Dr. Josef Mengele, the hardest working Nazi in the Third Reich. Aside from choosing who lived and who was gassed, performing ghastly experiments, picking the whores for the Auschwitz brothels, also found the time to train a dog to attack Jewish musicians for playing the wrong notes.
aish.com a Jewish website, tells the tale
"What is less known about Mengele, at least until this article was published, is that he was a devotee of classical music. In fact, in the same building known as "the experimentation block" there was a "music room" in which he would indulge his talent of violin playing. When the above-mentioned woman arrived at Auschwitz, Mengele noted in her record that she was a pianist and asked her to perform for him. He was so impressed with her talents that he decided to give her special treatment, a privilege that ultimately spared her life.
In addition to the usual slave labor to which all inmates were subjected, this woman had to perform periodically for Mengele, often while the latter would accompany her on his violin. In particular, the article relates, he loved to have her play Shubert's "Serenade" and the religious hymn, "Ave Maria."
So important was music to Mengele, that he trained one of his dogs to be sensitive to every nuance of his favorite compositions. If ever the woman would play a note inaccurately, the dog would pounce on her and viciously bite her. This happened many times when she was forced to perform before Mengele when she was unable to concentrate fully on her playing, such as after she had contracted tuberculosis.
She had at least ten scars all over her body resulting from dog-bites incurred by lapses in her performance."
