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https://www.fox5ny.com/news/holocaust-survivors-twin-brothers-nazi-angel-of-death
Twin brothers detail meeting the Nazi 'Angel of Death' and surviving the Holocaust
By Dana Arschin
Published September 20, 2021
World
FOX 5 NY
NEW YORK - The emotions are still raw and the images of horror are still vivid for Peter Somogyi more than 75 years after he survived the Holocaust.
The 88-year-old, who lives in Westchester County, was only 11 when he arrived at the Auschwitz concentration camp in July 1944. The ink is still visible from the prisoner number A-17454 that was tattooed on his arm at arrival. That's also when he first came face-to-face with notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.
"He didn't save me," Peter said. "He just kept me alive for himself."
"Mengele came around and asked for twins. My mother first didn't know what to say, second time 'no,' third time she said 'yes,'" Peter added. "Immediately, two adjutants grabbed us and we never had a chance to say goodbye."
Peter, his twin brother Thomas, their 13-year-old sister Alice, and mother Elizabeth had all unknowingly been in line for the gas chambers when the twins were plucked aside. They never saw Alice or Elizabeth again.
"The moment we got into the barracks, the man who was in charge, we asked him, 'When can I see my mother?' The first question. He said, 'Just look outside there' — flames," Peter said. "And then we understood that we would never see my mother again."
Mengele was young, charming, and outwardly pleasant — a facade that masked unspeakable evil. He was known as the "Angel of Death," often personally administering the Hydrogen cyanide gas to his victims. More than a million innocent men, women, and children were murdered in Auschwitz alone. Mengele also conducted medical experiments on prisoners and had a fascination with twins.
...
A lot of children who came to the camps were killed right away because they weren't strong enough to work. Thomas said he is sure that he and his brother survived because they were twins.
"It's absolutely certain. There's no two ways about it," he said. "I would not be alive today if I hadn't been a twin."...
Twin brothers detail meeting the Nazi 'Angel of Death' and surviving the Holocaust
By Dana Arschin
Published September 20, 2021
World
FOX 5 NY
NEW YORK - The emotions are still raw and the images of horror are still vivid for Peter Somogyi more than 75 years after he survived the Holocaust.
The 88-year-old, who lives in Westchester County, was only 11 when he arrived at the Auschwitz concentration camp in July 1944. The ink is still visible from the prisoner number A-17454 that was tattooed on his arm at arrival. That's also when he first came face-to-face with notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.
"He didn't save me," Peter said. "He just kept me alive for himself."
"Mengele came around and asked for twins. My mother first didn't know what to say, second time 'no,' third time she said 'yes,'" Peter added. "Immediately, two adjutants grabbed us and we never had a chance to say goodbye."
Peter, his twin brother Thomas, their 13-year-old sister Alice, and mother Elizabeth had all unknowingly been in line for the gas chambers when the twins were plucked aside. They never saw Alice or Elizabeth again.
"The moment we got into the barracks, the man who was in charge, we asked him, 'When can I see my mother?' The first question. He said, 'Just look outside there' — flames," Peter said. "And then we understood that we would never see my mother again."
Mengele was young, charming, and outwardly pleasant — a facade that masked unspeakable evil. He was known as the "Angel of Death," often personally administering the Hydrogen cyanide gas to his victims. More than a million innocent men, women, and children were murdered in Auschwitz alone. Mengele also conducted medical experiments on prisoners and had a fascination with twins.
...
A lot of children who came to the camps were killed right away because they weren't strong enough to work. Thomas said he is sure that he and his brother survived because they were twins.
"It's absolutely certain. There's no two ways about it," he said. "I would not be alive today if I hadn't been a twin."...