THE RUDOLF REPORT

5. AUSCHWITZ5.2. Epidemics and the Defense Against them5.2.1. Danger of Epidemics 97Before the era of modern warfare, it has always been taken forgranted that during a war epidemic disease caused more deaths amongthe soldiers and civilians than the use of weapons. It took the atomicbomb, deployed in a ruthless and criminal manner by the United Statesagainst unarmed people and in contravention of international law, tochange this assumption.The epidemic most feared in World War I at the eastern front wastyphus. 98 Typhus epidemics claimed uncounted thousands of livesamong German soldiers at the Russian front and could be preventedfrom spreading into German territory after the end of the war only bythe most rigorous of measures. Since that time, the danger of epidemicshas been taken seriously by medical and military offices and personnel.99For example, the German encyclopedia Der große Brockhaus, vol.VI of the 1930 Leipzig edition, contains a comprehensive article onepidemic typhus. This acute infectious disease is spread only by thebody louse: 100“The disease is caused by Rickettsia prowazeki (discovered in 1910by Ricketts and in 1913 by Prowazek), a micro-organism found in the intestinesand salivary glands of infected lice. […]Epidemic typhus occurs chiefly where unfavorable social and sanitaryconditions prevail: in dank overcrowded living quarters, hospitals,979899The following remarks are largely based on H.J. Nowak’s study, “Shortwave Delousing Facilitiesin Auschwitz”, in: E. Gauss (ed.), op. cit. (note 43), pp. 312-324 (online:www.vho.org/GB/Books/dth/fndNowak.html).Epidemic Typhus, which is also called European, Classic, or Louse-Borne Typhus, or JailFever, is a louse-borne disease caused by bacteria belonging to the Rickettsia group. WhereasTyphus is the term used in English to refer to all diseases caused by various Rickettsia bacteria,the German term is “Fleckfieber”, which, in English, is used only for one type of typhus,the so-called Rocky Montain Spotted Fever that is transferred by ticks; seehttp://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual/section13/chapter159/159a.htmO. von Schjerning, Handbuch der Ärztlichen Erfahrungen im Weltkrieg 1914/1918, volumeVII Hygiene, J. A. Barth Verlag, Leipzig 1922, in particular, pp. 266ff: “Sanierungsanstaltenan der Reichsgrenze”.100 The Brockhaus Encyclopedia refers to the article by A. Schittenhelm, “Flecktyphus” in Handbuchder Inneren Medizin, 2 nd ed., 1925.59