Nazi angel of death Josef Mengele

Nazi angel of death Josef Mengele ‘created twin town in Brazil’ The Nazi doctor Josef Mengele is responsible for the astonishing number of twins in a small Brazilian town, an Argentine historian has claimed. Candido Godoi twins – Nazi angel of death Josef Mengele ‘created twin town in Brazil’

 One in five pregnancies in the small Brazilian town have resulted in twins – most of them blond haired and blue eyed Auschwitz – Nazi angel of death Josef Mengele ‘created twin town in Brazil’ Mengele was the resident medic at Auschwitz from May 1943 Photo: AP Josef Mengele – Nazi angel of death Josef Mengele ‘created twin town in Brazil’ Mengele fled Europe for South America in the face of the Red Army advance in January 1945  

The steely hearted “Angel of Death”, whose mission was to create a master race fit for the Third Reich, was the resident medic at Auschwitz from May 1943 until his flight in the face of the Red Army advance in January 1945. His task was to carry out experiments to discover by what method of genetic quirk twins were produced – and then to artificially increase the Aryan birthrate for his master, Adolf Hitler. Now, a historian claims, Mengele’s notorious experiments may have borne fruit. For years scientists have failed to discover why as many as one in five pregnancies in a small Brazilian town have resulted in twins – most of them blond haired and blue eyed. But residents of Candido Godoi now claim that Mengele made repeated visits there in the early 1960s, posing at first as a vet but then offering medical treatment to the women of the town. Shuttling between Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, he managed to evade justice before his death in 1979, but his dreams of a Nazi master race appeared unfulfilled. In a new book, Mengele: the Angel of Death in South America, the Argentine historian Jorge Camarasa, a specialist in the post-war Nazi flight to South America, has painstakingly pieced together the Nazi doctor’s mysterious later years.

 After speaking to the townspeople of Candido Godoi, he is convinced that Mengele continued his genetic experiments with twins – with startling results. He reveals how, after working with cattle farmers in Argentina to increase their stock, Mengele fled the country after fellow Nazi, Adolf Eichmann, was kidnapped by Israeli agents. He claims that Mengele found refuge in the German enclave of Colonias Unidas, Paraguay, and from there, in 1963, began to make regular trips to another predominantly German community just over the border in Brazil – the farming community of Candido Godoi. And, Mr Camaras claims, it was here that soon after the birthrate of twins began to spiral. “I think Candido Godoi may have been Mengele’s laboratory, where he finally managed to fulfil his dreams of creating a master race of blond haired, blue eyed Aryans,” he said. “There is testimony that he attended women, followed their pregnancies, treated them with new types of drugs and preparations, that he talked of artificial insemination in human beings, and that he continued working with animals, proclaiming that he was capable of getting cows to produce male twins.” The urbane German who arrived in Candido Godoi was remembered with fondness by many of the townspeople. “He told us he was a vet,” said Aloisi Finkler, a local farmer interviewed by Mr Camarasa. “He asked about illnesses we had among our animals, and told us not to worry, he could cure them. He appeared a cultured and dignified man.” Another farmer, Leonardo Boufler, said: “He went from farm to farm checking the animals. He checked them for TB, and injected those that were infected. He said he could carry out artificial insemination of cows and humans, which we thought impossible as in those days it was unheard of.” But the Nazi eugenicist did not concentrate on animals alone. A former mayor and town doctor, Anencia Flores da Silva, set out to try to solve the town’s mystery. He interviewed hundreds of people, and discovered one character who crept on cropping up: an itinerant medic calling himself Rudolph Weiss. Dr da Silva said: “In the testimonies we collected we came across women who were treated by him, he appeared to be some sort of rural medic who went from house to house. He attended women who had varicose veins and gave them a potion which he carried in a bottle, or tablets which he brought with him. Sometimes he carried out dental work, and everyone remembers he used to take blood.” The people of Candido Godoi now largely accept that a Nazi war criminal was an inadvertent guest of theirs for several years in the early 1960s. The town’s official crest shows two identical profiles and a road sign welcomes visitors to a “Farming Community and Land of the Twins”. There is also a museum, the House of the Twins. While the twins birthrate varies widely in different countries, it is typically about one in 80 pregnancies – a statistic that has left Mr Camarasa certain in his claim that Mengele was successfully pursuing his dreams of creating a master race, a real-life Boys from Brazil. “Nobody knows for sure exactly what date Mengele arrived in Candido Godoi, but the first twins were born in 1963, the year in which we first hear reports of his presence,” he said http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/4307262/Nazi-angel-of-death-Josef-Mengele-created-twin-town-in-Brazil.html

Brain games aim to boost your IQ

 

 

Brain games aim to boost your IQ

Dr Kawashima is a top researcher into brain imaging Computer games have long been derided by critics as mindless, brain-rotting fun. But a new wave of games is turning the cliché on its head. Nintendo has sold nearly five million copies of its three Nintendo DS brain training games since the series launched in Japan a year ago. The first title in the series, Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?, sees players follow a daily regime of brain-enhancing exercises and is due to be released in the UK in June. Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training comprises a variety of mini-games designed to give brains a workout. Activities include solving simple maths problems, counting people going in and out of a house, drawing pictures on the Nintendo DS touchscreen, and reading classic literature aloud into the device’s microphone. Players are given a brain age reflecting their performance. Over time, your brain age should get younger as you achieve better scores. Smart thinking Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training has sold some 1.8 million copies, and it is still in the Japanese top 10 a year after release. But the brain training games’ success is down to more than just a neat gameplay gimmick. The brain training games for the DS have sold well Unlike Nintendo’s fictional creations, such as Donkey Kong or Mario, Dr Kawashima really is a leading Japanese brain expert. A graduate of the Tohuku University School of Medicine, Dr Kawashima works at the same university’s New Industry Creation Hatchery Centre, and is one of the country’s top researchers into brain imaging. He is also a best-selling author. His two books on brain training have sold more than a million copies in Japan. Nintendo’s President Satoru Iwata personally shepherded the idea of a brain-enhancing game through production. It originally arose from a remark by a member of Nintendo’s board of directors that he knew nobody his own age who played games. And Mr Iwata sought Dr Kawashima’s involvement, seeing the two men’s similar fifty-something ages as common ground. It is all a long way from a typical video game’s development, and the differences continue in the older, non-gamers that Nintendo is explicitly targeting with the title. Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training will be the first video game ever to be advertised and featured in Saga magazine, for instance. “As these new types of games gain in popularity, we must find new and different ways to bring them to new audiences, many of whom will have never played a traditional videogame before,” explained a Nintendo spokesperson. Mobile mindset Nintendo has not got a monopoly on brain training games, however. Mobile phone developer Upstart Games is creating IQ Academy, a reworking of the Japanese mobile title Right Brain Paradise, which has been a big hit in Asia. I think we have a critical mass of people that have been exposed to games for the last 25 years, and there is much wider acceptance of games as an entertainment medium Barry O’Neill, Upstart Games IQ Academy gauges the player’s performance in various tasks of recognition, logical prediction and spatial resolution. It then rates the player and mixes up the puzzles offered next time, promoting further improvement. Whereas Nintendo’s games use the DS’s stylus and touchscreen, IQ Academy employs a simple multiple choice system. “The nice thing about IQ Academy is that it doesn’t require any specialist hardware to work,” said Barry O’Neill, CEO of Upstart Games. “Almost anyone with a mobile phone will be able to download and play it.” Mr O’Neill said there is a definite “halo effect” around brain games thanks to Nintendo’s titles. But he added that it is the broadening games audience that has really made such games more feasible. “I think we have a critical mass of people that have been exposed to games for the last 25 years, and there is much wider acceptance of games as an entertainment medium,” Mr O’Neill said. “Not everyone wants to play first-person action titles or role-playing games,” he continued. “Games that can challenge you from a mental perspective without falling into a gamer genre cliché are proving very popular.” Growing intelligence The brain wave might only just be hitting British shores, but in Japan publishers are challenging Nintendo with their own intelligence-focussed games. Carol Vorderman is getting in on the craze Sega is working with Kenichiro Mogi, a senior researcher at Sony Computer Science Research Lab, on a thinking-based game for Sony’s PSP handheld. And Bandai Namco is looking to integrate the action-orientated gameplay of its Point Blank arcade titles into a new brain game. Here in the UK, Nintendo will follow up Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training with Big Brain Academy later this year. Big Brain Academy estimates the weight of your brain from your performance in a series of tests. It also compares your brain to great brains from history. Upstart Games plans further IQ Academy games too, including a 3D version that presents the player with spatial awareness challenges. And last year’s brain-teasing craze, Suduko, is also getting a digital makeover. Carol Vorderman’s Sudoku, released late last year on the PC, will arrive in a PSP version this June.