It is actually quite difficult to ascertain when the syndrome was first discovered and named, but it is likely the associated electrolyte disturbances were identified well before 1951, perhaps in Holland during the closing months of World War II, before Victory Day in Europe.[7] There are also anecdotal eyewitness reports from a still earlier time of Polish prisoners in Iran who were freed from Soviet camps in 1941-42 under an amnesty to form an army under General Anders and were given food whilst in a state of starvation which caused many to die.[8]