Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

In response to anti-Semitism and Russian oppression, a vaccine pioneer gave us new vaccine technology in the 1800s.

It would take far too long to explain the historical context for what we are seeing happen in Ukraine today. That part of the world has been a flashpoint for many wars, because of its geographic location and the people fighting for it. It is true now, and it was true in 1881, when a young man named Waldemar Mordecai Wolff Haffkine was born. Waldemar was born in 1860 to Aaron and Rosalie Chavkin (“Chavkin” is the Russian name for “Haffkine”). He went to the University of Odessa at age 19, and while there, he encountered the Russians.

Portrait of Dr. Haffkine via Wellcome Images, a website operated by Wellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation based in the United Kingdom. (CC BY 4.0)

Russian Tacit Approval of Anti-Semitism in Russian-controlled Ukraine

At the time, Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire, and Jewish communities within the empire were targeted by anti-Semitic riots called “pogroms.” These pogroms were acts of violence perpetrated against Jewish inhabitants of the region, often with tacit approval of the government. Before absorbing Ukraine into the empire, Russia did not have much Jewish population. Once Ukraine and other former territories of the Ottoman Empire were annexed, the Russian…