Josef Mengele, the son of a farming machinery manufacturer, was born on March 16, 1911 in Gunzburg, Bavaria. He grew up as an ambitious student, receiving his doctorate in medicine in 1938 with a special interest in heredity deformities. Von Verschuer, the director of the Frankfurt university for Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene, took Mengele under his wing. Together, they pursued research in creating the perfect race through genetics under the Nazi Regime.

Above is a product of Mengele equipment, a still existing business.

His medical experiments stopped soon after with the start of World War II, enlisting in the Army Mountain Troops as a field surgeon; but becoming severely wounded in the battle of Donets river in Russia. He moved quickly up through the chain of command in the S.S., being decorated for Valor many times; he even reached the rank of Captain. He was declared unfit for field duty following his recovery and was reassigned to Auschwitz; where his race research carried on.