German Auschwitz prosecutor recalls powerful tales from Holocaust survivors

Gerhard Wiese, former chief prosecutor of the Frankfurt Auschwitz trial attends an interview with Reuters in Frankfurt, Germany, January 25, 2020. Picture taken January 25, 2020. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - 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.