Biomaterial Database

Identification of the skeletal remains of Josef Mengele by DNA analysis. 1992

A J Jeffreys, and M J Allen, and E Hagelberg, and A Sonnberg

Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, UK.

There has been considerable controversy over the identity of the skeletal remains exhumed in Brazil in 1985 and believed to be those of Dr Josef Mengele, the Auschwitz 'Angel of Death'. Bone DNA analysis was therefore conducted in an attempt to provide independent evidence of identity. Trace amounts of highly degraded human DNA were successfully extracted from the shaft of the femur. Despite the presence of a potent inhibitor of DNA amplification, microsatellite alleles could be reproducibly amplified from the femur DNA. Comparison of the femur DNA with DNA from Josef Mengele's son and wife revealed a bone genotype across 10 different loci fully compatible with paternity of Mengele's son. Less than 1 in 1800 Caucasian individuals unrelated to Mengele's son would by chance show full paternal inclusion. DNA analysis therefore provides very strong independent evidence that the remains exhumed from Brazil are indeed those of Josef Mengele.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D010334	Paternity	Establishing the father relationship of a man and a child.	Paternities
D011056	Political Systems	The units based on political theory and chosen by countries under which their governmental power is organized and administered to their citizens.	Political System,System, Political,Systems, Political
D003209	Concentration Camps	A place where large numbers of people, especially political prisoners or members of persecuted minorities, are deliberately imprisoned in a relatively small area with inadequate facilities, sometimes to provide forced labor or to await mass execution.	Death Camps,Internment Camps,Camp, Concentration,Camp, Death,Camp, Internment,Camps, Concentration,Camps, Death,Camps, Internment,Concentration Camp,Death Camp,Internment Camp
D005197	Famous Persons	Individuals widely known or recognized.	Famous Person,Persons, Famous
D005554	Forensic Medicine	The application of medical knowledge to questions of law.	Legal Medicine,Medicine, Forensic,Medicine, Legal
D005858	Germany	A country in central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark. The capital is Berlin.
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D016172	DNA Fingerprinting	A technique for identifying individuals of a species that is based on the uniqueness of their DNA sequence. Uniqueness is determined by identifying which combination of allelic variations occur in the individual at a statistically relevant number of different loci. In forensic studies, RESTRICTION FRAGMENT LENGTH POLYMORPHISM of multiple, highly polymorphic VNTR LOCI or MICROSATELLITE REPEAT loci are analyzed. The number of loci used for the profile depends on the ALLELE FREQUENCY in the population.	DNA Fingerprints,DNA Profiling,DNA Typing,Genetic Fingerprinting,DNA Fingerprint,DNA Fingerprintings,DNA Profilings,DNA Typings,Fingerprint, DNA,Fingerprinting, DNA,Fingerprinting, Genetic,Fingerprintings, DNA,Fingerprintings, Genetic,Fingerprints, DNA,Genetic Fingerprintings,Profiling, DNA,Typing, DNA,Typings, DNA
D049673	History, 20th Century	Time period from 1901 through 2000 of the common era.	20th Century History,20th Cent. History (Medicine),20th Cent. History of Medicine,20th Cent. Medicine,Historical Events, 20th Century,History of Medicine, 20th Cent.,History, Twentieth Century,Medical History, 20th Cent.,Medicine, 20th Cent.,20th Cent. Histories (Medicine),20th Century Histories,Cent. Histories, 20th (Medicine),Cent. History, 20th (Medicine),Century Histories, 20th,Century Histories, Twentieth,Century History, 20th,Century History, Twentieth,Histories, 20th Cent. (Medicine),Histories, 20th Century,Histories, Twentieth Century,History, 20th Cent. (Medicine),Twentieth Century Histories,Twentieth Century History