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- THE WEEK, Page 36HEALTH & SCIENCEFarewell to the Angel Of Death
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- Nazi doctor Josef Mengele's remains are finally identified for
- sure
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- The coroners in Brazil who examined the exhumed body of a
- drowning victim in 1985 were almost certain that they were
- looking at Josef Mengele, the "Angel of Death" who is said to
- have whistled opera while selecting which Jews would perish in
- the gas chambers of Auschwitz_and who performed horrifying
- medical experiments on many of the concentration camp's inmates.
- But almost was not good enough for the Israeli government, or
- for survivors of the camps who were still haunted by the man who
- escaped Allied custody and fled to South America in 1949.
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- Though German authorities matched the remains to Mengele's
- medical and dental records in 1985, they were not 100% convinced
- until last week. British scientist Alec Jeffreys compared DNA
- from the exhumed bones with DNA from Mengele's living son Rolf
- Jenckel and pronounced them a match. The Israelis said they were
- satisfied. The genetic testing might have happened sooner, but
- Jenckel refused to cooperate until a German prosecutor
- threatened to dig up other deceased Mengeles for tissue samples.
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