1906 – On June 27, 1906, Erich Traub is born in Asperglen, a town in the county of Württemberg, Germany, to parents Lydia Rommel and Michael Traub.

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1924 – Erich Traub graduates from high school in Stuttgart

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1925-1927 – Traub completes 2 years at University of Tübingen for major languages, learns English and French.

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1926 – Traub travels to England to act as an interpreter for a German judge in a dog show for a British Kennel club he was a member of. [potential time/place of interest relevant to espionage recruitment]

 

1926-1927 – Traub travels to Switzerland to act as secretary for an American family since Traub knew English and German.

 

1931 - Traub acts as interpreter for Richard E. Shope, while both were studying at the University of Giessen, and Shope notes his exceptional skill at virology and animal disease. Shope tells Traub to apply to Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.

 

1932 - Traub enters Giessen under the direction of Wilhelm Zwick and Oskar Seifried, famous for their work on neurotropic virus called Borna Disease Virus (BDV) that causes severe mental problems and later used as a model to study autistic spectrum diseases. Traub publishes a second thesis for veterinary problems and animal hygiene, in:

 

Hygienic examinations in animal houses with special consideration of the stable air (Traub 1932)

 

This paper was more mechanical and dealt with air-flow through ducts, air pressure and keeping stalls clean, with more than obvious implications for Biological Warfare experiments, as this would be preliminary expertise to conducting airborne tests of chemicals and Biological Warfare.

 

1932 - Traub applies to the Rockefeller Institute around March 1932, and is soon accepted, leaves for USA on September 9, 1932 aboard the SS Hamburg, a ship liner later known for smuggling Nazi spies in and out of America during the war.

 

1933 – Traub attempts and succeeds in cultivating swine herpesvirus in minced rabbit testicles, “without any preliminary training and without the fancy laboratory equipment that most feel necessary,” the results were published in:

 

Cultivation of Pseudorabies Virus (Traub 1933)

 

1934 – Traub goes to Iowa with Dr. Shope to study the transmission and spread of Pseudorabies virus after outbreak in rural farm. They established that the destructive disease is latent in most pigs, and somehow becomes reactivated to cause outbreaks and persistent viral infections. The results were published several years later by Shope in

 

Experiments on The Epidemiology Of Pseudorabies: I. Mode Of Transmission Of The Disease In Swine And Their Possible Role In Its Spread To Cattle. (Shope 1935)

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Experiments on The Epidemiology Of Pseudorabies: II. Prevalence of The Disease Among Middle Western Swine And The Possible Role Of Rats In Herd-to-Herd Infections (Shope 1935)

 

1935 (March) – Traub experiments further with mice to assess potential latent viruses in white mice, by injecting the mice brains with a foreign protein suspended in sterile Bouillon, and causes the latent virus to reactivate and turn pathogenic and soon the virus spread to at least half of the stock, with additional human exposures and severe illness. Essentially, he produced a contagious epidemic from scratch, but waking up dormant viruses in the mice. The seminal paper was published in Science Magazine in 1935 as:

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A Filterable Virus Recovered from White Mice (Traub 1935a)

 

1935 (April) - Traub discovers that pseudorabies antibodies are not effective at clearing virus once the virus penetrates into the immune cells, and even in the immunized, the virus continued to multiply and infect, albeit at a much slower rate. He published the results in:

 

Multiplication in Vitro of Pseudorabies Virus in the Testicle Tissue of Immunized guinea Pigs (Traub 1935b).

 

These were foundational settings for Traub to produce chronic, stealth infections that slowly destroy the body, and this would later contribute to the field of “slow-virus infections” and “immune tolerance.”

 

1935 (June) - Working with Dr. Carl TenBroeck and some other Rockefeller students, Traub discovers a more virulent strain of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) virus and they began running the virus through horses from infected pigeon and sheep brains, and eventually they find a new virus that is distinct from both WEE and EEE, which may have been West-Nile Virus. The results appeared in:

 

Protective Vaccination of Horses with Modified Equine Encephalomyelitis Virus (1935c).

 

1935 (July) - Working with Dr. Carl TenBroeck and some other Rockefeller students, Traub and colleagues began to assess the factors surrounding the transmission and spread of EEE, published in

 

Epidemiology of Equine Encephalomyelitis in the Eastern United States (Traub 1935d).

 

Traub later establishes the pigeon can harbor the virus, but burns out quickly, but other avian hosts were also suspected.

 

1935 (December) – Traub reveals a high infection rate of the mouse colony with the LCM virus, where up to 50% became infected, and he began to modify the virus by repeatedly infecting guinea pigs with the LCM from mice, published in:

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An Epidemic in a Mouse Colony Due to the Virus of Acute Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis (Traub 1935e).

 

1936 (February) - Traub establishes the persistence and chronic nature of LCM infection, despite whether or not the virus is found circulating in the blood, because the virus would integrate into tissue and organs. Traub published the results in:

 

Persistence of Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus in Immune Animals and its Relation to Immunity (Traub 1936a)

 

1937 (March) – Traub supervises researcher John B. Nelson in further looking into the unusual respiratory infections that resulted in the mouse colony after the LCM epidemic and the arrival of a new stock of Swiss mice from the same source, The respiratory infection was a complexity of Mycoplasma and other infections, due to immunocompromise. Nelson’s experiments under Traub were published as:

 

Infectious Catarrh of Mice. I. A Natural Outbreak of the Disease (Nelson 1937)

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Infectious Catarrh of Mice. II. The Detection and Isolation of Coccobacilliform Bodies. (Nelson 1937)

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Infectious Catarrh of Mice. III. The Etiological Significance of the Coccobacilliform Bodies. (Nelson 1937)

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1937 (April) – Traub adapts the LCM virus to guinea-pigs, modifies the virus through repeated passages in guinea pig brains, then he would use infected brain extract to inject into the mouse brain and the newly modified virus would cause a silent immune tolerant state with high concentrations of virus being shed from those infected. This was published in:

 

Immunization of Guinea Pigs with a Modified Strain of Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus (Traub 1937a).

 

1937 (June) - Erich Traub is promoted from assistants to associates at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research noted in a New York Times article, Promoted at Institute: Rockefeller Medical Research Staff Members Are Shifted.

 

1938 (April) - Traub experiments with LCM vaccines in mice made from virulent strains of LCM passed through guinea-pig brains. The vaccines caused disease or death in many of the mice, as well as immune tolerance, which at the time he called it “incomplete immunity,” where the typical acute illness did not occur but rather became immune tolerant with inapparent chronic disease. Results were published in:

 

Immunization of Guinea Pigs Against Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis with Formolized Tissue Vaccines (Traub 1938).

 

1938 – Traub studies the factors involved in the persistence of virus through multiple generations. Mice reproduce often and new generations grow fast to the adult stage and more litters can be produced in a short period. He noted that an infected mother with persistent virus would always transmit the virus to the young, and the infected young could easily transmit the virus to other uninfected young mice by contact. The infected would remain carriers indefinitely if there was any noticeable period of illness, such as when they were first born. Significant is the fact that the virus could maintain itself congenitally through multiple generations. The results were published in:

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Factors Influencing the Persistence of Choriomeningitis Virus in the Blood of Mice After Clinical Recovery (Traub 1938)

 

“Virus was detected in every case, and the litters were therefore assumed to become infected in utero. It was known from two previous experiments that in litters infected in this manner all the young are infected when born.”

 

1939 (February) - Traub’s prompt return to Germany and habilitation to private lecturer (Privatdozent) and assistant to Department head of veterinary research at the University of Giessen, Karl Beller, was preceded by a lengthy new thesis on animal virology and immunology. This was a comprehensive paper that carefully presented the nature of many animal viruses and forms of immunization, and it was in this paper that Traub acknowledged that blood-sucking insects could potentially reactivate vaccine viruses. He also noted the ability for live vaccines to spread and cause outbreaks of disease. The thesis was published as:

 

About Immunity and Active Immunization Against Viral Disease (Traub 1939)

 

1939 (March) – Traub receives the mouse stock from the 1935 epidemic, shipped to him by the Rockefeller Institute. He completes the round of studies he started in 1935, and new generations of mice throughout that time were infected in utero or as transovarial transmission through the ovaries. He notes that although the virus did not show visible illness in the stock, the infection rate was practically 100%, all mice being infected. Results were published in:

 

Epidemiology of Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis in a Mouse Stock Observed for Four Years (Traub 1939)

 

“The most striking change that occurred gradually between 1935 and 1937 was a marked decrease in the severity of the disease. Since it is now subclinical, infected young mice can no longer be distinguished with certainty from uninfected ones in spite of the fact that their tissues contain about the same amounts of virus as before the change occurred.”

 

1939 – Traub made additional experiments back in Germany with EEE, continuing work he had going with Dr. TenBroeck at the Rockefeller Institute, and either brought strains back with him on his trip home, or had them shipped from the Institute to Germany. The strains were American strains which were used in earlier experiments in the United States. He adapts the virus to different animals and then runs the virus back through the original animals to assess how certain animal passages mutate the virus and give it new characteristics. He used guinea pigs, rabbits, and pigeons in this experiment. For instance, the strain used in his earlier experiments on pigeons, lost virulence after the 3rd passage, but another strain he used was modified and maintained full virulence in the pigeon. Results of these experiments were published in:

 

Experimental Studies on a Pigeon Passage-Modified Strain of American Equine Encephalomyelitis (Traub 1939)

 

1939 – While at the University of Giessen, Professor Dr. Karl Beller and Erich Traub contributed an entire chapter on avian virus diseases to the Handbook of Virus Diseases. This chapter revealed the differential diagnoses to fowl pest, as fowl typhoid, fowl tuberculosis, and spirochetosis. The chapter was published as:

 

Fowl Pest and Related Virus Diseases of Birds (Traub & Beller 1939)

 

1939 – Traub contributes another chapter to the Handbook of Virus Diseases. In this chapter, he summarized the entire breadth of knowledge on Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus (LCM) which he had learned after studying for 4 years in the United States at Rockefeller Institute. The chapter was published as:

 

Choriomeningitis in Mice (Traub 1939)

 

1939 – Traub’s associate assistant and protégé at the University of Giessen, Werner Schäfer, published a paper with Traub on the stealth mechanisms of LCM in mouse sera, which tends to lack antibodies, paving the way for the later weapons that would also evade antibodies and test results. The paper was published as:

 

Serological Studies on the Immunity of Mice to Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis (Traub & Schäfer 1939)

 

1939 – Werner Schäfer experiments with avian spirochetes, Spirochaeta gallinarum (later changed to Borrelia anserina), coordinating with the University of Giessen, to find cheap and inexpensive ways to maintain the spirochetes, instead of using live chickens to keep the spirochetes viable. He uses eggs instead and is able to keep them fully virulent.

 

He notes that he received the strain from Dr. Franz Jahnel, head of the psychology department at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute, whose work was funded by the Rockefeller Institute. He also mentions that a fully virulent strain of Spirochaeta gallinarum was needed by his superiors at the University of Giessen for teaching and research purposes. His superiors were Dr. Traub and Dr. Beller.

 

It is here where we find Traub in possession of the avian spirochetes that were later weaponized to become Borrelia burgdorferi. The 1939 work was published as:

 

The Maintenance of Spirochaeta gallinarum by Passages in Fowl Embryos (Schäfer 1939)

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1939 – Karl Beller teaches Traub all about the tickborne diseases like Rickettsia, Babesia, Bartonella, Ehrlichia, and the different ticks for spreading them. It was published in a chapter Heartwater and Other Animal Rickettsioses for the Handbook of Virus Diseases while Traub was his assistant. He teaches Traub how a complex disease results when many infections are rolled into one, citing a case where a dog was simultaneously infected with Rickettsia, Babesia, Bartonella, Ehrlichia, and Leishmaniasis, while also showing that it is possible to get hard-bodied ticks to spread spirochetes. All of these agents would later be used in Traub's weaponized ticks unleashed on the West.

 

1940 – Traub, Beller, and another colleague carry out experiments on bovine papular stomatitis virus, a virus that closely resembles Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) and Vesicular Stomatitis, but is a poxvirus and a very close relative to vaccinia virus and smallpox. He conducted transmission and vaccine studies for this research and it was published in:

 

Studies on Bovine Papular Stomatitis (Traub, Beller, Schaaf 1940)

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It was in this paper that we can see that he used the virus to weaponize the simulant bacteria Serratia marcescens (then called Bacillus prodigiosus) that would later be used in his American simulant testing activities.

 

1941 – Traub writes a paper to clarify for researchers in Europe the differences between pseudorabies (swine herpesvirus) and contagious porcine encephalomyelitis (swine polio), with additional distinction to classical swine fever. Traub mentions in this paper that Shope had sent him strains of pseudorabies from the Rockefeller Institute. Results were published in:

 

The Infectious Porcine Encephalomyelitis Compared with Pseudorabies and Swine Fever (Traub 1941)

 

1941 – Traub starts a series of experiments on a vaccine for contagious porcine encephalomyelitis (swine polio), also called Teschen Disease. Many of the immunizations caused severe disease when Traub injected them intracerebrally. He mentions here that he was also conducting experiments with Borna Disease Virus. Results were published in:

 

Active Immunization Against the Contagious Porcine Encephalomyelitis with Adsorbate Vaccines (Traub 1941)

 

1941 – Traub continues studies of American strains of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), adapting the virus to guinea pigs, for the production of serum, in: 

 

Serotherapeutic Experiments with the Artificial Infection of the Guinea Pig with the Virus of American Equine Encephalomyelitis (Traub 1941a)

 

1941 – Traub continues his studies of LCM virus, paying attention to its ability to cause leukemia (cancer of the blood) and lymphomatosis (cancer of the lymphnodes). Particularly noteworthy was the fact that the cancers would occur in mice born several generations later from the start of infection in the mouse colony. Making this more problematic was the fact it was extremely difficult to distinguish between an infected mouse and an uninfected one. These experiments were interrupted by the war and were completed by Traub’s student, Werner Schäfer and published as:

 

On the Influence of Latent Choriomeningitis Infection on the Development of Lymphomatosis in White Mice (Traub 1941).

 

1941 – An outbreak of unknown origin occurs in Army horses owned by a veterinary company, with horses showing signs of broncho-pneumonia. They set up a handful of experiments to assess the cause of disease. They set up experiments on blood parasites, equine infectious anemia, and infectious respiratory catarrh (mixed infections). They conclude the disease was due to infectious respiratory catarrh, after finding Streptococcus equi, Streptococcus pyogenes, and other bacterium that are usually considered “harmless” to the horse.

 

Infectious Respiratory Catarrh in the Horses of a Veterinary Company (Traub 1941)

 

1941 – Traub and Beller publish a comprehensive study of infectious respiratory catarrh, following Traub’s studies in veterinary horses used for the army. They concluded that a viral disease was the original cause of sudden and swift outbreaks, with an immunosuppressive effect on the horses, which then caused the secondary infections like Streptococcus and Mycoplasma.

 

The pneumonia-like outcome after a sudden and highly contagious viral infection was almost an exact model of the mechanisms seen in the Spanish Influenza of 1918, where meningococcus vaccine and serum were administered to soldiers before heading overseas, and an epidemic of influenza began spreading like wildfire in the soldiers, already immunosuppressed from the meningococcus, the virus was able to mutate, and ended in perhaps the biggest pandemics in history, with millions of deaths worldwide. Traub & Beller published their assessment in:

 

The Position and Outlook in Research on Infectious Respiratory Catarrh of the Horse (Traub & Beller 1941)

 

1941 – Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) is perhaps the closest relative to the HIV virus. Both are in the retrovirus class, and both are in the same virus family of the lentivirus. The outcome is basically the same, with leukemia and immunosuppression that ends up in secondary infections and pneumonia (infectious respiratory catarrh). Traub, Schäfer, and another colleague conduct studies for a diagnostic test (complement-fixation) for EIA. They concluded that the tests are next to useless and the virus does not produce enough of an immune response to detect the infection. Results were published in:

 

Complement-Binding Experiments with Equine Infectious Anemia (Traub et al. 1941)

 

1942 – Next, Traub and Beller initiate a series of studies on Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA), the AIDS of horses. First, they set up experiments on the course of infection and its effects on the immune system, noting the highly immunosuppressive effect of the virus and parasite. They attempt experiments with serum and immunization, with minimal results, yet a comprehensive outlook on the process of infection and its effects on the immune system.

 

Following these experiments, they set up a second line of research to assess the transmission and spread of EIA. They mention beetles, mosquitoes, and horse flies. They reference studies by their Japanese counterparts, who worked in coordination with the Germans. These studies attempted transmission of EIA by infected urine. They succeeded in spreading the virus through infected urine to the mucous membrane. The two studies were published in:

 

Investigations on Equine Infectious Anemia. I. Immunity Experiments (Traub and Beller 1942)

 

Investigations on Equine Infectious Anemia. II. Transmission Experiments (Traub and Beller 1942)

 

1942 – Traub concludes his lengthy studies of infectious respiratory catarrh with a focus on hemolytic Streptococci, A form of Streptococcus that destroys red blood cells, in:

 

The Presence of Hemolytic Streptococci in the Infectious Respiratory Catarrh Disease of the Horse’s Respiratory System (Traub and Gratzl 1942)

 

1942 – Traub conducts an investigation into a disease of rabbits in Angora for the Luftwaffe, after rabbits in the area started dying of an unknown disease. The disease caused the rabbits’ ears to become droopy, their heads and neck would become twisted and disfigured, in some ways resembling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and paralytic polio. He finds an invasive bacterium in the brains of the rabbits, known as Listeria monocytogenes, which is a cause of food poisoning (listeriosis) in humans.

 

He also notes a destructive effect in the spinal cord caused by a common and otherwise benign blood parasite, Encephlitizoon caniculi, which is sometimes seen in AIDS patients.

 

However, in light of a later research paper on Borna Disease Virus in rabbits resulting in the same condition and dedicated to Erich Traub on his 50th birthday, the original cause of this condition may have been due to the Borna Disease virus and the Listeria monocytogenes may have been a secondary infection. Traub’s studies on the condition and the isolated Listeria monocytogenes were published in:

 

About a Meningo-Encephalomyelitis of Rabbits Associated with Listerella-like Bacteria (Traub 1942)

 

1942 – A sudden outbreak of fowl plague (avian influenza) in several areas of Germany and Italy, brought Traub in for further investigations. What he originally thought was fowl plague (avian influenza), was a closely related but separate virus, an atypical form of fowl plague known as Newcastle Disease (atypische geflügelpest). He mentions that another German authority considered it a weaponized disease.

 

Traub mentions that it had not occurred on the European continent, and until that point was only known to occur in Britain. He also reveals for the first time, the connection between biological warfare attacks and migratory birds. The paper was published as:

 

An Atypical Form of Avian Influenza in Hessen-Nassau (Traub 1942a)

 

“Germany has been free of avian influenza for a long time according to the official animal health statistics. Recently, however, Wagener reported on a pest outbreak near Hanover and acknowledged the significance of this disease as a weaponized disease.” “Up to this point, such has been found in our continent only in England (Newcastle disease). It is therefore a case in which one could suspect an endogenous development of the virus in the chicken, if one would not have to reckon with completely uncontrollable and difficult to detect factors, (i.e. with an introduction of the virus by migratory birds or even with hostile action.)

 

1942 – Traub sets up further studies of the viruses to compare and differentiate the atypical avian influenza viruses (Newcastle Disease Virus, Virus N) isolated in Germany and Italy, as well as their comparison to the classical avian influenza. Results published as:

 

Immunobiological comparison of avian influenza virus strains from Silesia and Hesse-Nassau (Traub 1942b)

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1943 – The results of his testing of Newcastle Disease vaccine in chickens and more studies on the virus spreading through Germany at the time, published in:

 

Active immunization with Chicken Embryo Vaccines Against the Atypical Avian Influenza Currently Occurring in Germany (Traub 1943)

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1942-1943 – Erich Traub becomes vice president of Insel Riems, the leading cutting-edge facility for virus research in the entire world run by the Friedrich-Loeffler Institute and the University of Greifswald. He oversees the entire phase of research and development at Riems with particular concentration on stealth biological weapons and turning animal diseases to human pathogens.

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1943 – A follow-up research program is initiated on vaccine experiments for Newcastle Disease grown in chicken eggs, with aluminum hydroxide to coat the surface of the virus and inactivate it, published in:

 

On the Adsorbate Vaccine for Active Immunization Against Atypical Avian Influenza (Traub 1943)

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1943 – Traub and the Riems biochemist, Gottfried Pyl began work isolating and characterizing the antigens of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus (FMD), with its ability to bind with antibodies, and factors that inhibit the process, which could have been useful in the weaponization process, to express Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus antigen in other disease agents, such as spirochetes and other parasites:

 

Studies on the Complement-Binding Antigen in Foot-and-Mouth Disease (Traub & Pyl 1943)

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1943 – Traub takes on a new protégé, Dr. Zvonimir Dinter, guest researcher from Yugoslavia who, together with Traub, work on avian influenza weapons, as well as mentoring a guest researcher from Spain, Faustino Manso-Rodriguez. Dinter would go on to become a well-respected virologist and bacteriologist, credited with the discovery of Virus N, a variant of avian influenza with immunosuppressive qualities and stealth, but highly pathogenic. Dinter also would work in coordination with Traub on Swine Erysipelas (Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae).

 

1943 – Together with his colleague from the production department, Hubert Möhlmann, Traub creates a new diagnostic testing system to determine different strains of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus (FMD) in livestock, since there are so many strains, cutting the time down in getting the results from weeks to hours.

 

The process utilizes the infecting of guinea-pigs with the strain of FMD from sick cattle and lets the disease run its course, and when a guinea-pig recovers he uses its blood containing antibodies and mixes them with the known strains of FMD. If the blood neutralizes the virus, it is a match, indicating the strain or type of FMD, and Traub called this method ‘typing’ of FMD, as well as ‘type-determination’ ‘type-differentiation,’ which builds upon the already existing ‘compliment-binding fixation test’ which allows an antigen to bind with antibody in serum used for diagnostics. Traub’s breakthrough modification was published in two papers, as:

 

Type Determination in Foot-and-Mouth Disease with the Help of the Complement Fixation Sample. I. Experiments with Serums and Antigens of Guinea Pigs (Traub & Möhlmann 1943a)

 

Type Determination in Foot-and-Mouth Disease with the Help of the Complement Fixation Sample. II. Experiments with Guinea-Pig Serum and Bovine Antigen (Traub & Möhlmann 1943b)

 

1944 – Working with guest researcher from Spain, Faustino Manso-Rodriguez, Traub continues research on the typing of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus (FMD) , with special focus on the production of guinea-pig anti-serum used to bind with antigen for diagnostic testing, yet this could also be used to formulate stealth, published in:

 

On the Production of Complement-binding Guinea-Pig Serum for Type- determination of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (Traub & Rodriguez 1944)

 

1944 – Traub and production specialist Hugo Miehler begin the concentration and purification of antigen from Newcastle Disease Virus, to be used as vaccine material, with equal implications and use in Weapons work. This was done in the development of a human/avian influenza polyvaccine with Werner Schäfer which was likely tested on human subjects and forced labor. Results published in:

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Concentration and Purification of Avian Influenza Virus Strains (Traub & Miehler 1946)

 

1944 – Traub publishes a lengthy follow-up to the Newcastle experiments in immunization against Newcastle Disease Virus with adsorbate vaccines. He publishes the results in:

 

Further Information on Active Immunization with Adsorbate Vaccines Against Atypical Avian Influenza (Traub 1944) 

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1944 – Traub’s collaborative work with Werner Schäfer on human influenza, started in 1943 and 1944 for Behringwerke, were published, with immunization studies of the human influenza in mice, and it appears that several strains of influenza and fowl plague were mixed into mice and chickens to adapt the viruses to new hosts, such as Newcastle Disease in mice, and human influenza to chick embryos. The results were published later in 1946:

 

 

Immunization of Mice Against Influenza with Adsorbate Vaccines of Virus Concentrates (Traub & Schäfer 1946)

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1944 – The earlier experiments on the isolation and purification of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus (FMD) with production specialist Hubert Möhlmann were expanded to study the immunological effects of the different strains of FMD in:

 

Studies on Immunological Types A & B of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus  (Traub & Möhlmann 1946)

 

1944 – Along with guest researcher Zvonimir Dinter, Traub conducts research to further understanding and development of antigen for Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus (FMD) , assessing how the antigen effects the immune system and any correlation to the virulence of FMD. The results were published in:

 

The influence of virulence and antigenic structure of foot-and-mouth disease virus on the immunogenicity of vaccines prepared from them (Traub & Dinter 1946)

 

1945 – as the Russians close in on East Germany, Traub offers himself up to the West and meets with William A. Hagen for an interview and fills out a questionnaire for employment in the West, but due to his Nazi party affiliations (Air Raid Protection) he is refused employment in the West and endures the Russian occupation of Insel Riems.

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1945 – Insel Riems is captured by the Russians who gained control of East Germany and took control of the Insel Riems facilities over the course of one night, when the Riems staff showed up to find the entire place chained up and were subsequently held under the authority of the Soviet Union as the facility was placed under the personal protection of Joseph Stalin. The former Reich scientists of Insel Riems were flipped to work for the Soviet Union in East Germany, which became the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik).

 

The entire staff of Insel Riems and Traub was interrogated along with his female technicians and asked about biological warfare preparations and if the animal crematory was used to dispose of human bodies. It is here that Traub would have been subject to Soviet blackmail for war crimes and flipped to the KGB, since Traub and Schäfer were constructing an avian/human influenza vaccine and most likely tested it on the forced labor present on Riems during the war.

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Declassified CIA document: THE STATE RESEARCH INSTITUTE AT RIEMS; MICROBIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

 

 

2. War Crimes Aspect

The Russians undoubtedly showed a desire to find war criminals, especially in the interrogation of female laboratory assistants and other auxiliary staff of all kinds. They were asked principally about preparations for biological warfare. Inquiries were also made concerning research in human diseases, and whether the animal crematory was also used for the disposal of human bodies, The Russians allowed work to proceed in order to learn the current problems and laboratory methods.
 

Insel Riems continued operations shortly after its capture. The Russians now had Germany’s best bioweaponeers, such as Erich Traub, Heinz Röhrer, Gottfried Pyl, Zvonimir Dinter, Hubert Möhlmann, and many additional staff skilled in biological weapons, as well as having several production facilities like ASID-serumwerke, and could produce significant quantities of biological weapons.

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1947 – Traub initiates a series of experiments in the immunization of swine erysipelas, (Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae), a bacterium similar to Brucella that causes severe septicemia and big red rashes in swine. Traub concentrated the antigen which were used for vaccines with a unique formulation that could not necessarily be reproduced by other researchers. The experiments were published in:

 

Immunization Against Swine Erysipelas with Concentrated Adsorbate Vaccines (Traub 1947)

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1947 - Soviet Bioweaponeer M. P. Chumakov comes to Insel Riems twice to meet with Traub to obtain information on Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus (LCM)

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Declassified CIA document: THE BACTERIOLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE ON THE ISLAND OF RIEMS

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The Russians have ordered no specific work at the institute and have not assumed in any way its scientific direction, al though Russians come there continuously to collect information. Among the more notable Russian visitors is Professor Tschumakov [sic], Stalin Prize winner, from the Moscow In stitute for Research on Brain Disease. He came twice in 1947 to obtain information on choriomeningitis.

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1948 – A congressional hearing to establish a foot-and-mouth disease laboratory is brought forth in Public Law 496, 80th Congress and there is a mention or reference to Traub implying that they wanted him there to lead it from the very beginning.

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1948 – Traub publishes a follow-up paper on the earlier erysipelas experiments with concentrated erysipelas vaccine, published as the following:

 

Immunobiological Foundations of Active Immunization Against Swine Erysipelas with Concentrated Adsorbate Vaccines (Traub 1948)

 

1948 – Traub collaborates with Behringwerke scientist Bernard Schneider, and they publish their studies, which were begun during the war, and finally mapped out and published, whereby Traub used 10 strains of FMD in a chicken egg and alternated passages between egg and guinea-pigs, which the FMD was already adapted to.

 

The unique methodology proved that FMD could be grown in chicken eggs, when contemporary Western scientists deemed this unsuccessful. A follow-up paper was also published studying the process of infection in the eggs. The research studies were highlighted in:

 

Breeding the FMD Virus in Incubated Chicken Eggs (Traub & Schneider 1948a)

 

Infection of the Hatched Chicken Eggs with the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus (Traub & Schneider 1948b)

 

1948 – Traub starts a separate series of bacteriological experiments, much like the erysipelas, on Brucella abortus x bang bacterium, constructing a vaccine which he tested in white mice, likely with the addition of the avian influenza antigen to affect the interspecies transfer in adaptation of the bacterium to new hosts, while using the cover of vaccine research. The vaccines were highly immunosuppressive and not well tolerated. The research was published as:

 

Immunization of mice against Brucellosis with concentrated adsorbate vaccines (Traub 1948)

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1948 – Traub makes his so-called "escape" from the Russian Zone with the help of British Intelligence and Soviet mole in MI6 Donald Maclean, escaping during his time lecturing as Professor at the University of Berlin, escaping with his lab technicians, his family, and other colleagues. He brings cultures of viruses and serum with him and is interviewed by British Intellience, and Traub tells them that he did not engage in biological warfare research.  He tells the British the most brazen lies – that neither he nor the Russians had any interest in biological weapons research, that Riems never conducted such experiments, despite American intelligence reports showing quite the contrary. The British Interview report states:

 

Professor Erich Traub

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1. The above named scientist was interviewed on 17.7.48. The following points emerged.

2. TRAUB appears to be a very competent scientist, whose interests are narrowly connected with the problems of epizootic diseases of domestic animals, in particular of virus diseases. His published papers appear to be well up to Western European standards.

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3. He states, probably truthfully, that he has never taken any interest in B.W., or been engaged in any work in this connection. When asked his private views as to the possibility of B.W. He answered that in his opinion Foot and Mouth virus could be used successfully against livestock, by scattering infected material on pastures or by saboteur methods. He knew of no experiments done in this connection, however.

4. The Russian scientists who were attached to RIEMS, or who visited the Establishment after its initial dismantling, were, in his opinion, concerned only with the veterinary aspect of the work, not with B.W. He thought that they were surprisingly well informed of world developments in their subject, and that they had a good mastery of technique.

5. Source could give no opinion as to the level of Soviet veterinary or microbiological publications, as, despite his efforts, he was unable to gain access to them, either by subscription, purchase or loan, at RIEMS or in BERLIN. Nor did the visiting Russians ever seem to have any Soviet scientific literature.

6. Following Professor WALDMANN'S disappearance from RIEMS, the entire staff were subjected to close interrogation by the M.V.D., Lasting a whole day. Nevertheless, no extraordinary security measures were taken to prevent further defection.

7. It is concluded that the RIEMS Inst. was not regarded by the Russians as being of defence importance, and that their interest was confined to its legitimate aspects. On these grounds, S.T.I.B. were advised that we no longer consider the Institute and its workers to be intelligence targets, and that its sole interest was in the future to be on the denial aspects.

 

1949 – A final paper published on atypical avian influenza from work that began during the war, and after Traub fled the Russian zone, they completed the work in West Germany. This was a collaborative project with several Riems scientists during the war, Werner Schäfer and Gerhard Schramm, a biochemist from the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute known for his work on Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV), contracted through Behringwerke, to construct a human and avian influenza vaccine, and apparently may have mixed strains together in the adaptation process, creating strains with both avian and human influenza antigens adapted to mice and chicken eggs.

 

Studies on the Virus of Atypical Fowl Plague (Traub, Schäfer, Schramm 1949)

 

1949 – Traub writes a consensus paper of the current advances in animal virology up to the year 1949, and in this paper he talks about mouse passages and mouse adaptation being able to make viruses more neurotropic, able to destroy the brain and nerves, and also discusses dry-freezing of vaccine material, to be shipped to warm places, among other advances in animal virology, lists his address as Behringwerke AG. Marburg/Lahn, published in:

 

Advances in Active Immunization Against Animal Virus Diseases (Traub 1949)

 

1949 – Traub becomes an officer of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, giving him diplomatic immunity status under the United Nations international law.

 

1949 – Traub submits a report to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the 1949 Swiss FMD conference in Berne, Switzerland, and by this time, before his journey to the United States for a second time, the report was published as:

 

FAO Report - The Culture of FMDV in Chicken Embryo (Traub, FAO 1949)

 

1949 – Traub submits a report on Foot-and-Mouth Disease virus strains A and B to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), in the Italian language published as:

 

Identification and Classification of Type A and B Variations of FMD Virus with Deviation of Complement (Traub, FAO 1949)

 

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