Mengele

by Gerald Posner and John Ware

Book Overview

He was one of the most infamous Nazis of World War II yet was never caught and tried for his crimes against humanity. The most auhoritative account to date of the life of The Angel of Death Joseph Mengele, this biography includes revealing information from Mengele's private papers, letters and diaries. A book to make your blood boil. . . they have superlatively recorded the details of Mengele's fantastic career. . . a well-told tale.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440155797
• ISBN13: 9780440155799
• Release Date: May 1987
• Publisher: Dell Publishing Company
• Length: 393 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Absolutely wonderful for research

I have only read half of the first chapter so far, which acts as a reason for this review being so short compared to the others. However, despite the lack of reading done so far, this book has proved the to be one of the most useful in my current studies. I am currently researching Josef Mengele for an essay on genocide, and this book is wonderful for my studies. The accounts from Mengele himself have proved hugely useful so far, rather than only hearing every account from a second source. It lets you get right down into Mengele's mind, even if he does not give everything away. Despite the fact that, based on the other reviews, this book does not go very much into the detail of what he did in Auschwitz-Berkenau, this book is extremely useful, and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in seeing what can affect the future choices of someone who, according to the book "Children of the Flames" by Lucette Matalon Lagnado and Sheila Cohn Dekel, his family would say he was the most friendly and humane of his brothers, could be so influenced as to believe that some races are inferior and can be treated as guinea pigs. I would recommend this book to any library, public, private, or school, for it has helped my essay substantially so far just from half of the first chapter.

Mengele: A Study in Unapologetic and Pitiless Evil

I do not claim to be an expert in holocaust studies, but I suspect that the collaboration of Gerald Posner and John Ware on this work dealing with the diabolically evil Josef Mengele is among the very best analysis of the Nazi phenomenon ever put together. The fact that these two gentlemen were essentially outsiders who found themselves thrust into a world and a mind set alien to their everyday life may have provided them with the objectivity and clear thinking needed to truly pursue such an enigma as Mengele.William Shirer and other foreign journalists had to control an overwhelming urge to laugh at the Nazis while covering their meetings in the late 1920's and early 30's. Nobody took these comical losers seriously. The consensus was that the Adolph Hitler and his bizarre cronies would shortly disappear into political oblivion never to be heard from again. Josef Mengele was barely a teenager during this time and lived in a solidly upper middle class family that probably would have snubbed Hitler, the former WW1 corporal, if their paths had ever crossed. The young Mengele was raised a staunch Catholic, a religious belief system he would later reject for the secular absolutist faith of Nazism. Nonetheless, it is virtually certain that the pervasive anti-Semitism of German Catholicism was Mengele's first introduction to an intense hostility towards Jews he would forevermore embrace. Mengele, an unexceptional student, had a driving ambition to succeed and make a name for himself. It appears that Mengele was indifferent about politics when he opted to study "anthropology and human genetics, so I could study the whole range of medicine." This fateful educational choice, though, would allow Mengele to offer talents to the Nazis who were more than willing to reward the young medical student with the respect and position he so desperately desired. Mengele was a quintessential result of a politically correct educational system that prohibited the academic freedom and search for truth valued as a mandatory norm in viable democratic societies. Nazi dogmas pervaded every department of the universities during Mengele's critical intellectual formative years. Dissent was not tolerated. There simply was no such thing as a give and take exchange of ideas that would have revealed the Nazi views on race and ethnicity as ludicrous ramblings of immature and hateful minds. The new introduction by Michael Berenbaum failed miserably to even deal with the threat of political correctness to the educational and political institutions of modern day America. Does Berenbaum mistakenly perceive that Liberals may occasionally goof up, but the real enemy is always to the Right? Could this also explain the peculiar infatuation of many American Jews with Evita Peron? Posner and Ware aptly prove that Juan and Evita Peron provided shelter to fugitive Nazis and were never friendly towards Jews. Do Evita's soci

Insight into the dark side of genocide

Though genocide is something that continues to fill evening news and panel discussions on clashes and conflicts in countries that seem like an eternity away, this book explores the dark side to the Holocaust, darker than normal because, in this unbelievable biography, genocide and Nazi evil is given a human face in the form of the smiling and smartly-dressed SS doctor, Josef Mengele. Known greatly by survivors and Holocaust historians/scholars, there is little literature out there that paints a complete portrait of this man, from his spoon-fed existence in Bavaria to his existence and later death in several South American havens, which, by sheltering this infamous Nazi, unwittingly spat in the face of international justice and law. The full story of his escape and hiding from the international community is described. Everything one could ask for on Mengele is contained within the pages of this book, sometimes shocking, sometimes sinister, sometimes bewildering, and often very thrilling. Posner's book reads like a fast-paced thriller, in which the reader is transported back into time and placed before the spectacle of Mengele, the "Angel of Death." This is the first book by Posner read by the reviewer, and he admits that he was (and continues to be) very impressed. Meticulously researched and even given access to Mengele's unpublished and largely unused diaries and autobiography (still not released by the Mengele family), this biography stands out over all other 'attempts,' for they all fail miserably to even try to surpass or compete against Posner's masterpiece. He is to be commended on a fine job in painting a vivid portrait of Mengele. Hopefully, readers will begin to see the truth behind the many distortions surrounding the Holocaust and its perpetration - and that the perpetrators of this nightmarish bloodbath were human beings like everyone else, not a label of dissent that brings about a rift between Holocaust (or any other genocidal) perpetrators, and thus ensuring that genocide continues forever. Most certainly, Mengele's deeds were monstrous, but their monstrosity does not change the fact that he was still human, just like us. If we forget this fact, then genocidal forces existing within the souls of us all will continue forever.Find out all this for yourselves, fellow readers, and read this book.

Stunning, involving portrait of evil...

I read this book many years ago when it was first published, and it remains one of the most important books I have ever read in my life. It is a detailed look into the disturbing life of Josef Mengele, from Nazi Germany and his horrific experiments to his last days hiding out in South America. You will be left wondering how one person could be capable of such evil. A truly excellent book.

A dispicable Man's tale.

Posner delves deep into the life of one of the sickest, most disgusting human beings to ever walk the planet earth. The Angel of Death, as Mengele has been refered to was the chief "medical" officer at the Aushwitz death camp, during its hayday in the latter part of WWII. Posner examines his life from boyhood, through the end of his life, hiding in Peru. The chapters that involve Auswitz are the most horrific I have ever read. This book is an absolute must for anyone who is interested in the war or the Holocust. Mengele is arguably as sick as Adolf Hitler himself, and his life must be examined to ensure it never happens again. I am a huge fan of Posner. I believe this is his most important work.