Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz

All those who read about the Shoah are familiar with the name of Mengele, yet finding this book was something of a shock. All I originally knew was that Mengele was evil, "selected" thousands of people for death by gassing, and performed experiments on twins. It seems that, until the 1970s when the few surviving twins found each other, this was what most people knew."Children of the flames" is based on some fine research and is well sourced and annotated. It tells the reader of Mengele's childhood, and in parallel relates briefly the early years of each surviving twin. This is the pattern of the book. The authors noted that although the twins were ultimately "liberated" (there were, over the years, about 3000, of whom only about 100 are known to have survived), Mengele remained in their minds every day and every night all the way into adulthood. And so, because Dr Josef Mengele was a constant companion to the twins, the authors decided to write a book paralleling all their lives from childhood to old age.We learn about Mengele's school years, his poor grades, and how he managed to get into university in spite of them. We read too of the children's education until they were scooped up by the Nazis. Mengele became very interested in the science of genetics, procuring a mentor named Dr Otmar von Verschuer who was a fervent Roman Catholic and an equally fervent Nazi (while the Nazis were in power). Verschuer mentored him in the arts (it was hardly a science, although he called it that) of racial science and taught him that it was not immoral to perform experiments on living people, particularly if they were Jewish.Mengele somehow acquired a Doctorate, joined the war effort, was slightly injured and eventually volunteered himself as an SS officer at Auschwitz where he became the chief physician. We read about what he did there, and how he behaved under every conceivable circumstance, and we learn about each twin and what he or she was subjected to. The reader is not spared. Every detail that could be gathered has been collected and researched and written about. It is, plainly, astounding and sickening. But it is so appalling that one simply has to continue reading.Eventually, as most people know, Mengele escaped and went to ground in South America, travelling between three South American countries with perfect freedom although the governments of these countries knew he was a man wanted for war crimes. There was no shortage of Nazis in Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil after the Second World War.The feeble attempts of the Allies to find Mengele are well documented, as are the similarly feeble attempts of Germany. It is very evident that after the Nuremberg trials (which showed well how "appalled" the Allies were), almost everyone lost the little interest there had been in tracking down those who had been responsible for the destruction of Europe's Jews and Gypsies. A few Nazi hunters did persist, but apparently none of them thought to contact his family in Germany who knew pretty well everything about his whereabouts. All very odd. Meantime, erstwhile top Nazis were finding places in the higher echelons of the "new" Germany, and the USA was doing an excellent job of recruiting Nazis into prestigious positions. Mengele's Nazi mentor, Verschuer, eventually became an honoured faculty member within a German university. The world went on... And the twins suffered physical ill health from Mengele's experiments; their mental health was precarious; their nightmares and night terrors did not stop.Mengele's life in South America, while luxurious and easy at first, became increasingly lonely. He still managed to exert some of his old charm in public; in private he remained a vicious, domineering, moody, unpredictable bully. He is said to have drowned in the ocean in 1979 after suffering a stroke while swimming. Acquaintances swore that the body they buried was that of Josef Mengele. Even today, nobody is quite sure. Studies of the bones at no stage revealed that they were Mengele's.I found this book very informative, well worth reading, and infinitely sad for many reasons.

Book is amazing ! The product itself had blue gunk on it almost like melted men's deodorant . Wasn't a fan

The book is extraordinary and very well written. I highly recommend that others purchase this book if you are interested in true stories of Holocaust survivors, especially the twins who were used for medical experiments. It is heartbreaking as well as heartwarming to see how they managed to survive and some to even thrive in their adult life.

The book is extraordinary and very well written. I highly recommend that others purchase this book if you are interested in true stories of Holocaust survivors, especially the twins who were used for medical experiments. It is heartbreaking as well as heartwarming to see how they managed to survive and some to even thrive in their adult life.

wow!! this book has a pg rating of when it comes to retelling the Holocaust, even though it's told in great detail. It was refreshing to hear the story from the survivors point of view (childs) and from the narrarator the historical facts. the book tells the whole story building up to and the time spent with Dr. Mengele and afterwards, reuniting with society. book in excellant condition. price excellant. book shipped in a timely manner. mailing packaging excellant. book wasn't damaged during shipment. i really appreciate this. i would definately recomment this seller to family and friends. thank you

I read this book. I loved it from a historical perspective and I hated it from the human perspective. I felt so bad for those children and babies, I felt bad for the moms and dads, I felt bad that entire generations were wiped out and it made me wonder about what makes some people so evil and inhumane. It was somewhat unnerving in view of todays political climate.I feel it tells a story that needs to be told. People can choose to believe it or not. I believe it. My uncles were in World War 2. The uncles who came home brought their own stories.

I bought this book expecting it to have testimonal points from the twins. However most of it if not 90% of the book is about Dr.Mengele's life. I was looking forward on getting direct insight on the twins and the experiments they endured but it was hardley talked about at all. Their input is mostly about life after Auschwitz. The way the book is written is odd as well. It will jump from a quote from one twin back to a narrative form of Mengele's life back to a different twin, and yet another twin. Twins testimoney is not even one full page anywhere in the book, there at most one paragraph to a few.However if you are more interested on reading about Mengele's life than this book is appropriate for you.

I'm looking forward to reading it!!

Harrowing upsetting and readable. The context is powerful and disturbing (of course) yet in order to understand and gain insightful knowledge this book helped me to do that. The profound stories share experiences with the reader that will shock and give insight into Dr Mengele - Angel Of Death at Auschwitz. His genetic experiments particularly on twins but on all children who were very young and very fearful (so afraid) is harrowing. Thank you for this book and the learning I gained from it. From that perspective I do recommend it.

I bought this book expecting it to be more about the atrocities in camp than about Josef Mengele's life before and after. I found it hard going in some places but fascinating in others. I'm glad I read it.

This was a good read although it didn't go into too much details of exactly what experiments were done on them. It was an interesting twist comparing Joseph Mengeles life with their lives before and after the war.

Good book

An ok read. Quite sad but also a bit repetative in parts.