Smallpox epidemic in Wroclaw (1963) – The Ministry of the Interior and Administration Hospital, Wrocław

Fact of the Polish figure „Plague image in Culture”

Part of the „Pandemics” topic

In 1963, Wrocław was hit by a smallpox epidemic, the last in the country and one of the last in Europe. It was brought by an officer of the Security Service, returning from Asia and treated in the The Ministry of the Interior and Administration Hospital. The city was surrounded by a sanitary cordon and isolation facilities were created, but smallpox was transferred to four other provinces. When visiting patients, the staff wore characteristic protective clothing, covering the entire body – including glasses and rubber shoes. Due to the prevailing tension and the lack of sufficient information, rumours spread quickly – for example, the disinfection chamber was mistaken for a crematorium furnace. Despite the forecasts of the World Health Organization that the epidemic would take two years, it lasted only four months. As a result, almost a hundred people fell ill, seven of whom died.

Further reading:

Kacprowska K., Counteracting the smallpox epidemic in Poland in 1963, ,,Civitas et Lex” (2022), V. 35 No 3, p. 75-85.

Żuk Paweł, Żuk Piotr, One of the recent attacks of smallpox in Europe: A massive vaccination campaign during the epidemic in Wrocław in 1963, ,,Vaccine” (2019), V. 37 No 41, p. 6125-6121.