User:Amaydarnell/sandbox

Mengele had a particular fascination with twins for multiple reasons. He was interested in the difference between identical and fraternal twins as well as how genetic diseases affected them and where they originated. The experiments also served to distinguish between genetic traits and those developed by the environment of the child. Mengele was known to pretend to be off duty while a train of new prisoners arrived, just so he could personally select any twins he saw. The concentration camps were the ideal environment for Mengele to perform his experiments to the extent he wished, since there were little to no regulations. This, combined with the fact that he was extremely anti-semitic allowed him to treat his victims as if they weren’t human. Twins were his preferred subjects for his experiments because he had a fascination with genetic conditions. This is why he also operated on children born with two different colored eyes, a condition known as heterochromia. His goal in his studies was partly to find genetic weaknesses in the makeup of Jewish or Roma people to back up the prejudices held by the Nazi party. Mengele hypothesized that his subjects were particularly vulnerable to certain diseases because of their race. In addition to that, he believed they had degenerative blood and tissue based on his samples.