
Josef Mengele, “The Angel of Death.” This book describes him as one of the most sadistic and evil men to ever walk to earth and I wouldn’t disagree. The infamous Nazi Doctor carried out some of the most torturous medical experiments on living humans and escaped. He was never caught and never faced justice. His story is hard to believe.
To me, his story is fascinating because he came from an affluent family who owned a successful farm equipment company. There was no indication in his upbringing that he would become who he was later. He was a PhD educated man who spoke Latin and Greek, he enjoyed philosophy and classical music. After escaping Auschwitz he never murdered another human being. I found that fact sobering. He didn’t need to kill anyone. It wasn’t an urge he couldn’t resist. Death was what happened after he was done with you. He completed whatever he wanted to research and off you went.
He died lonely, paranoid, and absolutely guilt-free. The years of hiding and isolation had taken its toll. He had a lot of people protecting him, but what he wanted most was a relationship with his son.
This book does a great job of introducing you to an unrepentant Nazi who believed in everything National Socialism had to offer and slowly leaving you with a broken man the world had passed by. He had a stroke while swimming on a beach in Brazil and died. The world continued to believe that he was alive and hiding for another 6 years.
This is the first of several books about prominent Nazis that I’m going to read this year. I’m planning to read a book about Reinhard Heydrich some time later.











