%0 Journal Article
%T Incidence rate of infectious diseases in Greater Poland in the years 1945–1953 according to the documents of the National Archive in Poznań
%A Błażejczyk-Majka, Lucyna
%A Miłosz, Jan
%J Archival and Historical Review
%V 2016
%R 10.4467/2391-890XPAH.16.006.14894
%N Vol. III
%P 113-143

%@ 2391-890X
%D 2016
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/przeglad-archiwalno-historyczny/article/wystepowanie-chorob-zakaznych-w-wielkopolsce-w-latach-1945-1953-w-swietle-dokumentow-archiwum-panstwowego-w-poznaniu
%X The war brings infinite suffering, death and destruction. Those who survive it have to deal with diseases that follow. In the 1940s and 1950s, county doctors wrote reports on infectious disease incidence for the Department of Health of the Regional Government in Poznań. The article comprises the presentation and comparison of parallel reports from the years 1946 and 1953. Based on that, it makes an attempt to explain the higher incidence rate of infectious diseases in some parts of Greater Poland based on the historical context of this period. For the year 1946, the data describe 23 counties. Data for the year 1953 include 26 counties. Due to the comparability of information, the article includes data only for rural counties. Typical diseases of the period were typhoid, tuberculosis and diphtheria, but the high mortality rate can also be explained by exhaustion, poor hygiene and malnutrition among the migrating masses of people. The analyses conducted indicate that the strongest relationship can be observed between infectious diseases and the location of prisoners’ and work camps and the migration of people going through the stage points of the National Repatriates Office.