Question

Why was Mengele specifically looking for twins?

Answer 1

Mengele took his turn as the selector on the ramp, but unlike most of the other selectors, he arrived sober. With a small flick of his finger or riding crop, a person would either be sent to the left or to the right, to the gas chamber or to hard labor. Mengele would get very excited when he found twins. The other SS officers who helped unload the transports had been given special instructions to find twins, dwarfs, giants or anyone else with a unique hereditary trait like a club foot. After the twins had been taken from their parents, they were taken to the showers. Since they were "Mengele's children," they were treated differently than other prisoners. Though they suffered through medical experiments, the twins were often allowed to keep their hair and allowed to keep their own clothes.