The White Disease
1937 play written by Karel Čapek
The White Plague (Czech: Bílá nemoc) is a play written by Czech writer Karel Čapek in 1937. Written at a time of increasing threat from Nazi Germany to Czechoslovakia, it portrays a human response to a tense, prewar situation in an unnamed country that greatly resembles Germany with one extra addition: an uncurable white disease, a form of leprosy, is selectively killing off people older than 45. It was adapted as the film Skeleton on Horseback by Hugo Haas.
Plot
A disease known as morbus chengi or the "White Disease" is spreading throughout the world. The disease has symptoms similar to leprosy and strangely only affects those older than forty-five, typically killing its victims within 3-5 months. The pandemic has sent a panic across the country, especially among the older generations; however, the government, led by a dictator known simply as the Marshal, is more focused on using the pandemic as an opportunity for war than finding a cure.
Doctor Galén (a reference to the Roman doctor Galen) has discovered a cure for the disease. However, he refuses to reveal his cure until world peace is declared. Until then, he vows only to cure the poor, as he believes that only the rich have the power to realize his wishes. The government, meanwhile, eager to maintain public order and tranquility, is sponsoring a ruse, allegedly a former student of Galén, who sells fake cures to the rich.
The public source identifies “The White Disease” as 1937 play written by Karel Čapek. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around White, Disease and play.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3562484. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1937.
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This entry incorporates text from “The White Disease” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.