View source for Eugene Lazowski

{{Short description|Polish medical doctor}}
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{{Infobox person
| name               = Eugeniusz Łazowski
| image              = Eugene (Eugeniusz) Lazowski, Poland.jpg
| alt                = Eugeniusz Łazowski, Poland
| caption            = Eugeniusz Łazowski, Poland
| birth_date         = {{Birth year|1913}}
| birth_place        = [[Częstochowa]], [[Poland]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|2006|12|16 |1913 |mf=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Eugene, Oregon]], [[United States]]
| nationality        = Polish
| alma_mater         = [[University of Warsaw|Józef Piłsudski University]]
| occupation         = Doctor
}}

'''Eugene Lazowski''' born '''Eugeniusz Sławomir Łazowski''' (1913 in [[Częstochowa]], [[Poland]] – December 16, 2006 in [[Eugene, Oregon]], [[United States]]) was a [[Polish people|Polish]] [[medical doctor]] who saved thousands of people during World War II by creating a fake [[epidemic]] which played on [[Germans|German]] phobias about [[hygiene]]. He also used his position as a doctor treating people travelling through a nearby train station to conceal his supply of medicine to Jews in the local ghetto, which backed on to his home. By doing this, he risked the [[death penalty]], which was applied to [[Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust|Poles who helped Jews in the Holocaust]].

==World War II==
Before the onset of [[World War II]] Eugeniusz Łazowski obtained a medical degree at the [[Józef Piłsudski University of Warsaw|Józef Piłsudski University]] in [[Warsaw, Poland]]. During World War II Łazowski served as a [[Polish Army]] Second [[Lieutenant]] on a [[Red Cross]] train, then as a military doctor of the Polish resistance [[Home Army]]. Following the [[History of Poland (1939–1945)|German occupation]] of Poland Łazowski resided in Rozwadów with his wife and young daughter. Łazowski spent time in a [[prisoner-of-war camp]] prior to his arrival in the town, where he reunited with his family and began practicing medicine with his medical-school friend Dr Stanisław Matulewicz. Using a medical discovery by Matulewicz, that healthy people could be injected with a strain of Proteus that would make them test positive for typhus without experiencing the disease, Łazowski created a fake outbreak of [[epidemic typhus]] in and around the town of [[Rozwadów]] (now a district of [[Stalowa Wola]]), which the Germans then quarantined. This saved an estimated 8,000 people from being sent to German [[concentration camp]]s during the [[Holocaust]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20061220/ai_n17079978/pg_1 |title=Chicago's 'Schindler' who saved 8,000 Poles from Nazis dies Chicago Sun-Times - Find Articles |website=findarticles.com |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030214848/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20061220/ai_n17079978/pg_1 |archive-date=30 October 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Later life==
In 1958, Lazowski emigrated to the [[United States]] on a scholarship from the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] and in 1976 became [[professor]] of [[pediatrics]] at the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]]. He wrote a [[memoir]] entitled ''Prywatna wojna'' (My Private War) which was reprinted several times, as well as over a hundred scientific [[dissertation]]s.<ref name="A-P">Andrzej Pityński, {{cite web |url=http://www.muzeum.stalowawola.pl/amerykanska_wspolpraca/wspolpraca/lazowski.htm |title=Short biography of Eugeniusz Łazowski |accessdate=2009-04-03 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111195534/http://www.muzeum.stalowawola.pl/amerykanska_wspolpraca/wspolpraca/lazowski.htm |archivedate=November 11, 2007 }}. ''Museum of [[Stalowa Wola]]'', 2007. {{in lang|pl}} Retrieved {{nobreak|August 3, 2012.}}</ref>

Lazowski retired from practice in the late 1980s. He died in 2006 in [[Eugene, Oregon]], where he had been living with his daughter.<ref name="A-G">Art Golab, {{cite web |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20061220/ai_n17079978/pg_1 |title=Chicago's 'Schindler' who saved 8,000 Jews from the Holocaust |accessdate=2017-10-05 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030214848/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20061220/ai_n17079978/pg_1 |archivedate=October 30, 2007 }} Chicago Sun-Times, Dec 20, 2006.</ref>

== In popular culture ==

In 2001, [[Ryan Bank]] began work on documentary about Lazowski entitled ''A Private War'', filming Lazowski's visit to Poland and recorded testimonies of people whose families were saved by the fake epidemic.<ref>Paula Davenport, Media & Communication Resources, {{cite web |url=http://perspect.siuc.edu/01_fall/documentary.html |title=Life Preserver |accessdate=2012-05-30 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720044324/http://perspect.siuc.edu/01_fall/documentary.html |archivedate=July 20, 2011 }}</ref> There is no evidence that the film was ever completed or released.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==

*[http://stjoenj.net/lazowski/lazowski.html He duped Nazis, saved thousands.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924110433/http://stjoenj.net/lazowski/lazowski.html |date=2015-09-24 }} Source: The Sun-Times Company
*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122224617/http://holocaustforgotten.com/eugene.htm |date=January 22, 2009 |title=Fake Epidemic Saves a Village from Nazis }}. Holocaustforgotten.com
*[http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/07/05/prsb0705.htm 2 doctors used typhus to save thousands in wartime]
*Paula Davenport, Media & Communication Resources, Southern Illinois University, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070605085937/http://www.siu.edu/~perspect/01_fall/documentary.html Life Preserver]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazowski, Eugene}}
[[Category:Polish military doctors]]
[[Category:Polish emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Polish people of World War II]]
[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:Polish people who rescued Jews during the Holocaust]]
[[Category:20th-century Polish physicians]]
[[Category:Polish pediatricians]]
[[Category:People from Częstochowa]]
[[Category:University of Warsaw alumni]]
[[Category:University of Illinois Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:American pediatricians]]