Post by Bonobo on Oct 16, 2016 0:46:58 GMT 1
Excerpts
During World War I, beginning in 1914, Rudolf Weigl, a Polish parasitologist of Austrian background was drafted into the Austrian army and given the task of studying typhus and its causes.[1][3] Weigl worked at a military hospital in Przemyśl, where he supervised the newly established Laboratory for the Study of Spotted Typhus.[3]
After Poland regained its independence Weigl was hired, in 1920, as a Professor of Biology in the Medical Faculty at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lwów, at the Institute for Study of Typhus and Virology.[3] While there, he developed a vaccine against typhus made from grown lice which were then crushed into a paste. Initially the lice were grown on the blood of guinea pigs but the effectiveness of the vaccine depended on the blood being as similar to human blood as possible. As a consequence, by 1933, Weigl began using human volunteers as feeders. While the volunteers fed healthy lice, there was still the danger of accidental exposure to some of the typhus-carrying lice in the institute. Additionally, once the lice were infected with typhus, they required additional feeding, which carried the risk of the human feeder becoming infected with the disease. Weigl protected the donors by vaccinating them beforehand, and although some of them (including Weigl himself) developed the disease, none died. However, the production of the vaccine was still a potentially dangerous activity, and it was still difficult to produce the vaccine on a large scale
In June 1941, after the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union, Lwów was taken over by the Germans. Weigl's institute, now renamed Institut für Fleckfieber und Virusforschung des OKH, was kept open because, much like the Soviets before them, the Germans were interested in the applications of the typhus vaccine among their front line soldiers. The Institute was made directly subordinate to the German military, which, as it turned out, ended up giving its workers significant protection against the Gestapo. The Nazis converted a building of the former Queen Jadwiga Grammar School into Weigl's new laboratory and ordered that the production of the vaccine be stepped up, with the whole output being shipped to the German armed forces.[5]
Role of institute under Nazi occupation
In light of the Sonderaktion Krakau, a German operation in which many distinguished professors from Jagiellonian University in Kraków were arrested and sent to German concentration camps, the danger that a similar fate would befall Lwów intellectuals was very real. As a result, in July 1941, Weigl began hiring prominent Polish intellectuals of the city for his institute, many of whom had lost work as a result of the closure of all Polish institutions of higher learning by the Nazis. In fact, soon after, the Nazis carried out a massacre of Lwów professors.[6] Weigl managed to convince the occupation authorities to give him full discretion as to whom he hired for his experiments, even as he himself refused to sign the so-called Volksliste which would have identified him as an ethnic German (since he was of Austrian background) with access to privileges and opportunities unavailable to Poles. Similarly, he refused an offer to move to Berlin, direct a dedicated institute and become a Reichsdeutscher.[3] The group of scholars hired by Weigl were often brought in by Wacław Szybalski, an oncologist, who was also put in charge of supervising the lice feeding.[5]
Association with the institute offered a measure of protection. Weigl was able to continue his research, and even hire more people, some as research assistants, others as lice feeders, often among those threatened by Nazi authorities with deportation, or even resistance members.[1][3] The feeders of lice who were employed at the institute were issued a special version of the Kennkarte, the "Ausweis", which noted both that they might be infected with typhus and that they worked for an institution of the German military, the "Oberkommando des Heeres" (Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the German Army). As a result, the workers of the institute, unlike other Poles in the city, could move freely about and, if stopped by the police or the Gestapo, were quickly released.[3]
Lwów academics and intellectuals as feeders
In autumn of 1941, the famous mathematician Stefan Banach began working at the institute as a lice feeder,[6] as did his son, Stefan Jr.[5] Banach continued to work at the institute feeding lice until March 1944, and managed to survive the war as a result, unlike many other Polish mathematicians who were killed by the Nazis (although he died of lung cancer shortly after the war's conclusion). Banach's employment at the institute also gave protection to his wife, Łucja (it was she who purchased the notebook that eventually became the famous Scottish Book), who was in particular danger because of her Jewish background.[5][7] The poet Zbigniew Herbert also spent the occupation as a lice feeder in Weigl's institute.[8] According to Alfred Jahn, a geographer and future rector of the University of Wrocław, "Almost the entire University of Lwów worked at Weigl's". Two other future rectors of the University of Wrocław, Kazimierz Szarski and Stanisław Kulczyński, also survived the war as feeders of lice.[9]
With numerous academics gathering in one place under the pretense of lice feeding and research, underground education and research often took place. The actual feeding time took only about an hour a day, which left the remainder of the day free for conspiratorial activity and scientific discourse.[3]
Anti-Nazi resistance fighters as feeders
Additionally, Weigl began employing members of the Polish anti-Nazi resistance, the Home Army, in his institute, which provided them with sufficient cover to carry out their underground activities. Aleksander Szczęścikiewicz and Zygmunt Kleszczyński, two leaders of the underground scout movement, the Grey Ranks (Szare Szeregi), also worked at the institute. Due to his special position, Weigl was allowed to have a radio at the institute – otherwise ownership of a radio by Poles was punishable by death – which was used by him and members of the Polish resistance to gather up-to-date news of the war otherwise censored by German propaganda.[3]
Attempts to save Jews via employment in the institute
When the Germans began the systematic murder of the Lwów Jews, Weigl tried to save as many as he could by hiring them as well. Among others, work at the institute saved the life of the bacteriologist Henryk Meisel. Weigl also tried to protect the bacteriologist Filip Eisenberg, from Jagiellonian University, by offering him a position. Unfortunately, Eisenberg believed that he could survive the war by hiding in Kraków, turned down Weigl's offer, and in 1943 was caught by the Nazis and sent to the Belzec extermination camp where he was murdered. In the end, about 4000 people (feeders, technicians and nurses) passed through Weigl's institute, of whom about 500 are known by name.[9]
More about lice feeders
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feeder_of_lice
More about this noble scientist, Rudolf Weigl, who saved so many lives.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Weigl
During World War I, beginning in 1914, Rudolf Weigl, a Polish parasitologist of Austrian background was drafted into the Austrian army and given the task of studying typhus and its causes.[1][3] Weigl worked at a military hospital in Przemyśl, where he supervised the newly established Laboratory for the Study of Spotted Typhus.[3]
After Poland regained its independence Weigl was hired, in 1920, as a Professor of Biology in the Medical Faculty at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lwów, at the Institute for Study of Typhus and Virology.[3] While there, he developed a vaccine against typhus made from grown lice which were then crushed into a paste. Initially the lice were grown on the blood of guinea pigs but the effectiveness of the vaccine depended on the blood being as similar to human blood as possible. As a consequence, by 1933, Weigl began using human volunteers as feeders. While the volunteers fed healthy lice, there was still the danger of accidental exposure to some of the typhus-carrying lice in the institute. Additionally, once the lice were infected with typhus, they required additional feeding, which carried the risk of the human feeder becoming infected with the disease. Weigl protected the donors by vaccinating them beforehand, and although some of them (including Weigl himself) developed the disease, none died. However, the production of the vaccine was still a potentially dangerous activity, and it was still difficult to produce the vaccine on a large scale
In June 1941, after the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union, Lwów was taken over by the Germans. Weigl's institute, now renamed Institut für Fleckfieber und Virusforschung des OKH, was kept open because, much like the Soviets before them, the Germans were interested in the applications of the typhus vaccine among their front line soldiers. The Institute was made directly subordinate to the German military, which, as it turned out, ended up giving its workers significant protection against the Gestapo. The Nazis converted a building of the former Queen Jadwiga Grammar School into Weigl's new laboratory and ordered that the production of the vaccine be stepped up, with the whole output being shipped to the German armed forces.[5]
Role of institute under Nazi occupation
In light of the Sonderaktion Krakau, a German operation in which many distinguished professors from Jagiellonian University in Kraków were arrested and sent to German concentration camps, the danger that a similar fate would befall Lwów intellectuals was very real. As a result, in July 1941, Weigl began hiring prominent Polish intellectuals of the city for his institute, many of whom had lost work as a result of the closure of all Polish institutions of higher learning by the Nazis. In fact, soon after, the Nazis carried out a massacre of Lwów professors.[6] Weigl managed to convince the occupation authorities to give him full discretion as to whom he hired for his experiments, even as he himself refused to sign the so-called Volksliste which would have identified him as an ethnic German (since he was of Austrian background) with access to privileges and opportunities unavailable to Poles. Similarly, he refused an offer to move to Berlin, direct a dedicated institute and become a Reichsdeutscher.[3] The group of scholars hired by Weigl were often brought in by Wacław Szybalski, an oncologist, who was also put in charge of supervising the lice feeding.[5]
Association with the institute offered a measure of protection. Weigl was able to continue his research, and even hire more people, some as research assistants, others as lice feeders, often among those threatened by Nazi authorities with deportation, or even resistance members.[1][3] The feeders of lice who were employed at the institute were issued a special version of the Kennkarte, the "Ausweis", which noted both that they might be infected with typhus and that they worked for an institution of the German military, the "Oberkommando des Heeres" (Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the German Army). As a result, the workers of the institute, unlike other Poles in the city, could move freely about and, if stopped by the police or the Gestapo, were quickly released.[3]
Lwów academics and intellectuals as feeders
In autumn of 1941, the famous mathematician Stefan Banach began working at the institute as a lice feeder,[6] as did his son, Stefan Jr.[5] Banach continued to work at the institute feeding lice until March 1944, and managed to survive the war as a result, unlike many other Polish mathematicians who were killed by the Nazis (although he died of lung cancer shortly after the war's conclusion). Banach's employment at the institute also gave protection to his wife, Łucja (it was she who purchased the notebook that eventually became the famous Scottish Book), who was in particular danger because of her Jewish background.[5][7] The poet Zbigniew Herbert also spent the occupation as a lice feeder in Weigl's institute.[8] According to Alfred Jahn, a geographer and future rector of the University of Wrocław, "Almost the entire University of Lwów worked at Weigl's". Two other future rectors of the University of Wrocław, Kazimierz Szarski and Stanisław Kulczyński, also survived the war as feeders of lice.[9]
With numerous academics gathering in one place under the pretense of lice feeding and research, underground education and research often took place. The actual feeding time took only about an hour a day, which left the remainder of the day free for conspiratorial activity and scientific discourse.[3]
Anti-Nazi resistance fighters as feeders
Additionally, Weigl began employing members of the Polish anti-Nazi resistance, the Home Army, in his institute, which provided them with sufficient cover to carry out their underground activities. Aleksander Szczęścikiewicz and Zygmunt Kleszczyński, two leaders of the underground scout movement, the Grey Ranks (Szare Szeregi), also worked at the institute. Due to his special position, Weigl was allowed to have a radio at the institute – otherwise ownership of a radio by Poles was punishable by death – which was used by him and members of the Polish resistance to gather up-to-date news of the war otherwise censored by German propaganda.[3]
Attempts to save Jews via employment in the institute
When the Germans began the systematic murder of the Lwów Jews, Weigl tried to save as many as he could by hiring them as well. Among others, work at the institute saved the life of the bacteriologist Henryk Meisel. Weigl also tried to protect the bacteriologist Filip Eisenberg, from Jagiellonian University, by offering him a position. Unfortunately, Eisenberg believed that he could survive the war by hiding in Kraków, turned down Weigl's offer, and in 1943 was caught by the Nazis and sent to the Belzec extermination camp where he was murdered. In the end, about 4000 people (feeders, technicians and nurses) passed through Weigl's institute, of whom about 500 are known by name.[9]
More about lice feeders
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feeder_of_lice
More about this noble scientist, Rudolf Weigl, who saved so many lives.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Weigl