Of the hundreds of testimonies he heard from survivors of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, retired German prosecutor Gerhard Wiese says the one that touched him most was of a Jewish father who had tried but failed to save his twins from the gas chamber. The father had offered his children to Josef Mengele, the Nazi officer known as the Angel of Death for his inhumane genetic experiments focused on twins, hoping they stood a better chance of survival. “After this witness statement there was absolute silence in the room,” said 91-year-old Wiese, as Germany and the world mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
