Twin Research at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Abstract

Dr. Josef Mengele’s medical experimentation performed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland (1943–1945), on twins, dwarfs, and individuals with various genetic anomalies represents deplorable misuse of the twin design. Many innocent victims suffered needlessly at the hands of this cruel physician. His work and that of his collaborators has generated data regarded by medical experts as completely devoid of scientific validity. I have indicated elsewhere that on occasion, the misguided efforts of individual investigators may, unfortunately, cast shadows over the legitimate research activities of many) This theme has recently been echoed by William Seidelman (this vol) in his claim that, “It is through people like Raclin, Verschuer, and Mengele that psychiatry, genetics, and twin studies have become immutably linked to the Nazi period.”