JOSEF MENGELE (1911 - ca. 1980) Nazi "doctor" who plied his trade at Auschwitz, he was the most brutal and detestable of all the camp doctors. It was Mengele's decision as to whether camp inmates would be used as forced labor or sent directly to the gas chambers, and he as well performed hideous experiments on inmates, especially twins. After the war, Mengele fled to Argentina where he avoided capture until his death. Rare and frightening war-date partly-printed D.S. "Mengele", 1p. 7" x 4 1/2", Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Berlin, Apr. 6, 1943, a form headed "Permission for the Acquisition of Poison". It reads, in part: "The (name, title) Medical Trainee Mr. Weber, Rudolf at (City, Place) Department for Race Hygiene wishes (amount) 1 Kl. - pack (Name of poison) LUMINAL (100 Amp.) to acquire. (Purpose for Use of Poison): - Sedation - . No reason has been found to decline this order. Berlin-Dahlem, the 6th of April 1943 Name of the Issuing Office: [Rubber stamp] Kaiser Wilhelm - Institute for Anthropology (Name/Signature) Mengele..." This document was signed while Mengele was working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, but just before his promotion to SS Captain and transfer to Auschwitz. He was employed under Dr. Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, to whom he would later send samples from his experiments on twins, etc. Von Verschuer was director of the KWI-A Division on Twin Research. In 1935 Verschuer continued to work at the KWI-A but shifted his primary attention to the Frankfurt Institute for Genetic Biology and Racial Hygiene, leading the sterilization effort in the city of Frankfurt. In 1942 he returned to head the KWI-A with Mengele as one of his chief assistants. LUMINAL was used by the Nazis to euthanize "defective" (i.e.: retarded or otherwise disabled) children - clearly that was the intended use for the large amount of poison requisitioned here.