Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
They also invented a remarkably simple method to store inactive bacte-
ria under field conditions without any loss of viability or virulence. This
breakthrough enabled them to develop ways of manufacturing choco-
late, toothpaste, and other domestic items contaminated with virulent
pathogens. Although most research was intended to produce an offensive
arsenal, elaborate plans to develop biological defense capabilities were
also formulated.
The Hungarians attempted to establish relations with German and Ital-
ian military medical institutes working in similar fields. However, they
never succeeded in finding an appropriate German connection, appar-
ently because such an organization did not exist in Germany.
2
An impor-
tant consequence of these efforts was that Professor Kliewe, a German
microbiologist who visited Budapest in 1944, could give detailed infor-
mation about the work carried out there when he was later interrogated
as a prisoner of war by US officials.
3
The Italian connection was more fruitful. A similar but larger research
program was led by Lieutenant Colonel Professor Raitano at a military
hospital in Rome. Scientists of the two institutes paid visits to each other
and exchanged information. This is the only available information about
the pre-1945 Italian biowarfare program; otherwise that project still re-
mains unknown to history.
The Health Control Station was destroyed on 4 April 1944, when the
Allied forces bombed Budapest heavily. The offensive biowarfare R&D
project had reached the highest scientific standards of those days, but
it was eliminated before it could reach the large-scale manufacturing
phase.
At the end of the war many soldiers and civilians were simply caught in
the streets and transported to the Soviet Union for a “little work,” that is,
for forced labor lasting several years. Colonel Bartos, who was among
them, probably kept his BW career secret during his stay in the Gulag.
However, soon after getting home he wrote a report on the BW program
to the Hungarian minister of defense.
4
His report provided detailed infor-
mation about the activities carried out at the former Health Control Sta-
tion. He suggested that in the Cold War it would be most advisable for the
Communist leadership to revitalize the project.
However, his proposal was apparently not accepted, and Bartos prac-
ticed medicine in Budapest until his death in the 1970s. We do not know
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