Waldemar Haffkine: Encyclopedia II - Waldemar Haffkine - Early years

Waldemar Haffkine - Early years

Born Vladimir Aaronovich Havkin (Russian language: Владимир Ааронович Хавкин), the fourth of five children in a family of a Jewish schoolmaster in Odessa, Russian Empire, he received his education in Odessa, Berdyansk and St. Petersburg.

For a short time, young Haffkine was a member of Narodnaya Volya, but after the group turned to terrorism against public officials, he broke up with the revolutionary movement. During the pogroms in Odessa of 1880s, he participated in Jewish self-defence, was arrested and tried but soon was released.

Haffkine continued his studies with famous biologist Ilya Mechnikov, but after the assassination of Alexander II of Russia, the government increasingly cracked down on people it considered suspicious, including intelligentsia, and Mechnikov left the country for Pasteur Institute in Paris.

In 1888, Haffkine was allowed to emigrate to Switzerland and began his work at the University of Geneva. In 1889 he joined Mechnikov and Louis Pasteur in Paris.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Early years", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki