E. H. Kampelmacher (1920–2011)

Erwin Helmuth Kampelmacher was born to a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria. In 1938, following the Nazi Anschluss (annexation) of his country, he fled to The Netherlands. There he worked as a servant on several farms in Rheden and Twente. After Germany invaded Holland in World War II, he went into hiding in and around Utrecht. He and his sister survived the Holocaust. His mother died in England in 1941 from the flu, and his father was murdered in Auschwitz. After the war, he trained as a veterinary surgeon at the University of Utrecht, earning his degree in 1954. From 1960 to 1975, he served as scientific director and later deputy director-general of the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), and played an important role in Salmonella research. In 1971, he was appointed a professor of food microbiology and hygiene at Wageningen University, a post he held until his retirement in 1985. Dr. Kampelmacher was a member of the board, chairman, and then honorary member of the Royal Dutch Veterinary Society between 1960 and 1970, and served as chairman of the editorial board of the Dutch Journal of Veterinary Medicine from 1983 to 1987. He also wrote dozens of scientific articles for peer-reviewed journals. In 2006, he published his wartime memoir, Fighting for Survival, written in English and later translated into Dutch and German. He was named an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau and was made a Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion.