title: Public health in the Vilna Ghetto as a form of Jewish resistance.
abstract: We describe the system of public health that evolved in the Vilna Ghetto as an illustrative example of Jewish innovation and achievement during the Holocaust. Furthermore, we argue that by cultivating a sophisticated system of public health, the ghetto inmates enacted a powerful form of Jewish resistance, directly thwarting the intention of the Nazis to eliminate the inhabitants by starvation, epidemic, and exposure. In doing so, we aim to highlight applicable lessons for the broader public health literature. We hope that this unique story may gain its rightful place in the history of public health as an insightful case study of creative and progressive solutions to universal health problems in one of the most challenging environments imaginable.
authors.affiliation: Mckenna Longacre is a student at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Leonard Glantz is with Health Law, Bioethics and Human Rights, School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, MA. Solon Beinfeld is with the Department of History, Washington University, St. Louis, MO. Sabine Hildebrandt is with Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Michael A. Grodin is with Health Law, Bioethics and Human Rights, School of Public Health and Medicine, Boston, and Boston University Project on Medicine and the Holocaust Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Mckenna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Longacre
authors.forename: Solon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Beinfeld
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hildebrandt
authors.forename: Leonard
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Glantz
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Grodin
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000266:history; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D017767:Holocaust / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D007585:Jews / Q000266:history*; D008097:Lithuania; D028683:National Socialism / Q000266:history; D011634:Public Health / Q000266:history*; D012499:Sanitation / Q000266:history