Editing Josef Mengele (section)

==Early life==
Mengele was born into a Catholic family{{sfn|Gopnik|2020}} in [[Günzburg]], [[Bavaria]] on 16 March 1911, the eldest of three sons of Walburga ({{née}} Hupfauer) and Karl Mengele.{{sfn|Astor|1985|p=12}} His two younger brothers were Karl&nbsp;Jr. and Alois. Their father was the founder of the Karl Mengele & Sons company (later renamed {{ill|Mengele Agrartechnik|de}}), which produced farming machinery.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=4–5}} Mengele was successful at school and developed an interest in music, art, and skiing.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=6–7}} He completed high school in April 1930 and went on to study philosophy in [[Munich]],{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=318}} where the headquarters of the [[Nazi Party]] were located.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=81}} He attended the [[University of Bonn]], where he took his medical preliminary examination.{{sfn|US Justice Department|1992}} In 1931, he joined {{lang|de|[[Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten|Der Stahlhelm]]}}, a [[paramilitary]] organization that was absorbed into the Nazi {{lang|de|[[Sturmabteilung]]}} ('Storm Detachment'; SA) in 1934.{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=318}}{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|pp=8, 10}} In 1935, Mengele earned a [[PhD]] in anthropology from the [[University of Munich]].{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=318}} In January 1937, he joined the Institute for Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene in [[Frankfurt]], where he worked for [[Otmar Freiherr von&nbsp;Verschuer]], a German [[geneticist]] with a particular interest in researching twins.{{sfn|Kubica|1998|p=318}}

As Von Verschuer's assistant, Mengele focused on the genetic factors that result in a [[cleft lip and palate]], or a [[cleft chin]].{{sfn|Weindling|2002|p=53}} His [[thesis]] on the subject earned him a {{lang|la|[[Latin honors|cum laude]]}} doctorate in medicine ([[Doctor of Medicine|MD]]) from the [[Goethe University Frankfurt|University of Frankfurt]] in 1938.{{sfn|Allison|2011|p=52}} (Both of his degrees were revoked by the issuing universities in the 1960s.{{sfn|Levy|2006|p=234 (footnote)}}) In a letter of recommendation, Von&nbsp;Verschuer praised Mengele's reliability and his ability to verbally present complex material in a clear manner.{{sfn|Lifton|1986|p=340}} The American author [[Robert Jay Lifton]] notes that Mengele's published works were in keeping with the scientific mainstream of the time, and would probably have been viewed as valid scientific efforts even outside [[Nazi Germany]].{{sfn|Lifton|1986|p=340}} On 28 July 1939, Mengele married Irene Schönbein, whom he had met while working as a medical resident in [[Leipzig]].{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=11}} Their only son, Rolf, was born in 1944.{{sfn|Posner|Ware|1986|p=54}}