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Twins Some survivors of Josef Mengele's twins experiments believe his results should be put to use. Pictured: Genetically identical twins photographed for a slide lecture edited by Dr. B. K. Schultz, director of the Department of Racial Education of the Nazi SS Race and Settlement Office, 1934.
What if you knew that many survivors of the medical experiments feel that the data should be used?

The first three opinions given below come from survivors of Dr. Josef Mengele's twins experiments at Auschwitz. Dr. Nancy L. Segal, a psychologist, quoted the survivors in her article "Twin Research at Auschwitz-Birkenau: Implications for the Use of Nazi Data Today." [52]
"If these experiments will be of any help to humanity, then I am in favor of them being used as needed."

"I think that the data collected in experiments conducted on us should by all means be used, since there were a variety of methods used, and I am certain that the data can be very beneficial to today's doctor."

"It appears that, at least in some cases, there was an attempt to induce illness by injecting bacteria and then an attempt to cure these illnesses, that is to say, we served as laboratory animals in the hands of the criminal, Mengele, and this type of research should of course be made available to the world."


"I wore a number in Dachau. I have two Belgian friends who went through the procedures of Dr. Rascher ... I see no reason why the results obtained should not be used for further research."
—Unnamed concentration-camp survivor [53]
Based on what you now know, do you think doctors and scientists should be able to use data from Nazi death-camp experiments?
Yes | No


References
52. Caplan, pp. 291-92.
53. Siegel, p. 1.


Photo: National Archives, courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives

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