Mengele; The Complete Story

xix, [1], 364 pages. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. DJ has minor wear and soiling. Based on exclusive and unrestricted access to more than 5,000 pages of personal writings and family photos, this definitive biography of German physician and SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer Josef Mengele (1911-1979) probes the personality and motivations of Auschwitz's "Angel of Death." From May 1943 through January 1945, Mengele selected who would be gassed immediately, who would be worked to death, and who would serve as involuntary guinea pigs for his spurious and ghastly human experiments (twins were Mengele's particular obsession). With authority and insight, Posner and Ware examine the entire life of the world's most infamous doctor. Derived from a Kirkus review: . Posner, a New York lawyer, who is recognized as a leading authority on Mengele, researched this book for five years. In researching it, he was ultimately provided more than 5,000 pages of letters, diaries, and other biographical writings of Mengele by Rolf, Mengele's son. This account, then, will take the title of "definitive". Among the revelations Posner offers is the incredible fact that for a brief time after the war, Mengele was actually incarcerated by American soldiers under his own name, but as a result of ignorance and the disorganization of the Americans, he managed to escape. In 1962, the Israeli Mossad came practically face-to-face with him, before being recalled to Israel because of government priorities. Posner also tells of a plot hatched by the Mengele family to fake Josef's death. Readers can be grateful that Posner does not overdo the grisly details of Mengele's experiments. What Posner does offer is a cloak-and-dagger account of the attempts to locate Mengele in Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil, and of Mengele's frantic attempts to stay one step ahead of his would-be captors. A sound, respectable work of research. First U.K. Edition, Presumed First Printing.…