Click here for a detail from a photo (321 kB) from the ramp in Auschwitz of a man who is quite similar to John Gröver who lived in Fredrikstad. The photo is on page 195 in "Das Auschwitz-Album" on Wallstein Verlag / Yad Vashem and I refer the reader to the book for a better impression. The body height is approximately right and all proportions of the head seem to be about the same. If one suspects Gröver of having been Mengele in Auschwitz, then one can also speculate if he could have had just a little silicon under his eyebrows after the war (and the nose had been broken and perhaps pressed a little in at the root - a sort of 'Innsbruck' phenomenon perhaps - and if the roots of the hair on top of his forehead were removed, he would be rather similar. In a period in the sixties, Gröver was somewhat fatter.

And here is alarger excerpt from the same photo (747 kB) from the ramp in Auschwitz - with the 'Gröver'-looking person to the right and maybe the one to the left, hidden behind another person, is apparently normally identified as Mengele.

Here is the same photo from the archives of Yad Vashem, excerpted from the 'Auschwitz Album', but with too low resolution on the internet to make the person to the right recognizable.

Click here for the photo of Mengele in Auschwitz which I discuss in the following - compare with the second and third photos above.

The photo of Mengele in Auschwitz shows him with some equipment in his hands and some notable features of his head and face outlines. If one compares with the photos of Gröver, there is the notable difference in the inside of the ear. Here is an analysis which suggests what it could be about:

The photo seems to represent the placenames around Bjarne Eidsvig's oyster farm on 'Vågstranda' = 'voks-te-randa' = 'wax-to-the-brim', explaining the strange shadows inside the ear.

For getting to Vågstranda from Molde, one takes the ferry to 'Vikebukt' (or 'Vike') which is represented in the parting of his hair which shows a 'vike', which means that the hair is showing some indentation in the parting. 'Bukt' = 'bay' or 'curvation' - here the slight 'vike-bukt' = 'parting-curvation'. Also, the parting is visible on the head which is nodding forwards = 'bukt' ('bukket' = 'bowed/bent his head forwards').

'Vestnes' is the other ferry station: The ferry goes from Molde to Vikebukt and Vestnes and back to Molde again. 'Vestnes' = 'west-nose' and this could be the ultimate reason for the slanting nose of Gröver. It was abnormally flagging westwards - which means that it clearly had been knocked out of position at some time - nobody is born with that sort of nose. It also looked as if it had been pressed a little down at the upper part, close to the eyebrows. This would have served to change the face - and it would have represented this 'Vestnes'.

Travelling from Vikebukt to Vågstranda is only a few minutes' drive. And another few minutes on takes it to Måndal - pronounced [mondal] - which seems to be the name of Walter Mondale, former democrat vice president. Then another few minutes on one comes to 'Isfjorden' (if I remember right from my childhood), which could be the white glint in his hair, in the front top part of it on the Auschwitz photo. It would be on that part of the head where Mengele had hair and where Gröver had not - which means that if it was the same man, he would have had it removed. This could perhaps have been done with some chemicals once and for all - something which destroyed the roots of the hair. It would have been very 'icy' - and 'is-f-jord-en' could perhaps cover the process. He had some grey-brown patterns with some apparent and slight 'pigment-forskyvning' ('pigment-displacement') there - but I assumed that it was only that kind which normally follows with age - some pigmented dots in the skin in the upper part of the forehead when the hair retracts.

'Åndalsnes' = 'spirit-valley-nose' and could have been the probably articifial depression on the top of the nose, close to the eyebrows. Åndalsnes is the end of the railway from Oslo to Sunnmöre.

On the collar he has a sign which looks like Hebrew vowel points for 'a' plus 'u'. It could be for 'a-u-schwitz'. Norwegian for 'collar' = 'krave', 'collars' = 'kraver', 'the collar' = 'kraven'. Replacing the 'a' with the 'u' makes for 'Kruver' (by some rewrite or the plural form) and is probably as close to 'Gröver' as one can come with the Hebrew vowel points. It would suggest a 'schwitz' from Mengele to Gröver - a 'secret agent' that would have had to be, as suggested by that collar.

Then there is the equipment in his hands. If it is about tools for murder, it suggests 'Molde' which could be a pun on 'minor' (vs. 'major') tonality and hence 'De-moll' ('D minor') = 'Devold' by a nasality rewrite. The conclusion is probably that the photo supports the hypothesis that Mengele changed identity to 'John Gröver' in Norway after the war. Could be it was not his last identity-change.

John Bjarne Grover
On the web 29 April 2004
Last updated 22 May 2008