A louse-feeder () was a job in

interwar In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

and Nazi-occupied Poland, at the '' Lviv Institute for Study of Typhus and Virology'' and the associated Institute in Kraków, Poland. Louse-feeders were human sources of blood for

lice Louse (: lice) is the common name for any member of the infraorder Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera was previously recognized as an order, until a 2021 genetic study determined th ...

infected with

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...

, which were then used to research possible vaccines against the disease. Research into a typhus vaccine was started in 1920 by parasitologist

Rudolf Weigl Rudolf Stefan Jan Weigl (2 September 1883 – 11 August 1957) was a Polish biologist, physician and inventor, known for creating the first effective vaccine against epidemic typhus. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine each year betwe ...

. Weigl and his wife

Zofia Weigl Zofia Weigl (née Kulikowska; c. 1885–1940) was a Polish biologist who was a collaborator in research to find a vaccine for typhus. Life and work Kulikowska was born into the family of lawyers, Wiktor and Marta Kulikowski. She had three sis ...

were some of the earliest lice feeders. During the Nazi occupation of the city, louse-feeding became the primary means of support and protection for many of the city's Polish intellectuals, including the mathematician

Stefan Banach Stefan Banach ( ; 30 March 1892 – 31 August 1945) was a Polish mathematician who is generally considered one of the 20th century's most important and influential mathematicians. He was the founder of modern functional analysis, and an original ...

and the poet

Zbigniew Herbert Zbigniew Herbert (; 29 October 1924 – 28 July 1998) was a Polish poet, essayist, drama writer and moralist. He is one of the best known and the most translated post-war Polish writers. While he was first published in the 1950s (a volume tit ...

. While the profession carried a significant risk of infection, louse-feeders were given additional food rations, were protected from being shipped to slave labour camps and

German concentration camps German concentration camps may refer to different camps which were operated by German states: *Concentration camps during the Herero and Namaqua genocide ** Shark Island concentration camp * Cottbus-Sielow concentration camp in Cottbus interning Jew ...

, and were permitted to move around the occupied city. Typhus research involving human subjects, who were purposely infected with the disease, was also carried out in various

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

, in particular at

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...

and Sachsenhausen and to a lesser extent at

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

Background

French

bacteriologist A bacteriologist is a microbiologist, or similarly trained professional, in bacteriology— a subdivision of microbiology that studies bacteria, typically Pathogenic bacteria, pathogenic ones. Bacteriologists are interested in studying and learnin ...

Charles Nicolle Charles Jules Henri Nicolle (21 September 1866 – 28 February 1936) was a French bacteriologist who received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his identification of lice as the transmitter of epidemic typhus. Family Nicolle was born to Aline Lo ...

showed in 1909 that

(''Pediculus humanus corporis'') were the primary means by which the typhus bacteria (''Rickettsia prowazekii'') were spread. In his experiments Nicolle infected a chimpanzee with typhus, retrieved the lice from it, and placed them on a healthy chimpanzee who developed the disease shortly thereafter. Further work established that it was lice excrement rather than bites which spread the disease. Nicolle received a

Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single ...

for his work on typhus in 1928. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, beginning in 1914, Rudolf Weigl, a Polish

parasitologist Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question but by their way of life. This means it f ...

of Austrian background was drafted into the Austrian army and given the task of studying typhus and its causes. Weigl worked at a military hospital in

Przemyśl Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...

, where he supervised the newly established Laboratory for the Study of Spotted Typhus. After Poland regained its independence, Weigl was hired in 1920 as a professor of biology at the

Jan Kazimierz University The Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (named after Ivan Franko, ) is a state-sponsored university in Lviv, Ukraine. Since 1940 the university is named after Ukrainian poet Ivan Franko. The university is the oldest institution of higher ...

in Lwów, at the '' Institute for Study of Typhus and Virology''. 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. At the time Weigl's vaccine was the only one in existence which could be employed in practical applications outside of controlled settings. The first widespread use of his vaccine was carried out in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

by Belgian missionaries between 1936 and 1943.

Procedure

The development of the typhus vaccine involved several stages. First, the lice larvae had to be bred and then fed on human blood. Once they matured, they were removed from the feeders, held down in a clamp machine especially designed by Weigl, and anally injected with the strain of the typhus bacteria. At that point the infected louse had to be fed human blood for about five more days. This stage of the production process carried the greatest risk to the human feeder of contracting the disease. Weigl and his staff tried to prevent the danger by heavily vaccinating the feeders beforehand. Once the louse was sufficiently infected, it was removed from the human feeder, killed in a solution of

phenol Phenol (also known as carbolic acid, phenolic acid, or benzenol) is an aromatic organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a white crystalline solid that is volatile and can catch fire. The molecule consists of a phenyl group () ...

, and then dissected. The contents of the louse abdomen (its feces) was removed and then ground up into a paste. The paste was then made into the typhus vaccine. The feeding was done through the use of specially-constructed small wooden boxes, , developed by Weigl. The boxes were sealed with

paraffin Paraffin may refer to: Substances * Paraffin wax, a white or colorless soft solid (also in liquid form) that is used as a lubricant and for other applications * Liquid paraffin (drug), a very highly refined mineral oil used in cosmetics and for med ...

on the top which prevented the lice from escaping, and the underside consisted of a screen made of a fabric

sieve A sieve (), fine mesh strainer, or sift is a tool used for separating wanted elements from unwanted material or for controlling the particle size distribution of a sample, using a screen such as a woven mesh or net or perforated sheet m ...

, adapted by Weigl from sieves that were used by local peasants to separate wheat husks from the seeds. A typical box contained 400 to 800 lice larvae which would mature as the feeding took place. The sieve bottom allowed the lice to stick out their heads and feed on the human flesh. A standard feeding period took thirty to forty-five minutes, and was repeated with the same lice colony for twelve days. Usually, an individual feeder would accommodate from 7 to 11 boxes (of 400 to 800 lice each) on his or her leg, per feeding session. Typically men would place the boxes on their calves, to minimize the discomfort of the bites, while women feeders placed them on their thighs, so that the bite marks could be covered up by a skirt. A nurse had to watch over the feeding process as the lice would feed beyond the point of being gorged on the blood and could burst if left on the human flesh for too long. Other dangers that employment at the institute involved, in addition to the contraction of typhus, concerned

allergic reactions Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, are various conditions caused by hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic dermatitis, alle ...

to the vaccine or

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

attacks because of the louse feces dust.

World War II

First Soviet occupation

After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939, Lwów initially came under Soviet occupation. During this period Weigl's institute continued to function, although Poles, particularly those escaping from the German-controlled areas, were banned from being employed there. The Soviet authorities

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its Sovereignty, sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or ...

ethnic Poles from the seized territories, sending them to

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

and other areas deep within the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, despite the official prohibition on employment, Weigl used his prestige and influence (during this time

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

visited the institute) to secure the release of several Polish would-be deportees and in some cases managed to obtain permission for those who had already been exiled to return. These individuals were then given work in the institute as either nurses, interpreters (Weigl himself did not speak Russian) or as some of the first lice feeders; people who were given the job as a means of protecting them from persecution by the Soviet authorities. The vaccine produced by the institute during this time was earmarked for the Red Army, aside from a small quantity used in the civilian sector.

Nazi occupation

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 (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

. 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.

Role of institute under Nazi occupation

In light of the ''

Sonderaktion Krakau ''Sonderaktion Krakau'' was a German operation against professors and academics of the Jagiellonian University and other universities in German-occupied Kraków, Poland, at the beginning of World War II. It was carried out as part of the much bro ...

'', a German operation in which many distinguished professors from

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

were arrested and sent to

, 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 In July 1941, 25 Polish academics from the city of Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine) along with the 25 of their family members were killed by Nazi German occupation forces. By targeting prominent citizens and intellectuals for elimination, the Nazis ho ...

. 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 The Deutsche Volksliste (German People's List) was a Nazi Party institution that aimed to classify inhabitants of Nazi-occupied territories (1939–1945) into categories of desirability according to criteria systematised by ''Reichsführer-SS'' ...

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

Reichsdeutsche (, literally translated ) is an archaic term for those ethnic Germans who resided within the German state that was founded in 1871. In contemporary usage, it referred to German citizens, the word signifying people from the German ', i.e., Imp ...

r. The group of scholars hired by Weigl were often brought in by

Wacław Szybalski Wacław Szybalski (Polish pronunciation: ; 9 September 1921 – 16 December 2020) was a Polish-American medical researcher, geneticist and professor of oncology at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin–Madison Me ...

, an

oncologist Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''� ...

, who was also put in charge of supervising the lice feeding. 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. The feeders of lice who were employed at the institute were issued a special version of the

Kennkarte The ''Kennkarte'' served as the basic identification document issued to German nationals from the age of 15 onwards, with place of residence or permanent residence in the territory of Germany during the Third Reich era, and extended to include ci ...

, 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.

Lwów academics and intellectuals as feeders

In autumn of 1941, the mathematician

began working at the institute as a lice feeder, as did his son, Stefan Jr. 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

Scottish Book The Scottish Book () was a thick notebook used by mathematicians of the Lwów School of Mathematics in Poland for jotting down problems meant to be solved. The notebook was named after the " Scottish Café" where it was kept. Originally, the mat ...

), who was in particular danger because of her Jewish background. The poet

also spent the occupation as a lice feeder in Weigl's institute. According to Alfred Jahn, a geographer and future rector of the

University of Wrocław The University of Wrocław (, UWr; ) is a public research university in Wrocław, Poland. It is the largest institution of higher learning in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, with over 100,000 graduates since 1945, including some 1,900 researcher ...

, "Almost the entire University of Lwów worked at Weigl's". Two other future rectors of the University of Wrocław, Kazimierz Szarski and

Stanisław Kulczyński Stanisław Leon Kulczyński (9 May 1895 – 12 July 1975) was a Polish botanist and politician. Son of Władysław Kulczyński the zoologist. Professor of Lwów University (in the Second Polish Republic, its rector from 1936). He resigned his p ...

, also survived the war as feeders of lice. 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.

Anti-Nazi resistance fighters as feeders

Additionally, Weigl began employing members of the Polish anti-Nazi resistance, the

Home Army The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

, 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 Grey Ranks () was a codename for the underground paramilitary Polish Scouting Association () during World War II. The wartime organisation was created on 27 September 1939, actively resisted and fought German occupation in Warsaw until 18 ...

(''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.

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. However, Eisenberg believed that he could survive the war by hiding in Kraków, turned down Weigl's offer, and in 1942 was caught by the Nazis and sent to the

Belzec extermination camp Belzec (English: or , Polish: , approximately ) was a Nazi German extermination camp in occupied Poland. It was built by the SS for the purpose of implementing the secretive Operation Reinhard, the plan to murder all Polish Jews, a major p ...

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.

Smuggling of the vaccine

While all of the vaccines produced by the institute during this time were supposed to go to the German army, some portion was smuggled out by the employees associated with the Polish resistance and shipped to partisan units of the Home Army, as well as underground movements in the

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

ghettos, and even to sick individuals in the

and

Majdanek Majdanek (or Lublin) was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp built and operated by the SS on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. It had three gas chambers, two wooden gallows, ...

concentration camps. According to the famous Polish-Jewish pianist and

diarist A diary is a writing, written or audiovisual Memorabilia, memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by Calendar date, date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwriti ...

Władysław Szpilman Władysław Szpilman (; 5 December 1911 – 6 July 2000) was a History of the Jews in Poland, Polish Jewish pianist, Classical music, classical composer and Holocaust survivor. Szpilman is widely known as the central figure in the Roman Polansk ...

(the protagonist of the 2002 movie '' The Pianist''), because of his vaccine, Weigl became "as famous as Hitler in the Warsaw ghetto", with "Weigl as a symbol of Goodness and Hitler as a symbol of Evil".

Soviet re-capture of the city

After the Red Army, along with the Home Army (

Operation Tempest file:Akcja_burza_1944.png, 210px, right Operation Tempest or Operation Burza (, sometimes referred to in English as "Operation Storm") was a series of uprisings conducted during World War II against occupying German forces by the Polish Home Arm ...

) recaptured Lwów in July 1944, Weigl's institute was disbanded and moved to central Poland, along with most other Polish inhabitants of Lwów. Weigl would continue his research in

Lice feeding around the world

Human lice feeders were also used in America in the 1940s. The ''Wilmington Morning Star'' reported that the U.S. government's researchers paid around 60 lice feeders $60 a month (), rising to $120 () due to the lack of people willing to participate. Humans were used because lice failed to thrive on animals, until it was discovered that some could live on an "Easter bunny" called Samson. Samson and his descendants were used to conduct hundreds of experiments.

Notable feeders

* Jerzy Albrycht *

(mathematician, founder of

functional analysis Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (for example, Inner product space#Definition, inner product, Norm (mathematics ...

) *

Feliks Barański Feliks Barański (1915-2006) was a Polish mathematician and an active member of the so-called Lwów School of Mathematics. Born May 1915 in Lwów, Austria-Hungary (modern Lviv, Ukraine), he joined the circle of young, talented mathematicians forme ...

(mathematician) *

Jerzy Broszkiewicz Jerzy Broszkiewicz (6 June 1922 – 4 October 1993) was a Polish prose writer, playwright, essayist, and publicist. He is best known for his dramas and young-adult literature. The young-adult literature usually took the form of historical or sc ...

(author, essayist) *

Józef Chałasiński Józef Chałasiński (17 February 1904 – 5 December 1979) was a Polish sociologist, academic and university professor. He studied at the University of Poznań under the famous Polish sociologist, Florian Znaniecki, gaining a PhD in 1927. He j ...

(sociologist) * Leszek Elektorowicz (poet, essayist) *

(poet) *

Adam Hollanek Adam Hollanek (born 4 October 1922 in Lwów, died 28 July 1998 in Zakopane) was a Polish science fiction writer and journalist, and founder of the '' Fantastyka'' magazine, the first science-fiction-oriented monthly magazine in the whole Eastern ...

(science fiction author) * Artur Hutnikiewicz (historian of Polish literature) * Alfred Jahn (geographer, polar explorer) *

Bronisław Knaster Bronisław Knaster (22 May 1893 – 3 November 1980) was a Polish mathematician; from 1939 a university professor in Lwów and from 1945 in Wrocław. In 1945, he completed a project in collaboration with Karol Borsuk and Kazimierz Kuratowski con ...

(mathematician) * Seweryn Krzemieniewski (biologist) * Jan Noskiewicz (zoologist) * Lesław Ogielski (veterinarian, medical researcher) *

Władysław Orlicz Władysław Roman Orlicz (May 24, 1903 – August 9, 1990) was a Polish mathematician of Lwów School of Mathematics. His main interests were functional analysis and topology: Orlicz spaces are named after him. Education and career Orlicz wa ...

(mathematician) *

Stanisław Skrowaczewski Stanislaw Pawel Stefan Jan Sebastian Skrowaczewski (; October 3, 1923 – February 21, 2017) was a Polish-American classical conductor and composer. Biography Skrowaczewski was born in Lwów, Second Polish Republic (now Lviv, Ukraine). His pa ...

(classical conductor) *

Stefania Skwarczyńska Stefania Skwarczyńska ''de domo'' (17 November 1902 in Kamionka Strumiłowa – 28 April 1988 in Łódź) was a Polish theorist and historian of literature, theatrologist, full professor, doctor ''honoris causa'' of the University of Łódź, ...

(historian of literature) * Kazimierz Smulikowski (geologist) *

(

) * Mirosław Żuławski (writer, screenwriter) – who wrote about his work as a lice feeder in his screenplay ''Trzecia część nocy'' (''

The Third Part of the Night ''The Third Part of the Night'' () is a 1971 Polish avant-garde psychological horror-drama film. It is set in Nazi-occupied Poland and directed by Andrzej Żuławski. Plot The film is set during the occupation of Poland during World War II. T ...

'')

Legacy

Weigl continued his research on typhus after the war. After his death, his studies were picked up by his friends, students, and his second wife, Anna-Herzig Weigl. Rudolf Weigl was posthumously awarded the medal of

Righteous among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

by the

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

in 2003. His contributions to saving lives during the Nazi German occupation of Poland have been compared to those of

Oskar Schindler Oskar Schindler (; 28 April 1908 – 9 October 1974) was a German industrialist, humanitarian, and member of the Nazi Party who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and amm ...

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , title=History of Banach spaces and linear operators , publisher=Birkhäuser , author=Pietsch, Albrecht , authorlink=Albrecht Pietsch , year=2007 , page=638 , isbn=978-0-8176-4367-6 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMorKHumdZAC&q=Banach+survived+the+war&pg=PA638 {{cite book , title=Murderous medicine: Nazi doctors, human experimentation, and Typhus , publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group , author=Baumslag, Naomi , year=2005 , pag
133
, isbn=978-0-275-98312-3 , url=https://archive.org/details/murderousmedicin0000baum/page/133 {{Cite book , first=Roman , last=Kałuża , authorlink=Roman Kałuża , title=Through a reporter's eyes: The life of Stefan Banach , publisher=Birkhäuser , year=1996 , isbn=978-0-8176-3772-9 , url =https://books.google.com/books?id=i3ZrfMinChkC&q=Stefan+Banach , others =Ann Konstant {{cite web , url=http://www.lwow.com.pl/m.htm , title=Dlaczego Stefan Banach? , publisher=Moj Lwow , work=www.lwow.com , access-date=29 February 2012 {{cite web, url=http://www.lwow.home.pl/Weigl/human.html , author=Stefan Krynski , title= Rudolf Weigl (1883–1957) , publisher=Lwow.home.pl , date=11 August 1957 , access-date=17 February 2012 {{cite book , title=Herbert. A to Polska właśnie , publisher=Wydawnictwo Slaskie , author=Łukasiewicz, Jacek , page=20 , isbn=978-83-7023-889-6 , year=2001 {{cite web, url=http://lwow.home.pl/weigl/in-memoriam.html , author=Waclaw Szybalski, title=The genius of Rudolf Stefan Weigl (1883–1957), a Lvovian microbe hunter and breeder – In Memoriam , publisher=Lwow.home.pl , date= , access-date=17 February 2012 {{cite book , title=Stefan Banach. Remarkable Life, Brilliant Mathematics , editor-last1=Jakimowicz , editor-first1=Emilia , editor-last2=Mironowicz , editor-first2=Adam , publisher=Gdansk University Press , year=2011 , location=Gdansk , pages=17, 21 , isbn=978-83-7326-827-2 {{cite book, author1=Irwin W. Sherman, author2=American Society for Microbiology, date=2006, title=The power of plagues, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LOjqWL-u9VMC&pg=PA122, publisher=Wiley-Blackwell, page=122, isbn=978-1-55581-356-7, access-date=19 February 2012 {{cite web, url=http://www.lwow.com.pl/semper/weigl2.html , title=Rudolf Stefan Weigl. Profesor Rudolf Weigl był Polakiem z wyboru. , publisher=Lwow.com.pl , date= , access-date=17 February 2012 {{cite book , title=When food kills: BSE, E. coli, and disaster science , publisher=Oxford University Press , author=Pennington, Thomas Hugh , year=2003 , pag
190
, isbn=978-0-19-852517-2 , url=https://archive.org/details/whenfoodkillsbse0000penn, url-access=registration , quote=Rudolf Weigl Schindler. {{Cite web , url=http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/pdf/virtial_wall/poland.pdf , title=Righteous Among the Nations Honored by Yad Vashem By 1 January 2011. Poland , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120817165333/http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/pdf/virtial_wall/poland.pdf , archive-date=17 August 2012 , website=Yad Vashem

External links

Lice Rickettsioses Nazi war crimes in Poland Bioethics Nazi human subject research Animal testing Obsolete occupations