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The Fantastic Laboratory of Dr. Weigl: How Two Brave Scientists Battled Typhus and Sabotaged the Nazis Hardcover – July 21, 2014

by Arthur Allen (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 155 ratings
Editors' pick Best History
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From a laboratory in wartime Poland comes a fascinating story of anti-Nazi resistance and scientific ingenuity.

Few diseases are more gruesome than typhus. Transmitted by body lice, it afflicts the dispossessed―refugees, soldiers, and ghettoized peoples―causing hallucinations, terrible headaches, boiling fever, and often death. The disease plagued the German army on the Eastern Front and left the Reich desperate for a vaccine. For this they turned to the brilliant and eccentric Polish zoologist Rudolf Weigl.

In the 1920s, Weigl had created the first typhus vaccine using a method as bold as it was dangerous for its use of living human subjects. The astonishing success of Weigl’s techniques attracted the attention and admiration of the world―giving him cover during the Nazi’s violent occupation of Lviv. His lab soon flourished as a hotbed of resistance. Weigl hired otherwise doomed mathematicians, writers, doctors, and other thinkers, protecting them from atrocity. The team engaged in a sabotage campaign by sending illegal doses of the vaccine into the Polish ghettos while shipping gallons of the weakened serum to the Wehrmacht.

Among the scientists saved by Weigl, who was a Christian, was a gifted Jewish immunologist named Ludwik Fleck. Condemned to Buchenwald and pressured to re-create the typhus vaccine under the direction of a sadistic Nazi doctor, Erwin Ding-Schuler, Fleck had to make an awful choice between his scientific ideals or the truth of his conscience. In risking his life to carry out a dramatic subterfuge to vaccinate the camp’s most endangered prisoners, Fleck performed an act of great heroism.

Drawing on extensive research and interviews with survivors, Arthur Allen tells the harrowing story of two brave scientists―a Christian and a Jew― who put their expertise to the best possible use, at the highest personal danger.

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  1. Print length
    400 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    W. W. Norton & Company
  4. Publication date
    July 21, 2014
  5. Dimensions
    6.6 x 1.3 x 9.6 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    039308101X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0393081015
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"If there could be no poetry after Auschwitz, could there be any pure science or medicine? In this excellent and disturbing work, Arthur Allen brings to light an extraordinary story of medical research amid horror. Among the fascinating characters in this history, we encounter one of the great founders of the sociology of science, Ludwik Fleck, and the depraved thought collectives he endured, ones that equated lice and disease with a people and their extermination. Unforgettable."
― George Makari, author of Revolution in Mind: The Creation of Psychoanalysis

"The amazing story of Jewish prisoner-scientists in Buchenwald who made a vaccine against one of history’s greatest killers: typhus. Their untold secret--they provided the real vaccine to camp inmates but a fake one to German troops at the Eastern Front. Arthur Allen’s thriller is a combination of Microbe Hunters, Schindler’s List, and The Twilight Zone. I couldn’t put it down."
― Paul A. Offit, M.D.

"With masterful attention to detail, Arthur Allen has assembled a story of tragedy, courage, and scientific creativity. A fantastic laboratory, and a fantastic book."
― Nathan Guttman, Washington bureau chief, The Forward

"An outstanding history of the pursuit of a vaccine by persons at great risk from the Nazis, and a human story of science and medicine amid the atrocities of World War II. The science is accurate, but of far greater interest is the history of this period and hopefully the lessons it has for our future."
― Dr. Walter Orenstein, former director, National Immunization Program, CDC

"A captivating story of ethics during wartime and the perils of working with the enemy."
― Publishers Weekly

"Allen is unflinching in his retelling of this monstrous era, but he manages to avoid writing a depressing narrative. Instead, Weigl, Fleck and their vaccines illuminate the inherent social complexities of science and truth and reinforce the overriding good of man. An unforgettable book."
― Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"Fascinating."
― Tilli Tansey, Nature

"Wholly surprising and affecting."
― Jonathan Kirsch, Jewish Journal

"Painfully thought-provoking … [Allen] writes without sanctimony and never simplifies the people in his book or the moral issues his story inevitably raises."
― Howard Schneider, Wall Street Journal

"Allen’s vivid depictions of the scientific community before and during the war and the treacherous parallel paths Weigl and Fleck traversed―gleaned in part from interviews with Holocaust survivors―are stirring. Considering all the energy channeled into mere survival, Allen’s book makes you wonder what pinnacles of research might have been achieved by now, if not for the march of war."
― Laura Fischer Kaiser, ScienceNews

About the Author

Arthur Allen has written for the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post, The Atlantic, the Associated Press, Science, and Slate. His books include Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine’s Greatest Lifesaver. He lives in Washington, where he writes about health for Politico.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 21, 2014
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 039308101X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393081015
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.6 x 1.3 x 9.6 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 155 ratings

About the author

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Arthur Allen

Arthur Allen

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Arthur Allen was born in Cincinnati, educated at UC-Berkeley, and began his career as a foreign correspondent for The Associated Press in Mexico and Central America. He later worked in Europe before moving to Washington where he has written about science, medicine and health for the past 20 years. He is currently an editor and reporter at POLITICO, where he writes about health and technology.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
155 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this book to be a fascinating story of science and an interesting WWII narrative. However, the readability receives mixed feedback, with some customers finding it a wonderful read while others mention it can be hard to follow at some points.

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31 customers mention "Story quality"26 positive5 negative

Customers find the book's story engaging, describing it as a fascinating account of science and an interesting WWII narrative.

"...This was an intriguing presentation of one of the many diseases that has played an important role in a pivot point in history." Read more

"...the camps and conditions, as well as the Nazi regime in general, are shocking, detailed, and graphic." Read more

"...presentation of the sociology of science is carefully done in an informative way that helps explain the fallacy of Nazi science--not just that it..." Read more

"...This is the fascinating story how through treacherous and dangerous conditions that could have had them murdered at any moment, kept Nazis at bay..." Read more

31 customers mention "Readability"20 positive11 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's readability, with some finding it a wonderful and amazing read, while others mention it can be hard to follow at some points.

"...Truly Amazing book." Read more

"...The presentation of the sociology of science is carefully done in an informative way that helps explain the fallacy of Nazi science--not just that..." Read more

"...The subject matter is of course very disturbing and appalling, as the book's main focus is WWII, but the book is still a great read...." Read more

"...The book is a good idea but a missed delivery." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • England
    5.0 out of 5 stars Truly Amazing book
    Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I had sheilded myself my whole life from any more detail of the holocaust than I had to have, because it is so painful.
    This book allowed me to bear witness to the attitudes and events that led up to the holocaust in a way that made it bearable, even rewarding to know about.
    Typhus. Even though I'm a nurse, I had NO idea that this dramatic disease existed and was spread by human body lice!
    Hatred, fear & inhumane policies that came from them literally exacerbated the occurance and spread of the very disease they were afraid of.
    It was revealing to read the attitudes and the rhetoric regarding Poles, Jews and Gypsies because they sound eerily familiar to today's anti-poor, anti-refugee & anti-immigrant rhetoric.
    I learned about Ludwig Fleck who had a shrewed mind for how science works and was ahead of his time.
    There is irony that is not lost on me that a vaccine could have an effect on the outcome of a world war - both in terms of providing false vaccine to Nazi troops which failed to protect them from loss of lives, as well as providing real vaccines to those held captive in slums and camps (and to people who were tending to the sick in those areas). With today's anti-vaccine beliefs, this reality is a hard hitting example of what vaccines really do.

    It was hard at times to follow the stories in the book because it jumped around to talk about different people, and to some extent also jumped around in time, plus there are a lot of names! But it was not bad enough that I couldn't follow nor did it diminsh my appreciation for larger story being told.
    Truly Amazing book.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Michelle Boytim
    4.0 out of 5 stars A history of typhus, a vaccine, and its role in the defeat of the Nazis
    Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    This book tells the intriguing history of typhus and its impact on World War 2, particularly for Nazi Germany. Dr. Weigl, a Polish physician-scientist, was the first to create a vaccine for this disease, carried by lice, and having a devastating impact on human health, particularly in limited hygiene conditions. His process was harrowing, difficult and required human volunteers to act as feeders. His lab became a key center for the resistance movement, and provided a source of vaccine for those fighting against the Nazis and for those being oppressed in the ghettos. His lab saved many of the educated members of society that would have been doomed by the occupation, including other scientists, writers, and professors. He provided work and a safe refuge for many, one of them, a Jewish immunologist named Ludwik Fleck. Captured by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp, he was pulled in by the Nazis to help create another source for vaccines. He used his difficult position to help others within the camp, secretly inoculating those most at risk. This was an intriguing presentation of one of the many diseases that has played an important role in a pivot point in history.
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  • Camp Runamok
    5.0 out of 5 stars A must read
    Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2016
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    We always hear that disease kills more soldiers than bullets, and the king of battlefield diseases was typhus, passed along by body lice. Weigl was a Pole of German descent. Fleck was an imprisoned Jewish scientist. Both were working on vaccines for typhus. The book describes the work they did on vaccines for the Nazis, and how they risked their lives to save those interned in the Nazi Ghettos and camps - primarily Buchenwald and Auschwitz. And we learn how Fleck fooled the Nazis by producing a vaccine he knew did nothing, while at the same time making a real vaccine for laboratory workers and prisoners. As well, the experiments done by Weigl and Fleck initiated the post war discussion and codification of how human trials should be conducted. This book, as one would expect, is full of sharp edges. The descriptions of the camps and conditions, as well as the Nazi regime in general, are shocking, detailed, and graphic.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Jessica
    4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting, quick and easy read
    Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2015
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Disclaimer: I am an immunologist, so the topic of this book was probably more interesting to me than to most people, but I'll still try to give an objective review.

    I purchased this book after hearing a discussion of it on NPR. The author did a good job of detailing the development of a typhus vaccine during WWII as well as including the related atrocities committed by the Nazis. The subject matter is of course very disturbing and appalling, as the book's main focus is WWII, but the book is still a great read. It was very interesting to read how this type of science was done with limited means in harsh times.

    If you're interested in the history of medical research or WWII, this book will be of definite interest to you.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • jh836
    3.0 out of 5 stars I have found it to read more like my old text books instead of an interesting story
    Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2014
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    I am very interested in this story but I have not made it far into it yet. I have found it to read more like my old text books instead of an interesting story.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Emmabess1
    5.0 out of 5 stars An Enlightening, Appalling, Spellbinding Book
    Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2014
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    While I had heard of Typhus, I had no idea what a scourge it was nor how terrible it's course could be. Besides learning about a disease that killed millions over the millennia, The Fantastic Laboratory of Dr. Weigl presents the stories of two brilliant researchers who also thought deeply about their work. The presentation of the sociology of science is carefully done in an informative way that helps explain the fallacy of Nazi science--not just that it relied on brutal human-based research (which is reason enough in my eyes)--but that it was based on proving a political world view, one that in the Nazis' minds could not be really be challenged. The fact that these two men and their incredible courage during a time beyond terror have been forgotten is situation that Arthur Allen remedies in a spellbinding book. Interested in medical research, human courage, World War II? This book will both appall and enlighten you.
    10 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Andrew N
    5.0 out of 5 stars Hideous bloodthirsty monsters
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 5, 2020
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Hideous bloodthirsty monsters
    Being a biochemist and the son of a Pole who was imprisoned in Russia and then ethnically cleansed from near Lwow, this book about the wartime experiences of two microbiologists from the same city was instantly fascinating. Living in a world of daily showers and frequent changes of clean clothes, I had almost never heard of Typhus, except that I vaguely remembered that Anne Frank tragically died of it in Auschwitz just before it was liberated. What I never imagined was that Typhus was endemic in the unwashed masses of Europe, especially Russia, that it killed twenty percent of its victims and that it was transmitted by body lice, which also invariably died of the disease. Ever since WW1, Dr Rudolf Weigl, and his group of gifted scientists including Dr Ludwik Fleck – a Jew – were studying Typhus in lice and started using the inactivated proteins from the guts of infected lice as the first and most effective vaccine. But lice can only be maintained by feeding on live humans, and deliberately infected lice can only be grown and harvested from humans who have become immune to Typhus. Hence, Dr Weigl’s factory consisted of volunteer lice feeders who strapped sealed cages to their legs. Once WWII started, every army wanted vaccine and Weigl was courted in turn by the Russian and German commanders as they swept across Poland. Weigl never refused to help. Was he a humanitarian or a collaborator who lengthened the war while saving his skin and those of his staff which came to include many of the most gifted faculty members? Heroically, he sent vaccine secretly to the ghettos where it prolonged the lives of many Jews. Fleck fared worse than Weigl: he was first confined to the ghetto, then sent to Auschwitz and finally Buchenwald, escaping death by pretending to produce effective vaccine for the SS. Arthur Allen does not flinch from recounting the ghastly details of concentration camp life, nor from condemning those responsible. He does however try to differentiate degrees of inhumanity in Weigl’s and Fleck’s minders. Neither does he whitewash post-war anti-Semitism in Poland, but, despite that, there is much nobility of spirit recorded in this book to inspire readers of any nationality.
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  • Dr D.
    4.0 out of 5 stars Some aspects are very interesting. I especially wanted to ...
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 17, 2014
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Some aspects are very interesting. I especially wanted to read about Ludwik Fleck and his philosophy of science, which had a strong influence on Thomas Kuhn.
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