How does it feel to live as a relative of the most hated person in the world? The answer to this question could be Rolf Mengele, the son of the most cruel sadist in the history of World War II, a man nicknamed “Doctor Death” by Josef Mengele.
Parents do not choose. A lot of works have been written about the atrocities of Joseph Mengele. This is a German doctor who worked at Auschwitz. His name has long been a household name for sadists and monsters. From listing his atrocities, the hair stands on end.
He dissected living babies, stitched twins, sterilized with huge doses of radiation from Jews and gypsies, tried to change the color of his eyes, dripping acidic drugs on the pupil of experimental people.
And this is only a small part of the atrocities of this sadist. It seems that everything human is alien to him. But at the same time, in addition to the role of sadist and fanatic, he also had the role of husband and father. And although it is difficult to imagine it as such, the fact remains.
Joseph Mengele was famous for his sweet smile and courteous manners. Not knowing what this man was doing, one could even find him charming. The prisoners, however, recalled his cold, expressionless eyes.
But hardly the young Fraulein was so observant. In 1939, he married Irene Schönbein. Five years later, their son Rolf was born - a boy in whose education Mengele did not take part. This marriage was the first, but not the only one for Joseph. In 1958, already in Brazil, he divorced Irena and married again the widow of his brother.
Rolf was born on March 16, 1944, on the same day as his savage father. Mother, Irena Schönbein, told her son that his dad had died in Russia. Little Rolf was surrounded by many peers whose many relatives died during World War II, so there was nothing surprising for the boy
Mysterious Uncle Fritz: first meeting with his father
When the child was 12 years old, relatives brought him to the Swiss Alps and there he was introduced to an outwardly unremarkable man of medium height, with a cleft between his teeth. Rolf was told that this is Uncle Fritz. The boy did not attach much importance to this acquaintance.
When Rolf Mengele celebrated his sixteenth birthday, relatives decided - the guy is already an adult, ready for the truth. It was then that he learned the terrible secret of his family. The mysterious uncle Fritz turned out to be his dad. And not just, but by the very “angel of death" that all Israeli intelligence hunts for. Rolf later recalled that the news that his father was the same doctor from Auschwitz hit him hard. The teenager felt disgusted. He said to his mother then: “I would like another father.”
Unrepentant Nazi: Second Encounter
Joseph Mengele and Rolf met again in their lives. The second time the initiator of the meeting was a son. His mother died, but the soul demanded answers to questions. And he decided to personally ask their father.
It should be noted that, according to Rolf himself, both he and his family maintained relations with this fugitive Nazi criminal. He was given all possible help if he needed to hide from the Israeli or German intelligence services.
“He was my father and a member of our family, ” explains Rolf, “I could not convey to him. I did not even consider such an opportunity. It would be a betrayal of our family.”
Rolf decided to see his father, who at that time was already 65 years old. What did he expect from this meeting? Alas, he himself could not answer this question. For conversation, the son of Joseph Mengele flew over the ocean, overcame hundreds of thousands of kilometers - from Germany to Brazil.
What questions did he want to ask his father? What for? Why? Does he repent? What prompted him to do all this? Do not he dream of those whom he cruelly murdered?
Rolf Mengele did not receive answers to his questions. On the ocean, he saw a completely unrepentant Nazi, quite content with life. “Personally, I did no harm to anyone” - my father did not joke, he really thought so. Until the end of his days, Joseph was devoted to Nazi ideology. Jews were not for him people in the full sense of the word. It was this inhuman, savage morality that he tried to convey to his son. According to him, the Jews are not like the rest of humanity, they have something abnormal, dangerous, they needed to be destroyed. But everything was in vain. The son could not share the views of his fascist father, his worldview was terrifying. Whatever Rolf Mengele hoped for while flying to this meeting, he did not see remorse in his father's eyes.
This was their last conversation. Two years later, Josef Mengele died his own death, never answering human court for his crimes. He had a stroke while swimming in the ocean. Was it worth Rolf to give out, even so terrible, but his father's blood relatives to the authorities, or are the blood bonds sacred? A question that he himself would hardly answer.
last try
In 1983, Israeli intelligence made another global attempt to catch the "doctor's death." They decide to go out through Rolf. The communications department begins to listen to his phone, mail is scanned and photographed. For this, a special agent was even introduced, a woman codenamed “Fairy”.
The special services thought out everything to the smallest detail. A woman secretary was assigned to Rolf, who was actually a first-class agent; his house was searched several times, and any hints of contact with his father were intercepted.
Alas, it was done too late. Joseph Mengele was already dead for four years.
Son for father
One of the largest interviews given by Josef Mengele's son was dedicated to Holocaust Remembrance Day. In 2008, after twenty years of silence, the 64-year-old Rolf made a public statement.
It was then that he said that the Mengele family maintained contact with the fugitive Nazi, that he could not give out his father. He told me how relieved he was when he heard about the death of the latter. And most importantly - instead of his father, the son apologized to all the Jewish people.
