Miklós Nyiszli

Hungarian Jewish pathologist who documented Nazi medical atrocities while imprisoned in Auschwitz

As Dr. Josef Mengele's forced assistant in Auschwitz (1944-1945), Nyiszli (1901-1956) secretly documented Nazi human experiments with forensic precision. His 1946 memoir I Was Doctor Mengele's Assistant became the first medical insider account of concentration camp atrocities.

Using stolen laboratory equipment, Nyiszli preserved 3,000 tissue samples from twin experiments – later used in Nuremberg Trials. He developed a covert coding system (A-Z/1-26) to track victims' identities, enabling post-war identification of 287 individuals.

Remarkably, Nyiszli's double-coding technique for autopsy reports – appearing compliant while embedding hidden data – influenced modern medical ethics documentation. His work inspired WHO's Ethical Guidelines for Health Documentation in conflict zones.