Josef Mengele was born in Günzburg, Germany on March 16, 1911. He was the oldest son and people who knew him thought he seemed like a serious student with obvious intelligence and ambition. He studied philosophy in Munich.

1931, he joined Stahlhelm (Steel Helmet) which was a paramilitary organization that absorbed into the Nazi Sturmabteilung (Storm Detachment; SA) in 1934. 

Mengele focused on physical anthropology and genetics. He earned a PhD in anthropology from the University of Munich.

In January 1937, he joined the institute for Hereditary Biology and radical Hygiene in Frankfurt. He worked with Dr. Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, a German geneticists with a particular interest in researching twins. That same year he joined the Nazi Party and the SS.