Join us for the world premiere of Haffkine, a new play by Paul Twivy. A rehearsed reading by professional actors.
He saved more people than Hitler killed.
Without him, we would not have survived Covid.
His mis-trial was called “the second Dreyfuss Affair”.
So, how come we don’t even know his name?
This is the, as yet, untold story of Waldemar Haffkine (1860-1930), a Russian Jew, whose exceptional talent as a microbiologist brought him to the attention of Louis Pasteur, and then to the British Government, who sent him to Colonial India to defeat Cholera and the Bubonic Plague.
Hailed as a saviour in his lifetime, Haffkine was a man who would stop at nothing to save life, who was branded a terrorist after defending Jewish homes in the Odessa pogroms, but also a “Mahatma” – a ‘great soul’ – by countless Indians.
Because of antisemitism, he was wrongly accused by the British Raj of killing 19 people through negligence. Although he eventually cleared his name, he died in obscurity where he has remained ever since.
Waldemar Haffkine didn’t invent the idea of vaccines. But he made vaccines a success.
Remarkably, no fiction, apart from an obscure novel, has been written about Waldemar Haffkine. Paul Twivy has spent two years researching his life, with the help of Simon Schama, and has been given access to his private letters and stories by the family.
This event is a rehearsed reading of Paul’s play by a professional cast, followed by a Q & A with the director and writer.
