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Estevan Torres
Mr. Neuberger
Eng. Comp. 101-137
11November 2011
Research Paper
Death to the LeIt, LiIe to the Right

In 1942, the extermination oI Jews began in horriIic Iashion. As thousands oI Jews
arrived in Auschwitz, they were unaware that a selection had even begun. Instead oI Iighting Ior
their lives they just stood in line and Iollowed orders Irom Nazi soldiers as their Iamily members
and Iriends were savagely beaten and separated into two
lines, one that led to the leIt and one that led to the right.
The man responsible Ior this selection process was JoseI
Mengele, also known to many as the Angel oI Death.
During the process oI selection, Mengele had many
methods to determine who would live and who would
die, and no matter how heinous and unjust his guidelines were, thousands oI Jews were sent to
their untimely and tragic deaths via Mengele`s hand. Sadly these crimes would continue on a
daily basis Ior the next couple oI years and as shocking as it may seem, these horriIic crimes may
be unIamiliar to some. However, unIortunately these events are all too real and will Iorever be a
part oI the world`s history; thereIore the darkness oI that time must come to the light.
Selection oI Jews at Auschwitz killing center
Source: http://bit.ly/tNhHkC
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Auschwitz-Birkenau Entrance
Source: http://bit.ly/KsclV
Holocaust survivor Jacki Handali`s testimony via YouTube video, provided by Yad
Vashem begins 'The doors open, it was aIter midnight, I don`t know, I didn`t have a watch. And
shouting, the Iirst shock you experience is that yelling in German. Terrible cries: Raus, schnell!
('Out, quickly!) The dogs bark, and the Germans with the butts oI their riIles keep pushing and
hitting the people getting oII the train. (Yad Vashem) For many Jews this was the very Iirst
memory upon entering the Auschwitz- Birkenau killing
center. Immediately aIter the doors opened on the wagon
a selection was already underway according to Holocaust
survivor Rita Weiss` testimony. In the Iollowing quote,
provided by Yad Vashem via YouTube video, she recalls
the event, 'Those who couldn`t walk, old, sick, tired,
weak people were thrown oII the wagon; they came up
and threw them oII the train. And cries: 'Don`t take any luggage! Leave your luggage in the
wagon, you`ll get it later. and: 'Line up! a line oI thousands oI people. We stand there; we
don`t know what`s going on. My sister says to me: 'I see that at the head oI the line they`re
separating people, Iirst the men Irom the women, and then there is another division.(Yad
Vashem) The selection process in Auschwitz was cruel and swiIt. It was a pretty simple process,
though it may seem more intricate Irom the outside looking in. Simply put, Iamilies were
Iorcibly led out oI the cattle cars and separated immediately into two lines. One line was Iilled
with grown men accompanied by young male adults. The other line was occupied by women
including children whom were both male and Iemale. AIter they were divided like cattle they
were sent oII to be examined, and during this examination it was determined iI they were useIul
enough Ior work, or useless enough to die. Sadly most oI the children under the age oI sixteen
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were sent to the crematoriums right away, and the same Iate came Ior most oI the elderly Jews in
Auschwitz too, as they were deemed unIit Ior work during the Iirst selection process. Dr.
Franciszek Piper, whose work mostly revolves around the Holocaust and the history oI
concentration camps at Auschwitz reveals, "Age was one oI the principal criteria Ior selection.
As a rule, all children below 16 years oI age and the elderly were sent to die." (Memorial and
Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau) During their horriIic welcoming to Auschwitz, the Jews would
get their Iirst look at the man responsible Ior the selection process
and its Iinal decisions, JoseI Mengele, the Angel oI Death himselI.
At the time oI the selection the Jews had no idea which line was
meant Ior liIe and which line was meant Ior death. They didn't even
know why they were separated Irom their Iamilies and loved ones in
the Iirst place; aIter all they were humans not animals. UnIortunately
Ior the Jews that was exactly what Mengele saw them as, and
Ior the Iirst time ever the Jewish people would look straight
into the eyes oI pure evil as Mengele smiled at them, showing oII the small gap between his two
Iront teeth as he sent them to die.
JoseI Mengele had the appearance oI a movie star, with his boyish good looks; he was
well groomed and well dressed, with every Nazi uniIorm Iorm Iitting his body perIectly. First
impressions oI Mengele Irom arriving Jews, was that he was almost angelic, standing out Irom
the crowd in his white lab coat. Shockingly, no one was aware oI the monster watching over
them, nonchalantly sending one Jew aIter another to the leIt or the right. Acknowledging the
statements made earlier, in his article on Mass & Spree Murders, Trutv.com writer Douglas B.
Lynott explains Mengele`s presence among the Jews,#They were led beIore an SS oIIicer who,
JoseI Mengele`s sinister smile
http://bit.ly/swxIP5

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in the midst oI all the madness, agony and death, seemed very out oI place. His handsome Iace
was set with a kind smile, his uniIorm impeccably tailored, cleaned and pressed. He was
cheerIully whistling an opera tune, one oI his Iavorites by Wagner.(Trutv.com) Continuing on
Lynott also points out the monster inside oI Mengele conducting his Iavorite past time at
Auschwitz, 'Unbeknownst to the prisoners, this charming and handsome oIIicer with the
innocuous demeanor was engaging in his Iavorite activity at Auschwitz,selecting which new
arrivals were Iit to work and which ones should be sent immediately to the gas chambers and
crematorium (Trutv.com) Mengele had Iooled many Jews with
his outward appearance, sending many oI them to their death
without a care in the world. Many Jews Ielt as iI they could trust
Mengele by the way that he interacted with them, but they soon
realized he was exactly like the other Nazi`s, coming second to
only Hitler himselI.
Mengele`s reign oI terror didn`t stop there in Auschwitz.
The Angel oI Death would continue on conducting selections
inside the concentration camps Ior the next Iew years. According to an article titled, Auschwitz
II- Birkenau: History oI a Man-made Hell, there was a Typhus outbreak in one oI the camps, and
Mengele`s drastic and over the top decision was to send six-hundred Jewish women to the gas
chamber to die. He sent one entire Jewish block oI 600 women to the gas chamber and cleared
the block. He then had it disinIected Irom top to bottom. Then he put bath tubs between this
block and the next, and the women Irom the next block came out to be disinIected and then
transIerred to the clean block. Here they were given a clean new nightshirt. The next block was
cleaned in this way and so on until all the blocks were disinIected. End oI typhus! The awIul
The Angel oI Death, JoseI Mengele
http://bit.ly/rsLlrI
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thing was that he could not put those Iirst 600 somewhere. (Scrapbookpages.com) Mengele did
not only decide the Iate oI the masses but he had a particular run in with one Jew by the name oI
Ibi on multiple occasions. Apparently Ibi had been sent to the gas chamber on six diIIerent
occasions but somehow escaped death each time, only to return to camp and re-insert herselI into
the selection line. Mengele was so inIuriated by Ibi`s deIiance he brutally beat her while calling
her unspeakable names. Scrapbookpages.com includes an excerpt Irom a book by Gisella Perl in
which the incident is documented. "You are still here?"
Dr. Mengele leIt the head oI the column, and with a Iew
easy strides caught up with her. He grabbed her by the
neck and proceeded to beat her head to a bloody pulp.
He hit her, slapped her, boxed her, always her head--
screaming at her at the top oI his voice, "You want to
escape, don't you. You can't escape now. This is not a truck, you can't jump. You are going to
burn like the others, you are going to croak, you dirty Jew," and he went on hitting her poor
unprotected head. (Auschwitz II- Birkenau: History oI a Man-made Hell). Mengele`s selection
processed was Ilawed, based on greed and motive. In the paper 'The First Encounter: Survivors
and Americans in the Late 1940s written by Arthur Hertzburg, provided by the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum, he recalls this event, 'One day there was a "selection" and a
Iather and son were in line. The Iather was "selected" to be marched to the crematoria because he
was no longer capable oI working, but the son was leIt alive. (United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum) In Mengele`s selection process he kept the ones that could work, only so
they could keep up the maintenance in the camps, and when they were no longer able to help,
Concentration Camp Roll Call/ Selection
http://bit.ly/u0e5Pk
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they too were sent to the gas chambers like the rest oI their Iellow Jews, and Mengele never
showed any remorse.
A look into Mengele`s soul shows a man Iilled with hate in his heart and that is why he
played such a huge role in the selection process. He hated
the Jewish people so much that he would send them, by
the thousands to their inhumane deaths. The selection
process was lead by a tyrant, a man who had many Iooled
at Iirst glance. His horriIic crimes, though not solely his
own, contributed to the death oI millions oI Jews. A
simple hand gesture, to the leIt, or to the right, that was
it. Unbelievable in its simplicity, unmistakable is the result. A race destroyed and Iorever scarred
and disgraced because oI hate. Humans sent to the slaughter Ior no apparent reason, other than
the ones that Nazi`s create. Too young or too old, too slow or too skinny, too weak or too sick,
either way the result will always be the same, the past can never be erased, it will Iorever live on
inside the ones that were leIt with the right to live.








Concentration Camp Survivors
http://bit.ly/uI5LPv
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Works Cited
"Auschwitz II- Birkenau: History oI a Man-made Hell." Scrapbookpages.com - a
Web Site Ior Tourists and Armchair Travelers. Web. 13 Nov. 2011.

Handali, Jacki. "Holocaust Survivor Testimonies: Selection in Auschwitz."
YouTube - Broadcast YourselI. Yad Vashem. Web. 17 Nov. 2011.

Hertzberg, Arthur. "The First Encounter Survivors and Americans in the Late
1940s." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 17 Nov. 2011.

Lynott, Douglas B. "Mass & Spree Murders." Trutv.com. TruTV. Web. 15 Nov.
2011.

Piper, Franciszek. "Auschwitz and Shoah." Auschwitz-Birkenau - Home Page -
Museum. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.

Weiss, Rita. "Holocaust Survivor Testimonies: Selection in Auschwitz." YouTube
- Broadcast YourselI. Yad Vashem. Web. 17 Nov. 2011.