Erich Traub facts for kids

Erich Traub (born June 27, 1906 – died May 18, 1985) was a German veterinarian and scientist. He was a virologist, meaning he studied viruses. He focused on animal diseases like foot-and-mouth disease, Rinderpest, and Newcastle disease.

During World War II, Traub was a member of the National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK), a group linked to the Nazis. He worked as a lab chief on Riems Island, which was a main research center for animal viruses in Germany. After the war, in 1949, Traub was brought to the United States as part of a program called Operation Paperclip. This program aimed to use German scientific knowledge and prevent it from falling into Soviet hands.

Erich Traub's Scientific Journey

Early Research and War Years

In the 1930s, Erich Traub studied at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New Jersey, USA. He worked on vaccines and viruses, including the pseudorabies virus. During his time in the U.S., he and his wife were part of the German American Bund, a German-American club that supported Nazi ideas.

From 1938 to 1942, Traub worked at the University of Giessen in Germany. He was also a member of the Nazi NSKK during these years.

Work at Riems Island

From 1942 to 1948, Traub was a lab chief at the Reich Research Institute for Virus Diseases of Animals on Riems Island. This island is in the Baltic Sea and is now called the Friedrich Loeffler Institute. The institute studied animal diseases, especially foot-and-mouth disease.

During World War II, the Riems Island facility was used for some biological warfare experiments. This means they researched how to use germs to harm enemies, specifically focusing on animal diseases. Traub worked on weaponizing the foot-and-mouth disease virus. There were reports that this virus was spread by aircraft onto cattle in Russia. He also tried to get a Rinderpest virus strain from Turkey, but it wasn't strong enough for use.

After World War II

After the war, Traub was in the part of Germany controlled by the Soviet Union. He was forced to continue his work for the Soviets on Riems Island. In 1948, the British moved him from the island because they worried he was helping the Soviets with their biological warfare program. Traub, however, said he was only interested in foot-and-mouth disease in animals.

Coming to the United States

In 1949, Traub came to the United States through Operation Paperclip. This program brought German scientists to the U.S. to use their knowledge and keep it from the Soviet Union. From 1949 to 1953, he worked at the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

Traub also met with U.S. scientists from Fort Detrick, which was the Army’s main biological warfare center. He shared details about his secret work on Riems Island during and after the war. This information helped Fort Detrick set up its own animal disease lab on Plum Island.

During his time in the U.S., Traub published research on diseases like Newcastle Disease virus in chickens. He also studied how chickens become immune to Newcastle disease and worked on ways to quickly adapt the foot-and-mouth disease virus.

Traub also worked as an expert on foot-and-mouth disease for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. He worked in Bogota, Colombia (1951-1952), Tehran, Iran (1963-1967), and Ankara, Turkey (1969-1971).

Returning to Germany

Tombstone

After working for the U.S. Navy, Traub went back to Germany in 1953. He started a new branch of the Loeffler Institut in Tübingen and led it until 1963. He later resigned from his director role due to financial issues but continued some lab research for a few more years.

In 1964, Traub published a study for the Army Biological labs in Frederick, Maryland. This study was about immunity to Eastern Equine Encephalomyeltitis (EEE) in white mice.

He retired from the West German government service in 1971. In 1972, he received an honorary doctorate degree in Veterinary Medicine from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. This award recognized his important work in virology, including his research on foot-and-mouth disease and the development of vaccines.

Erich Traub passed away in his sleep on May 18, 1985, in West Germany. He was 78 years old.

Research on Biological Weapons

During World War II, several countries, including Germany, Japan, Britain, and the U.S., researched how to use diseases as weapons. This included studying how insects could spread diseases. For example, Japan used insect-borne diseases against people in China.

This research led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to create an American biological warfare program in 1942, based at Fort Detrick in Maryland. This facility grew very large and even had a department that mass-produced insects like flies and mosquitoes to carry diseases.

Plum Island and Animal Diseases

Erich Traub visited the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) in New York several times in the 1950s. This facility studied animal diseases like foot-and-mouth disease, which was Traub's specialty.

Fort Terry on Plum Island was part of the U.S. biological warfare program from 1944 to 1946, focusing on animal testing. After the war, research on biological weapons continued at other U.S. sites. From 1949, Plum Island also worked on biological weapons that could affect animals and livestock. This included diseases like foot-and-mouth disease, Rinderpest, and Newcastle disease. Traub's research during and after World War II involved these types of animal diseases.