EUGENE LAZOWSKI – THE DOCTOR WHO FOOLED THE NAZIS
At the peak time of the dictatorship of the Nazis, one man had the audacity to launch an attack on them without firing a single bullet or resorting to violence.
It was in the year 1939 when Eugene Lazowski was captured by the Nazis. However, he was still lucky compared to other prisoners as he was shipped to a war camp instead of gassed at the concentration camp. After 3 years in the camp as a prisoner, one night, Lazowski spotted a hole in the barbed wire. He took his chance and fortunately escaped the prison and returned to Rozwadow, his hometown.
He joined the Red Cross and started providing medical help to the Jews, being very well aware that, if found, it was a crime punishable by death. Lazowski chalked out an intelligent plan. He would charge exorbitant rates for medicines and first aid to non-Jewish people, save that money and purchase medicine for the Jews. He also created a way of communication with the Jews in hideouts. A white rag near his fence would indicate a Jew who was not keeping well, and Lazowski would slip out at night to treat them.
In 1942, Lazowski found an ingenious method to save many Jews. It so happened that a young local visited him by the end of 1942. He was granted a 2-week leave, and now that his leave was ending, it was time for him to return to the camps. He was unwilling to go back as life there was worse than dying. He was also not willing to take his life. He wanted to live. Looking at his helplessness, Lazowski decided to do something for him. But no ordinary way would have worked, they would have been eventually caught by the Nazis, which would mean certain death.
Lazowski was aware that another good friend of his Dr. Matulewicz had once shared a hypothesis that if a vaccine with dead typhus bacteria were injected into a person, then the person would test positive without actually him being sick. Lazowski asked the young man if he would give it a shot. He also said that the result was not in his hands and it could not result in his death, and something like this was not performed earlier on human beings. The young man readily agreed as he felt this option was much better than living in the ghettos as a slave and waiting for his turn to die eventually.
The trial was done. The doctors took the sample and sent it to the German labs. The result was ‘positive’. The Nazis were terrified of the epidemic. The young man was forbidden to return to the camp. The plan was a success, and the man’s life was saved.
Taking a clue from this, Lazowski and his like-minded friends set out to infect the entire town with dead typhus. The German Public Heath Authority, under the impression that the entire town was infected, declared the town as an ‘epidemic area’ and thus, with his creative brilliance and compassion for people, Eugene Lazowski was able to save the entire town from the atrocities of the Nazis.
Great outcomes are often a result of having the courage to try new things. Unfortunately, it is mostly in crisis that we tend to look for solutions beyond the “normal”. Otherwise, we tend to go with “time-tested” solutions. And many times, they do not give optimal results, as each context and situation is different. We must build the ability to use our experiences and knowledge to come up with new solutions. Doing the same things again and again will not produce different outcomes.
Credits and suggested further reading:
https://histori.id/dr-eugene-lazowski-hero-of-the-holocaust/
https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-doctors-who-fooled-the-nazis-by-creating-a-fake-epidemic-a7128a23f5d3