importance of Uwe Brinkmann

In the summer of 1974, Uwe Brinkmann was being taken into holding by German soldiers, after combating an epidemic of Lassa fever. Brinkmann's patient, Bernhard Mandrella, was severely ill, and physician scientist Brinkmann knew he was near death. Brinkmann came from a part English family, and had never felt comfortable among the German's who were also his people. After his work with famine relief efforts, he was hailed by Germans as a communist, attempting to create communes in Ethiopia. When Brinkmann was finally released, he was ridiculed and tormented, but did continue his work. He studied river blindness in West Africa, and also other diseases in Central America, the Congo, and Mali.