Alfred Balachowsky
Encyclopedia
Alfred Serge Balachowsky (15 August 1901, Karotcha /Kursk
- 1983 Paris
) was a French
entomologist born in Russia
. He specialised in Homoptera
: Coccoidea but also worked on Coleoptera. Balachowsky worked at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
. In 1948 he was elected president of the Société entomologique de France
.
Balachowsky was part of the Prosper Network
in Paris during WWII, a spy network run by the British SOE. After the network was infiltrated and betrayed, Balachowsky was arrested and ultimately imprisoned at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp
outside Weimar, Germany. There, he was put to work developing a vaccine for typhus
. He also went to work helping the various underground groups
inside the camp and established a network of contacts who fed him information from the camp's commanders. Along with Eugen Kogon
, Balachowsky was instrumental in the survival of several British SOE
officers who were among a group sent to Buchenwald for execution. Most of the group were murdered there, but several, most notably Edward Yeo-Thomas
, Harry Peulevé
and Stéphane Hessel
, escaped through the help of Balachowsky and his staff who helped them impersonate typhus patients in their test group. It is also believed that Balachowsky had a hand in getting 168 Allied airmen
including Phil Lamason
imprisoned in Buchenwald out of the camp and into the hands of the German Luftwaffe
just days before they were set to be executed.
After the war, Balachowsky testified at the Nuremberg Trials
.
Kursk
Kursk is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym Rivers. The area around Kursk was site of a turning point in the Russian-German struggle during World War II and the site of the largest tank battle in history...
- 1983 Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
entomologist born in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. He specialised in Homoptera
Homoptera
Homoptera is a deprecated suborder of order Hemiptera; recent morphological studies and DNA analysis strongly suggests that the order is paraphyletic. It was therefore split into the suborders Sternorrhyncha, Auchenorrhyncha, and Coleorrhyncha....
: Coccoidea but also worked on Coleoptera. Balachowsky worked at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
The Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle is the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France.- History :The museum was formally founded on 10 June 1793, during the French Revolution...
. In 1948 he was elected president of the Société entomologique de France
Société entomologique de France
The Société entomologique de France, or French Entomological Society, is devoted to the study of insects. It was founded in 1832.The society was created by eighteen Parisian entomologists on January 31, 1832...
.
Balachowsky was part of the Prosper Network
SOE F Section networks
These are the networks, also known as circuits, established in France by F Section of the British Special Operations Executive during the Second World War...
in Paris during WWII, a spy network run by the British SOE. After the network was infiltrated and betrayed, Balachowsky was arrested and ultimately imprisoned at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
outside Weimar, Germany. There, he was put to work developing a vaccine for typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
. He also went to work helping the various underground groups
Buchenwald Resistance
The Buchenwald Resistance was a resistance group of prisoners at Buchenwald concentration camp. It involved Communists, Social Democrats, and people affiliated with other political parties, unaffiliated people, and Christians. Because Buchenwald prisoners came from a number of countries, the...
inside the camp and established a network of contacts who fed him information from the camp's commanders. Along with Eugen Kogon
Eugen Kogon
Eugen Kogon was a historian and a survivor of the Holocaust. A well-known Christian opponent of the Nazi Party, he was arrested more than once and spent six years at Buchenwald concentration camp. Kogon was known in Germany as a journalist, sociologist, political scientist, author and politician...
, Balachowsky was instrumental in the survival of several British SOE
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
officers who were among a group sent to Buchenwald for execution. Most of the group were murdered there, but several, most notably Edward Yeo-Thomas
F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas
Wing Commander Forest Frederick Edward "Tommy" Yeo-Thomas, GC, MC & Bar, Croix de guerre , Commandeur of the Légion d'honneur, was the British Special Operations Executive agent codenamed "The White Rabbit" during World War II...
, Harry Peulevé
Harry Peulevé
Henri Leonard Thomas Peulevé DSO, MC was an agent of the Special Operations Executive , who undertook two missions in occupied France and escaped from Buchenwald concentration camp.-Early life:...
and Stéphane Hessel
Stéphane Hessel
Stéphane Frédéric Hessel is a diplomat, ambassador, writer, concentration camp survivor, former French Resistance fighter and BCRA agent. Born German, he became a naturalised French citizen in 1939...
, escaped through the help of Balachowsky and his staff who helped them impersonate typhus patients in their test group. It is also believed that Balachowsky had a hand in getting 168 Allied airmen
KLB Club
The KLB Club was formed on 12 October 1944, and included the 168 allied airmen who were held prisoner at Buchenwald concentration camp between 20 August and 19 October 1944...
including Phil Lamason
Phil Lamason
Phillip John Lamason DFC & Bar was a pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force during the Second World War, who rose to prominence as the senior officer in charge of 168 Allied airmen taken to Buchenwald concentration camp, Germany, in August 1944...
imprisoned in Buchenwald out of the camp and into the hands of the German Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
just days before they were set to be executed.
After the war, Balachowsky testified at the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
.
Works
Partial list- Etude biologique des coccidies du bassin occidental de la Méditerranée(1932).PhD. thesis
- With Louis Mesnil Les insectes nuisibles aux plantes cultivées. Leurs moeurs. Leur destruction. Traité d’entomologie agricole concernant la France, la Corse, l’Afrique du Nord et les régions limitrophes. Tom 1. 1137 pp. Paris
- Faune de France, Volume 50: Coléoptères Scolytides 320 pages, 300 b/w line illus.(1949)
- Entomologie appliquée a l`agriculture. Traité. Tome I. Coléoptères. Maison et Cie Éditeurs, Paris, 1391 pp.(1963)
External links
- Pasteur Institute Biography
- Australian Faunal Directory Partial list of publications on Coccoidea
- http://home.earthlink.net/~mrstephenson_umsl/noor/mission.html Story on Balachowsky's involvement with Prosper Network in Paris
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlU6lLnkXjI Video of Balachowsky testifying at Nuremberg