Josef Mengele, born on March 16, 1911 in a small town in Germany called Gunzburg. His parents were Karl and Walburga. Mengele was the second son of a well to do Bavarian industrialist whose family still runs an implement factory in Germany. Shortly after Josef’s birth, his family became wealthy because his father became sole owner of a factory that made farm equipment. The business prospered and his family became the most powerful family in town.
While Mengele was growing up, his parents were frequently absent. They were always tending to the family business . As a child, he expressed his desire to stand out from other members of his quarrelsome family and become successful on his own; And away from the family.
As a teenager in 1930 , Mengele completed high school and left to study medicine at Munich University in Germany. Mengele was an excellent student, his favorite subject was anthropology, the study of the origin development and behavior of humankind. In his teens, he became a member of a patriotic young peoples group, and abandoned the Catholic church.
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At that time, Adolf Hitler was stirring up the Bavarian people with his highly patriotic, anti Jewish ideas. He attracted large crowds with his enthusiasm to his hate filled speeches. Hitler would shout accusations against the Jews, blaming them for Germany’s humiliating loss of World War I And charging them with holding Germany back from becoming a world power. As a result, Hitler’s followers sometimes attacked and humiliated innocent Jews in the street. However Mengele did not join Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers Party, but instead he became a member of a youth group that marched in military style uniforms at public events. By 1938, Mengele received his medical degree and became friends with people high in the Nazi Party. Mengele, married Irene and five weeks later World War II (1939-1945) began