Alfred Serge Balachowsky (15 August 1901 – 24 December 1983) was a French

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

born in Russia. He specialised in

Coccoidea Scale insects are small insects of the Order (biology), order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient g ...

but also worked on

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

. Balachowsky worked at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (MNHN). In 1948 he was elected president of the

Société entomologique de France Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy p ...

. From 1962 to 1974 he was chair of Entomology at MNHN. Balachowsky was part of the Prosper Network in Paris during WWII, a spy network run by the British SOE. After the network was infiltrated and betrayed, Balachowsky was arrested and ultimately imprisoned at the

Buchenwald Concentration Camp Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Nazi Germany, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (pre-1938 ...

outside Weimar, Germany. Sent to Camp Dora on 1 February 1944, he was brought back to Buchenwald 1 May of the same year to work developing a vaccine for

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 ...

. He also went to work helping the various underground groups inside the camp and established a network of contacts who fed him information from the camp's commanders. Along with

Eugen Kogon Eugen Kogon (2 February 1903 – 24 December 1987) was a German historian and Nazi concentration camp survivor. A well-known Christian opponent of the Nazi Party, Kogon was arrested more than once and spent six years at Buchenwald concentration ...

, Balachowsky was instrumental in the survival of several British SOE officers who were among a group sent to Buchenwald for execution. Most of the group were murdered there, but several, most notably Edward Yeo-Thomas, Harry Peulevé and Free French agent

Stéphane Hessel Stéphane Frédéric Hessel (born Stefan Friedrich Kaspar Hessel; 20 October 1917 – 26 February 2013) was a French diplomat, ambassador, writer, concentration camp survivor, Resistance member and BCRA agent. Born German, he became a nat ...

, escaped through the help of Balachowsky and his staff who exchanged them for the bodies of typhus patients in their test group. It is also believed that Balachowsky had a hand in getting 168 imprisoned Allied airmen including Phil Lamason out of

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 into the hands of the German

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

just days before they were to be executed. After the war, Balachowsky testified at the

Nuremberg Trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...

Works

Partial list *''Étude biologique des coccidies du bassin occidental de la Méditerranée'' (1932). PhD. thesis Books *With Louis Mesnil ''Les insectes nuisibles aux plantes cultivées. Leurs moeurs. Leur destruction. Traité d’entomologie agricole concernant la France, la Corse, l’Afrique du Nord et les régions limitrophes''. Tom 1. 1137 pp. Paris *''Faune de France'', Volume 50: ''Coléoptères Scolytides'' 320 pages, 300 b/w line illus. (1949) *''Entomologie appliquée a l`agriculture. Traité''. Tome I. ''Coléoptères''. Maison et Cie Éditeurs, Paris, 1391 pp. (1963) Articles * * *

References

External links

Pasteur Institute Biography Australian Faunal Directory: Partial list of Balachowsky's publications
* 1901 births 1983 deaths 20th-century French zoologists Buchenwald concentration camp survivors Knights of the Legion of Honour Commanders of the Legion of Honour French entomologists Presidents of the Société entomologique de France French Resistance members Members of the French Academy of Sciences People from Korochansky District French Special Operations Executive personnel National Museum of Natural History (France) people {{entomologist-stub

See also

Works

References

External links