Editing Josef Mengele (section)

=== Eye studies ===
Mengele carried out eye research and experiments at Auschwitz. Prisoners and inmate physicians testified that Mengele ordered inmate physicians to drop chemicals in the eyes of subjects. Although there has been speculation that Mengele was attempting to "Aryanize" prisoner eyes by making them blue with dyes or other chemicals, this idea has been rejected by historian [[David G. Marwell]]. He argues that this is not supported by evidence, and that Mengele would not be interested in a "cosmetic change" with "no genetic meaning".{{Sfn|Marwell|2020|p=100}} According to Marwell, Mengele was most likely administering [[adrenaline]] drops into the eyes of subjects while researching the condition [[Heterochromia iridum|heterochromia]] (color differences of the [[Iris (anatomy)|iris]]) as part of his collaboration with biologist and eugenicist [[Karin Magnussen]], who carried out Reich-funded research on eye color at the [[Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology]] in Berlin. Magnussen was testing whether "pharmacologically effective substances" or hormones such as adrenaline could alter pigmentation of the eyes of rabbits, as well as studying the anatomy of the eye and the genetics underlying heterochromia.{{Sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=101–102}}

Mengele's collaboration with Magnussen also included compiling genealogical records and documenting eye characteristics of prisoners.{{Sfn|Marwell|2020|p=103}} He sent eyes removed from Auschwitz prisoners to her lab in Berlin for histological study. After the war, Magnussen stated she believed that the specimens were from prisoners who had died of natural causes.{{Sfn|Marwell|2020|pp=103–104}} The inmate pathologist Nyiszli said that some of the samples were from the bodies of people who had been killed by lethal injection.{{Sfn|Marwell|2020|p=104}}

Marwell suggests that the side effects associated with adrenaline administration may have contributed to widespread confusion about these experiments:
{{Quote|text=If adrenaline was, in fact, the substance that Mengele introduced into children’s eyes, it is instructive to understand its side effects: rise in blood pressure, disturbance in heart rhythm, feeling of weakness, faintness, perspiration, shaking, and pallor. These symptoms would have been frightening, and not only for a small child, and it is understandable why twin survivors recall these experiments with such horror and dread. And it is also understandable why the motivation behind them has been so misunderstood.{{Sfn|Marwell|2020|p=107}} }}