Oil soldiers

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As oil soldiers were Swiss militiamen known by 1940 with tricresyl offset oil were poisoned to machine gun cooling, the mistake to fry cheese sandwiches had been used.

Course of events

On July 29, 1940, machine gun cooling oil was mistakenly mixed with peanut oil for meals at a company ( Mitr Kp IV / 52) in Ramiswil on the farm of Walter Lisser-Schmid, and cheese slices were produced with it. This happened because after an exercise the cooling oil was stored in cooking oil cans, the hazardous substance was not adequately labeled and the cooling oil could not be distinguished from the cooking oil in terms of taste or appearance.

It diseased weir 74 men and 10-12 civilians at a tricresyl phosphate - poisoning with partially severe and irreversible paralysis of the legs. As some of the soldiers shared their rations with children, for example, civilians were also harmed. 32 cases were registered as “severe”, of which 20 were “ totally disabled ”. Later in the same year, a similar accident occurred at the Schwyzer Gebirgsmitrailleurkompanie IV / 72. At least 17 soldiers suffered permanent damage when a salad dressing was prepared with the cooling oil.

Effects

The "oil soldiers" and their food poisoning became known throughout Switzerland and moved the nation. In October 1947 the first Swiss Solidarity took place to collect money for the injured soldiers. A specially established foundation (Foundation for Poisoning Patients) should also come to the aid of the disabled soldiers.

The accidents formed the main impetus for the revision of the Military Insurance Act during the war. The military insurance paid a total of 46.1 million francs to the oil soldiers until 2015. From a legal point of view, the event was considered an accident; Only the battalion doctor was convicted, who did not visit the soldiers the evening after the meal, even after repeated requests, because he considered their complaints to be harmless. The doctor was sentenced to 45 days in prison for breach of duty .

As the last of the oil soldiers, Christoph von Blarer died on April 8, 2014 at the age of 98 in Aesch .

Similar cases of torpedo oils mixed with TKP occurred in Eckernförde in 1941/42 (around 70 cases) and 1949 and in Kiel in 1944/45 (“ Eckernförde disease ”).

literature

  • Fritz Tschopp-Tschopp (1918–2001): Waldenburg / Niederdorf (Gritt), chairman of the «Mitr.Kp. IV / 52-Veteranen ”, author of the brochure“ This is how I experience my illness ”.
  • Bruno Manser: The oil soldiers. Your history and the change in your relationship with the federal Military insurance between 1940 and 2000, licentiate thesis, historical seminar, Basel 2001/2002.
  • Oil soldiers from Dr. Franziska Gebel, Head of Military Insurance and Alois Fässler, Head of Military Insurance Statistics in: Statistics of Military Insurance 2016, pages 53–59, Suva, Military Insurance. Detailed final report. Online as PDF

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Oil soldiers: The poison of 1940 . In: Observer . December 22, 2011, Observer 26, ISSN  1661-7444 ( observer.ch [accessed on May 25, 2019]).
  2. ↑ a b c d 46 million Swiss francs for poisoned cheese slices . Suva . June 21, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  3. ↑ a b c Alexandria database on the incident
  4. ^ Franziska Gebel, Alois Fässler: Oil soldiers . In: Statistics of the military insurance . tape 2016 , p. 53–59 , here p. 53 ( online (PDF) ).
  5. ↑ Swiss solidarity and collection platform "Glückskette" celebrates its 60th birthday . Adventist Press Service (APD). September 25, 2006. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  6. ↑ Swiss Review, December 2006 / NO. 6th
  7. ^ Rudolf Jaun, Sacha Zala: Sources on Swiss military history (PDF) Swiss Federal Archives. 2004. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  8. ↑ Bojan Stula: The last oil soldier is dead - a sad chapter in Swiss history closes. In: Basellandschaftliche Zeitung of April 26, 2014 (accessed April 26, 2014).
  9. ^ Chronicle for the month of April 2001 of the canton Baselland. Retrieved March 2, 2019.