What Is “the German Disease”?

A Utah listener recalls a story about her German-speaking mother-in-law referring to a childhood illness as the German disease. In English, the term most commonly referred to syphilis, a disease that different cultures blamed on their neighbors with remarkable consistency. The English dubbed it the French pox, the French referred to it with words that translates as “the Neapolitan disease,” the Italians thought of it as “the French sickness,” the Dutch blamed the Spanish, the Russians blamed the Polish, and in Muslim Turkey, the illness was blamed on all of Christianity! You can almost track the spread of syphilis across the globe by following the blame-by-name. The listener’s relative’s use of the German disease for a childhood illness most likely referred instead to influenza or the German measles. This is part of a complete episode.