf Hitler?" The large circle is labelled "Yes", the smaller "No".

The federal election in March 1933 was the last all-German election prior to World War II that was competitive. From then on, while elections were still held, voters were presented with a single list comprising Nazis and "guests" of the party. These "guests", however, fully supported Hitler in any event. Elections during this time were not secret; voters were often threatened with severe reprisals if they failed to vote or dared to vote no. Under the circumstances, the Nazi list carried with well over 90 percent of the vote each time.

Until enactment of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, Jews, Poles and other ethnic minorities still held nominal citizenship rights. Not only were they allowed to vote, but in districts known to have large populations of minorities the Nazis often abstained from engaging in tactics used elsewhere to compel the electorate to vote in favour of the regime. In essence, the Nazis tacitly encouraged minorities to vote against them so that their propaganda could cite the relatively unfavourable results in districts known to have large minority populations as proof of disloyalty to the Reich. Following the enactment of the Nuremberg Laws, Jews and other ethnic minorities were excluded from the electoral process altogether and the number of negative and invalid votes recorded fell dramatically – from more than five million in the referendum held in 1934 to barely half a million in the vote held in 1936.

Of the three elections held during this period, only the first was held independently. The other two were held alongside special referendums. The most famous of these was the plebiscite on the Anschluss with Austria in 1938. That vote officially recorded a 99.7% "yes".[6] Following the Anschluss, the Reichstag became the Großdeutsche Reichstag (roughly translated the Greater German Imperial Diet).

Election poster for Hindenburg and Hitler in November 1933. It reads: "The Marshal and the Corporal fight with us for peace and equality"

In accordance with the provisions of the Weimar Republic electoral law of 1933, one seat was granted for each block of 60,000 votes. Because voter turnout was very high, and also because of new territories added to the Reich, and finally because the voting age was lowered (a compensatory measure adopted prior to the 1936 election to prevent the electorate from shrinking in size as a consequence of the Nuremberg Laws), the Reichstag grew to significantly greater and greater proportions. Finally, there were 855 deputies; Adolf Hitler was No. 433, elected to the Reichstag constituency 24 Upper Bavaria – Swabia.

1933, 5 March: General parliamentary elections immediately following the Seizure of Power. Six days before the scheduled election date, the German parliament building burned in the Reichstag fire. Opposition parties were thwarted in their campaigns. The Nazi Party won 33 of the 35 direct seats from parliamentary districts and 43.9% of the overall vote, giving the Nazis together with the DNVP (8.0% of the votes) a slight majority of seats.1933, 12 November: Parliamentary elections and referendum on the withdrawal of Germany from the League of Nations. All Reichstag delegates are now Nazi Party members or sympathizers. According to formal results, 92% of the voters approved the referendum proposal.1934, 19 August: Special Plebiscite to retrospectively approve Adolf Hitler's assumption of the powers of the President, following the death of Paul von Hindenburg. 88.1% of the voters voted yes.1936, 29 March: General parliamentary elections and referendum retrospectively approving the Remilitarization of the Rhineland. The election and the Rhineland occupation were combined in a single question.1938, 10 April: General parliamentary elections and referendum retrospectively approving the annexation of Austria Anschluss. Elected to serve for a four-year term beginning in 1939, it convened for the last time in early 1942.1938, 4 December: Parliamentary by-election for newly acquired territory of Sudetenland. Like the previous occasions, the Nazis won all seats in this last election under their rule.Last session[edit]

The Reichstag convened for the last time in the Kroll Opera House on 26 April 1942. It unanimously passed a decree proclaiming Hitler "Supreme Judge of the German People", officially allowing him to override the judiciary and administration in all matters.[7] Any last remnants of the privileges of the Reichstag's members were removed and the Führer became de jure the final decision-maker, with the power of life and death over every German citizen. In practice, this merely legitimized a situation that had been in place since 1933. For all intents and purposes, this extended the provisions of the Enabling Act indefinitely.

On 25 January 1943, five days before the expiration of the current Reichstag's term of office, the inauguration of a new body was postponed for another electoral term until 30 January 1947. This was to avoid holding elections while the war was still under way. Because of Germany's defeat in the war, the 1938 elections were the last for the German Reichstag ever and would be the last all-German elections until the first elections for a reunified Germany in 1990.

Goebbels first took an interest in Adolf Hitler and Nazism in 1924.[36] In February 1924, Hitler's trial for treason began in the wake of his failed attempt to seize power in the Beer Hall Putsch of 8–9 November 1923.[37] The trial attracted widespread press coverage and gave Hitler a platform for propaganda.[38] Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released on 20 December 1924, after serving just over a year.[39] Goebbels was drawn to the Nazi Party mostly because of Hitler's charisma and commitment to his beliefs.[40] He joined the Nazi Party around this time, becoming member number 8762.[29] In late 1924, Goebbels offered his services to Karl Kaufmann, who was Gauleiter (Nazi Party district leader) for the Rhine-Ruhr District. Kaufmann put him in touch with Gregor Strasser, a leading Nazi organiser in northern Germany, who hired him to work on their weekly newspaper and undertake secretarial work for the regional party offices.[41] He was also put to work as party speaker and representative for Rhineland-Westphalia.[42] Strasser founded the National Socialist Working Association on 10 September 1925, a short-lived group of about a dozen northern and western German Gauleiter; Goebbels became its business manager and the editor of its biweekly journal, NS-Briefe.[43] Members of Strasser's northern branch of the Nazi Party, including Goebbels, had a more socialist outlook than the rival Hitler group in Munich.[44] Strasser disagreed with Hitler on many parts of the party platform, and in November 1926 began working on a revision.[45]

Hitler viewed Strasser's actions as a threat to his authority, and summoned 60 Gauleiters and party leaders, including Goebbels, to a special conference in Bamberg, in Streicher's Gau of Franconia, where he gave a two-hour speech repudiating Strasser's new political programme.[46] Hitler was opposed to the socialist leanings of the northern wing, stating it would mean "political bolshevization of Germany." Further, there would be "no princes, only Germans," and a legal system with no "Jewish system of exploitation ... for plundering of our people." The future would be secured by acquiring land, not through expropriation of the estates of the former nobility, but through colonising territories to the east.[45] Goebbels was horrified by Hitler's characterisation of socialism as "a Jewish creation" and his assertion that a Nazi government would not expropriate private property. He wrote in his diary: "I no longer fully believe in Hitler. That's the terrible thing: my inner support has been taken away."[47]

After reading Hitler's book Mein Kampf, Goebbels found himself agreeing with Hitler's assertion of a "Jewish doctrine of Marxism".[48] In February 1926, Goebbels gave a speech titled "Lenin or Hitler?" in which he asserted that communism or Marxism could not save the German people, but he believed it would cause a "socialist nationalist state" to arise in Russia.[49] In 1926, Goebbels published a pamphlet titled Nazi-Sozi which attempted to explain how National Socialism differed from Marxism.[50]

In hopes of winning over the opposition, Hitler arranged meetings in Munich with the three Greater Ruhr Gau leaders, including Goebbels.[51] Goebbels was impressed when Hitler sent his own car to meet them at the railway station. That evening, Hitler and Goebbels both gave speeches at a beer hall rally.[51] The following day, Hitler offered his hand in reconciliation to the three men, encouraging them to put their differences behind them.[52] Goebbels capitulated completely, offering Hitler his total loyalty. He wrote in his diary: "I love him ... He has thought through everything," "Such a sparkling mind can be my leader. I bow to the greater one, the political genius." He later wrote: "Adolf Hitler, I love you because you are both great and simple at the same time. What one calls a genius."[53] As a result of the Bamberg and Munich meetings, the National Socialist Working Association was disbanded.[54] Strasser's new draft of the party programme was discarded, the original National Socialist Program of 1920 was retained unchanged, and Hitler's position as party leader was greatly strengthened.[53]

Propagandist in Berlin[edit]

At Hitler's invitation, Goebbels spoke at party meetings in Munich and at the annual Party Congress, held in Weimar in 1926.[55] For the following year's event, Goebbels was involved in the planning for the first time. He and Hitler arranged for the rally to be filmed.[56] Receiving praise for doing well at these events led Goebbels to shape his political ideas to match Hitler's, and to admire and idolise him even more.[57]

Gauleiter[edit]

Goebbels was first offered the position of party Gauleiter for the Berlin section in August 1926. He travelled to Berlin in mid-September and by the middle of October accepted the position. Thus Hitler's plan to divide and dissolve the northwestern Gauleiters group that Goebbels had served in under Strasser was successful.[58] Hitler gave Goebbels great authority over the area, allowing him to determine the course for organisation and leadership for the Gau. Goebbels was given control over the local Sturmabteilung (SA) and Schutzstaffel (SS) and answered only to Hitler.[59] The party membership numbered about 1,000 when Goebbels arrived, and he reduced it to a core of 600 of the most active and promising members. To raise money, he instituted membership fees and began charging admission to party meetings.[60] Aware of the value of publicity (both positive and negative), he deliberately provoked beer-hall battles and street brawls, including violent attacks on the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).[61] Goebbels adapted recent developments in commercial advertising to the political sphere, including the use of catchy slogans and subliminal cues.[62] His new ideas for poster design included using large type, red ink, and cryptic headers that encouraged the reader to examine the fine print to determine the meaning.[63]

Goebbels speaks at a political rally (1932). This body position, with arms akimbo, was intended to show the speaker as being in a position of authority.[64]Goebbels giving a speech in Lustgarten, Berlin, August 1934. This hand gesture was used while delivering a warning or threat.[64]

Like Hitler, Goebbels practised his public speaking skills in front of a mirror. Meetings were preceded by ceremonial marches and singing, and the venues were decorated with party banners. His entrance (almost always late) was timed for maximum emotional impact. Goebbels usually meticulously planned his speeches ahead of time, using pre-planned and choreographed inflection and gestures, but he was also able to improvise and adapt his presentation to make a good connection with his audience.[65][64] He used loudspeakers, decorative flames, uniforms, and marches to attract attention to speeches.[66]

Goebbels' tactic of using provocation to bring attention to the Nazi Party, along with violence at the public party meetings and demonstrations, led the Berlin police to ban the Nazi Party from the city on 5 May 1927.[67][68] Violent incidents continued, including young Nazis randomly attacking Jews in the streets.[64] Goebbels was subjected to a public speaking ban until the end of October.[69] During this period, he founded the newspaper Der Angriff (The Attack) as a propaganda vehicle for the Berlin area, where few supported the party. It was a modern-style newspaper with an aggressive tone;[70] 126 libel suits were pending against Goebbels at one point.[66] To his disappointment, circulation was initially only 2,000. Material in the paper was highly anti-communist and antisemitic.[71] Among the paper's favourite targets was the Jewish Deputy Chief of the Berlin Police Bernhard Weiß. Goebbels gave him the derogatory nickname "Isidore" and subjected him to a relentless campaign of Jew-baiting in the hope of provoking a crackdown he could then exploit.[72] Goebbels continued to try to break into the literary world, with a revised version of his book Michael finally being published, and the unsuccessful production of two of his plays (Der Wanderer and Die Saat (The Seed)). The latter was his final attempt at playwriting.[73] During this period in Berlin he had relationships with many women, including his old flame Anka Stalherm, who was now married and had a small child. He was quick to fall in love, but easily tired of a relationship and moved on to someone new. He worried too about how a committed personal relationship might interfere with his career.[74]

1928 election[edit]

The ban on the Nazi Party was lifted before the Reichstag elections on 20 May 1928.[75] The Nazi Party lost nearly 100,000 voters and earned only 2.6 per cent of the vote nationwide. Results in Berlin were even worse, where they attained only 1.4 per cent of the vote.[76] Goebbels was one of the first 12 Nazi Party members to gain election to the Reichstag.[76] This gave him immunity from prosecution for a long list of outstanding charges, including a three-week jail sentence he received in April for insulting the deputy police chief Weiß.[77] The Reichstag changed the immunity regulations in February 1931, and Goebbels was forced to pay fines for libellous material he had placed in Der Angriff over the course of the previous year.[78] Goebbels continued to be elected to the Reichstag at every subsequent election during the Weimar and Nazi regimes.[79]

In his newspaper Berliner Arbeiterzeitung (Berlin Workers Newspaper), Gregor Strasser was highly critical of Goebbels' failure to attract the urban vote.[80] However, the party as a whole did much better in rural areas, attracting as much as 18 per cent of the vote in some regions.[76] This was partly because Hitler had publicly stated just prior to the election that Point 17 of the party programme, which mandated the expropriation of land without compensation, would apply only to Jewish speculators and not private landholders.[81] After the election, the party refocused their efforts to try to attract still more votes in the agricultural sector.[82] In May, shortly after the election, Hitler considered appointing Goebbels as party propaganda chief. But he hesitated, as he worried that the removal of Gregor Strasser from the post would lead to a split in the party. Goebbels considered himself well suited to the position, and began to formulate ideas about how propaganda could be used in schools and the media.[83]

Goebbels used the death of Horst Wessel (pictured) in 1930 as a propaganda tool[84] against "Communist subhumans".[85]

By 1930 Berlin was the party's second-strongest base of support after Munich.[66] That year the violence between the Nazis and communists led to local SA troop leader Horst Wessel being shot by two members of the KPD. He later died in hospital.[86] Exploiting Wessel's death, Goebbels turned him into a martyr for the Nazi movement. He officially declared Wessel's march Die Fahne hoch (Raise the flag), renamed as the Horst-Wessel-Lied, to be the Nazi Party anthem.[84]

Great Depression[

Josef Rudolf Mengele ([ˈjoːzɛf ˈmɛŋələ] ⓘ; 16 March 1911 – 7 February 1979) was a German Schutzstaffel (SS) officer and physician during World War II. Nicknamed the "Angel of Death" (German: Todesengel),[1] he performed deadly experiments on prisoners at the Auschwitz II (Birkenau) concentration camp, where he was a member of the team of doctors who selected victims to be murdered in the gas chambers,[a] and was one of the doctors who administered the gas.

Before the war, Mengele received doctorates in anthropology and medicine, and began a career as a researcher. He joined the Nazi Party in 1937 and the SS in 1938. He was assigned as a battalion medical officer at the start of World War II, then transferred to the Nazi concentration camps service in early 1943 and assigned to Auschwitz, where he saw the opportunity to conduct genetic research on human subjects. His experiments focused primarily on twins, with no regard for the health or safety of the victims.[3][4] With Red Army troops sweeping through German-occupied Poland, Mengele was transferred 280 kilometres (170 mi) from Auschwitz to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp on 17 January 1945, ten days before the arrival of the Soviet forces at Auschwitz.

After the war, Mengele fled to Argentina in July 1949, assisted by a network of former SS members. He initially lived in and around Buenos Aires, then fled to Paraguay in 1959 and Brazil in 1960, all while being sought by West Germany, Israel, and Nazi hunters such as Simon Wiesenthal, who wanted to bring him to trial. Mengele eluded capture in spite of extradition requests by the West German government and clandestine operations by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. He drowned in 1979 after suffering a stroke while swimming off the coast of Bertioga, and was buried under the false name of Wolfgang Gerhard.[2] His remains were disinterred and positively identified by forensic examination in 1985.

Early life[edit]

Mengele was born into a Catholic family[5] in Günzburg, Bavaria, on 16 March 1911, the eldest of three sons of Walburga (née Hupfauer) and Karl Mengele.[6] His two younger brothers were Karl Jr. and Alois. Their father was founder of the Karl Mengele & Sons company (later renamed as Mengele Agrartechnik [de]), which produced farming machinery.[7] Mengele was successful at school and developed an interest in music, art, and skiing.[8] He completed high school in April 1930 and went on to study philosophy in Munich,[9] where the headquarters of the Nazi Party were located.[10] He attended the University of Bonn, where he took his medical preliminary examination.[11] In 1931 he joined Der Stahlhelm, a paramilitary organization that was absorbed into the Nazi Sturmabteilung ('Storm Detachment'; SA) in 1934.[9][12] In 1935, Mengele earned a PhD in anthropology from the University of Munich.[9] In January 1937, he joined the Institute for Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene in Frankfurt, where he worked for Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, a German geneticist with a particular interest in researching twins.[9]

As Von Verschuer's assistant, Mengele focused on the genetic factors that result in a cleft lip and palate, or a cleft chin.[13] His thesis on the subject earned him a cum laude doctorate in medicine (MD) from the University of Frankfurt in 1938.[14] (Both of his degrees were revoked by the issuing universities in the 1960s.)[15] In a letter of recommendation, Von Verschuer praised Mengele's reliability and his ability to verbally present complex material in a clear manner.[16] The American author Robert Jay Lifton notes that Mengele's published works were in keeping with the scientific mainstream of the time, and would probably have been viewed as valid scientific efforts even outside Nazi Germany.[16]

On 28 July 1939, Mengele married Irene Schönbein, whom he had met while working as a medical resident in Leipzig.[17] Their only son, Rolf, was born in 1944.[18]

Military service[edit]

The ideology of Nazism brought together elements of antisemitism, racial hygiene, and eugenics, and combined them with pan-Germanism and territorial expansionism with the goal of obtaining more Lebensraum (living space) for the Germanic people.[19] Nazi Germany attempted to obtain this new territory by attacking Poland and the Soviet Union, intending to deport or murder the Jews and Slavs living there, who were considered by the Nazis to be inferior to the putative "Aryan master race".[20]

Mengele joined the Nazi Party in 1937 and the Schutzstaffel (SS; 'Protection Squadron') in 1938. He received basic training in 1938 with the Gebirgsjäger ('light infantry mountain troop') and was called up for service in the Wehrmacht (Nazi armed forces) in June 1940, some months after the outbreak of World War II. He soon volunteered for medical service in the Waffen-SS, the combat arm of the SS, where he served with the rank of SS-Untersturmführer ('second lieutenant') in a medical reserve battalion until November 1940. He was next assigned to the SS-Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt ('SS Race and Settlement Main Office') in Poznań, evaluating candidates for Germanization.[21][22]

In June 1941, Mengele was posted to Ukraine, where he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class. In January 1942, he joined the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking as a battalion medical officer. After rescuing two German soldiers from a burning tank, he was decorated with the Iron Cross 1st Class, the Wound Badge in Black, and the Medal for the Care of the German People. He was declared unfit for further active service in mid-1942, when he was seriously wounded in action near Rostov-on-Don. Following his recovery, he was transferred to the headquarters of the SS Race and Settlement Main Office in Berlin, at which point he resumed his association with Von Verschuer, who was now director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics. Mengele was promoted to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer ('captain') in April 1943.[23][24][25]

Auschwitz[edit]"Selection" of Hungarian Jews on the ramp at Birkenau, May/June 1944

In 1942, Auschwitz II (Birkenau), originally intended to house slave laborers, began to be used instead as a combined labour camp and extermination camp.[26][27] Prisoners were transported there by rail from all over Nazi-controlled Europe, arriving in daily convoys.[28] By July 1942, SS doctors were conducting "selections" where incoming Jews were segregated, and those considered able to work were admitted into the camp while those deemed unfit for labor were immediately murdered in the gas chambers.[29] Those selected to be murdered, about three-quarters of the total,[b] included almost all children, women with small children, pregnant women, all the elderly, and all of those who appeared (in a brief and superficial inspection by an SS doctor) to be not completely fit and healthy.[31][32]

In early 1943, Von Verschuer encouraged Mengele to apply for a transfer to the concentration camp service.[23][33] Mengele's application was accepted and he was posted to Auschwitz, where he was appointed by SS-Standortarzt Eduard Wirths, chief medical officer at Auschwitz, to the position of chief physician of the Zigeunerfamilienlager (Romani family camp) at Birkenau,[23][33] a subcamp located on the main Auschwitz complex. The SS doctors did not administer treatment to the Auschwitz inmates but supervised the activities of inmate doctors who had been forced to work in the camp medical service.[34] As part of his duties, Mengele made weekly visits to the hospital barracks and ordered any prisoners who had not recovered after two weeks in bed to be sent to the gas chambers.[35]

Mengele's work also involved carrying out selections, a task that he chose to perform even when he was not assigned to do so, in the hope of finding subjects for his experiments,[36] with a particular interest in locating sets of twins.[37] In contrast to most of the other SS doctors, who viewed selections as one of their most stressful and unpleasant duties, he undertook the task with a flamboyant air, often smiling or whistling.[38]

Ernst Rüdin (19 April 1874 – 22 October 1952)[1] was a Swiss-born German psychiatrist, geneticist, eugenicist and Nazi, rising to prominence under Emil Kraepelin and assuming the directorship at the German Institute for Psychiatric Research in Munich. While he has been credited as a pioneer of psychiatric inheritance studies, he also argued for, designed, justified and funded the mass sterilization and clinical killing of adults and children.  

Increasing influence[edit]

In 1917, a new German Institute for Psychiatric Research was established in Munich (known as the DFA in German; renamed the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry after World War II), designed and driven forward by Emil Kraepelin. The Institute incorporated a Department of Genealogical and Demographic Studies (known as the GDA in German) – the first in the world specialising in psychiatric genetics – and Rüdin was put in charge by overall director Kraepelin. In 1924, the Institute came under the umbrella of the prestigious Kaiser Wilhelm Society.

Rüdin returned to Switzerland in 1925, where he spent three years as full Professor of Psychology and director of the psychiatric clinic of the University of Basel.[13][2] He returned to the Institute in 1928, with an expanded departmental budget and new building at 2 Kraepelinstrasse, financed primarily by the American Rockefeller Foundation. The institute soon gained an international reputation as leading psychiatric research center, including in hereditary genetics. In 1931, a few years after Kraepelin's death, Rüdin took over the directorship of the entire Institute as well as remaining head of his department.[6][9][14][15]

Rüdin was among the first to write about the "dangers" of hereditary defectives and the supposed value of the Nordic race as "culture creators".[16] By 1920, his colleague Alfred Hoche published, with lawyer Karl Binding, the influential "Allowing the Destruction of Life Unworthy of Living".[17]

In 1930, Rüdin was a leading German representative at the First International Congress for Mental Hygiene, held in Washington, US, arguing for eugenics.[13] In 1932, he became President of the International Federation of Eugenics Organizations. He was in contact with Carlos Blacker of the British Eugenics Society, and sent him a copy of pre-Nazi voluntary sterilization laws enacted in Prussia; a precursor to the Nazi forced sterilization laws that Rüdin is said to have already prepared in his desk drawer.[18]

From 1935 to 1945, he was President of the Society of German Neurologists and Psychiatrists (GDNP), later renamed the German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Neurology (DGPPN).[19]

The American Rockefeller Foundation funded numerous international researchers to visit and work at Rüdin's psychiatric genetics department, even as late as 1939. These included Eliot Slater and Erik Stromgren, considered the founding fathers of psychiatric genetics in Britain and Scandinavia respectively, as well as Franz Josef Kallmann, who became a leading figure in twins research in the US after emigrating in 1936.[6] Kallmann had claimed in 1935 that 'minor anomalies' in otherwise unaffected relatives of schizophrenic people should be grounds for compulsory sterilization.

Rüdin's research was also supported with manpower and financing from the German National Socialists.

Ernst Rüdin - Wikipedia

Theories[edit]

In his book The Excellence of Our Race and the Protection of the Weak (1895), Ploetz coined the term "racial hygiene" (German: Rassenhygiene); he described a society in which eugenic ideas would be applied.[5] The publication endorsed a Social Darwinist interpretation of race and solidified genetic determinist ideas about the "evolutionary superiority of the German Volk".[2]: 28  It would examine the moral and intellectual capacity of citizens to decide on marriage and the permitted number of children. It might include a prohibition on reproduction by the "unfit". Disabled children would be euthanized at birth, and all young persons would undergo an examination at puberty to determine if they would be permitted to marry and have children.

Society would be regulated strictly to ensure equal opportunity, and those who failed would starve. Ploetz found the idea horrible and suggested a humane alternative of simply encouraging only "fit" people to reproduce, but he called that a weak proposal.[13]

Along with many other eugenicists in Europe and America, Ploetz believed in the superiority of the Nordic race. His writings were a major influence on Nazi ideology. His opinion of the Jewish question changed during the course of his life, but his view and the doctrine of the Nazi Party were in accord by the time it came to power in 1933.

In his early writings, Ploetz credited Jews as the highest cultural race after Europeans.[14] He identified no substantial difference in "racial character" between Aryans and Jews and argued that the mental abilities of Jews and their role in the development of human culture made them indispensable to the "process of racial mix", which would enhance humanity:

The high aptitude of the Jews and their outstanding role in the progress of mankind considering men like Jesus, Spinoza, Marx has to be kindly acknowledged without hesitation... All this Antisemitism is a flop which will vanish slowly in the light of scientific knowledge and a humane democracy".[15]

He revised that view. He stressed that the distinctiveness of Jews indicated that their mental characteristics would adversely affect Aryans by introducing individualism and lack of love for the military and the nation. Ploetz favoured the global dominance of the Aryan race.[16]

Karl Brandt, doctor to Hitler and Hans Lammers, the head of the Reich Chancellery, testified after the war that Hitler had told them as early as 1933—when the sterilisation law was passed—that he favoured the killing of the incurably ill but recognised that public opinion would not accept this.[33] In 1935, Hitler told the Leader of Reich Doctors, Gerhard Wagner, that the question could not be taken up in peacetime; "Such a problem could be more smoothly and easily carried out in war". He wrote that he intended to "radically solve" the problem of the mental asylums in such an event.[33] Aktion T4 began with a "trial" case in late 1938. Hitler instructed Brandt to evaluate a petition sent by two parents for the "mercy killing" of their son who was blind and had physical and developmental disabilities.[34][f] The child, born near Leipzig and eventually identified as Gerhard Kretschmar, was killed in July 1939.[36][37] Hitler instructed Brandt to proceed in the same manner in all similar cases.[38]

On 18 August 1939, three weeks after the killing of the boy, the Reich Committee for the Scientific Registering of Hereditary and Congenital Illnesses was established to register sick children or newborns identified as defective. The secret killing of infants began in 1939 and increased after the war started; by 1941, more than 5,000 children had been killed.[39][40] Hitler was in favour of killing those whom he judged to be lebensunwertes Leben ('Life unworthy of life'). A few months before the "euthanasia" decree, in a 1939 conference with Leonardo Conti, Reich Health Leader and State Secretary for Health in the Interior Ministry, and Hans Lammers, Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Hitler gave as examples the mentally ill who he said could only be "bedded on sawdust or sand" because they "perpetually dirtied themselves" and "put their own excrement into their mouths". This issue, according to the Nazi regime, assumed a new urgency in wartime.[41]

After the invasion of Poland, Hermann Pfannmüller (Head of the State Hospital near Munich) said

It is unbearable to me that the flower of our youth must lose their lives at the front, so that that feeble-minded and asocial element can have a secure existence in the asylum.Für_mich_ist_die_Vorstellung_untragbar,_dass_beste,_blühende_Jugend_an_der_Front_ihr_Leben_lassen_muss,_damit_verblichene_Asoziale_und_unverantwortliche_Antisoziale_ein_gesichertes_Dasein_haben.[[Category:Articles_containing_German-language_text]]"_48-0" class="" style="">[42]

Pfannmüller advocated killing by a gradual decrease of food, which he believed was more merciful than poison injections.[43][44]

Karl Brandt, Hitler's personal doctor and organiser of Aktion T4

The German eugenics movement had an extreme wing even before the Nazis came to power. As early as 1920, Alfred Hoche and Karl Binding advocated killing people whose lives were "unworthy of life" (lebensunwertes Leben). Darwinism was interpreted by them as justification of the demand for "beneficial" genes and eradication of the "harmful" ones. Robert Lifton wrote, "The argument went that the best young men died in war, causing a loss to the Volk of the best genes. The genes of those who did not fight (the worst genes) then proliferated freely, accelerating biological and cultural degeneration".[45] The advocacy of eugenics in Germany gained ground after 1930, when the Depression was used to excuse cuts in funding to state mental hospitals, creating squalor and overcrowding.[46]

Many German eugenicists were nationalists and antisemites, who embraced the Nazi regime with enthusiasm. Many were appointed to positions in the Health Ministry and German research institutes. Their ideas were gradually adopted by the majority of the German medical profession, from which Jewish and communist doctors were soon purged.[47] During the 1930s, the Nazi Party had carried out a campaign of propaganda in favour of euthanasia. The National Socialist Racial and Political Office (NSRPA) produced leaflets, posters and short films to be shown in cinemas, pointing out to Germans the cost of maintaining asylums for the incurably ill and insane. These films included The Inheritance (Das Erbe, 1935), The Victim of the Past (Opfer der Vergangenheit, 1937), which was given a major première in Berlin and was shown in all German cinemas, and I Accuse (Ich klage an, 1941) which was based on a novel by Hellmuth Unger, a consultant for "child euthanasia".[48]

During October 1941, Adolf Eichmann and Brack decided to begin using "gas vans" to murder Jews incapable of working, the first three of which were set up at Chełmno extermination camp.[22] Not only did the Einsatzgruppen mobile units assigned there kill Jews, but they also gassed Gypsies, people suffering from typhus, Soviet POWs, and the insane; all of whom were led into the vans, murdered, and then driven to nearby woods so their bodies could be placed in mass graves.[22] On 23 June 1942 Brack wrote the following letter to Himmler:

Dear Reichsführer, among tens of millions of Jews in Europe, there are, I figure, at least two to three millions of men and women who are fit enough to work. Considering the extraordinary difficulties the labour problem presents us with, I hold the view that those two to three millions should be specially selected and preserved. This can, however, only be done if at the same time they are rendered incapable to propagate.[23]

Brack only intended to spare these 2–3 million Jews capable of work provided they were accordingly sterilized.[24] Following these recommendations, Himmler ordered the procedure to be tested on prisoners in Auschwitz. Since Brack was transferred to an SS division, his deputy Blankenburg took over responsibility for the task and would "immediately take the necessary measures and get in touch with the chiefs of the main offices of the concentration camps".[25] When sterilization proved impracticable, this was rejected in favor of exterminating the Jews using poison gas, since the technical apparatus was already in place via T4 to kill unwanted "mentally ill" persons.[26] With the completion of the T4 euthanasia programme run by Brack, the Nazis dismantled the gas chambers previously used for that endeavor, shipped them east, and reinstalled them at Majdanek, Auschwitz, and Treblinka.[27] Brack subsequently took part in the administrative process of establishing extermination camps in occupied Poland.[28] It was personnel and equipment provided by Brack that were utilized to murder the Jews.

What Platinum Wolf?

Platinum Wolf exercise, hosted by Serbia, with members of the Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Azerbaijani, Macedonian and United States militaries participating in the exercise. The exercise focused on non-lethal system training and peacetime operations in order to foster greater interoperability with each other while promoting peace and prosperity in the Black Sea, Balkan and Caucasus regions of Eastern Europe.

Exercise Platinum Wolf involving NATO forces starts in Serbia - World - TASS