Typhus Epidemic in Upper Silesia (1847–1848), as Reported by Doctors

Abstract

The article is an attempt to reconstruct and describe a series of dramatic events
which took place in Upper Silesia in the times of the typhus outbreak, which raged

across a few counties in the years 1847–1848. The starting point are the written ac-
counts by a group of Upper Silesian doctors, who published a booklet reviewing

the causes and course of the epidemic, as well as fragments from a diary by Max

Ring, a doctor and writer residing in the Gliwice County. Both texts offer a medi-
cal, social and ethical perspective on the spread of the disease and – importantly

– help understand the socio-political relations prevalent in the region, as well as
the relations between the Prussian government, the Berlin metropolis and the
province-based officials. The report by a Berlin doctor, Rudolf Virchow, assigned
by the Ministry of Health to investigate the situation (1848), is an interesting way
to enhance the knowledge of the outbreak, of the regional health service and of
the difficult, unsolved problems of hygiene, education and social in equalities in

Upper Silesia. The article documents – on the one hand – the efforts of local doc-
tors to bring relief to the sick and – on the other hand – their commitment to the

reform of the health system, whose aim was to provide quality health service to the
poorest group of Upper Silesians.