Typhus

There were several outbreaks of Typhus at Stalag VIIIB (344) Lamsdorf, and at VIIIF, the Soviet POW’s camp. The difference was that at VIIIB the medical officers enforced what would now be called a lock-down.

A lot of the British and other Commonwealth POWs had been inoculated before arriving at Lamsdorf. Almost all British prisoners of war had had TAB inoculations before entering Germany.

Those passing through the prisoner-of-war hospital in Athens in 1941 were all re-inoculated, and thereafter, each May in most camps all the POWs were inoculated.

In the 1941 outbreak at Lamsdorf all the POWs in Stalag VIIIB and all patients of the Lazarett were completely shaven and deloused; arrangements were made with the Germans for isolation, disinfection and improved facilities for personal hygiene. In all, only eighteen `British` at Lamsdorf developed typhus, three, including one medical officer, succumbing.

In 1942, the Red Cross reported that 22 British were attacked by this disease, and three of them died.

In 1943 the Red Cross reported the inoculation of all personnel against typhus, small-pox, tetanus and exanthematic typhus.

At VIIIF, virtually nothing was done for the Soviet and Polish POWs, and large numbers were just left to die of typhus. At Stalag IID the Soviet, Polish, African, Arabic and Jewish POWs were separated from POWs of other nationalities, so it would not seem unlikely that those buried in the mass grave were also victims of this disease.