1.1 – Becoming a Young Doctor


Part 1 – A Young Doctor in Occupied Łódź

1.1 – Becoming a Young Doctor (1910–1939)


My mother, Jadwiga Helena Lenartowicz—known to family and friends as Jadzia (Yah’-jah)—was born on October 1, 1910 in the Polish city of Łódź. Her father was a feldsher, a type of physician’s assistant commonly found in Russia and Eastern Europe. After finishing high school in 1930, Jadzia moved to the city of Poznań to attend medical school—the “best years of my life,” she would later say. After completing the rigorous six year program at the University of Poznań and getting her medical degree, she returned to her native city to pursue pediatric residency training at the renowned Anna Maria Hospital for Children.

 

1 GrandfatherPortrait    2 GrandmotherPortrait

(21) Jadzia’s parents: Stanisław Lenartowicz and Helena Gąsiorek Lenartowicz (perhaps their wedding photos, early 1900s)

 

3 FeldsherCertificate

(26-27) Jadzia’s father’s feldsher certificate: “Stanisław Augustin Lenartowicz possesses the necessary theoretical and practical skills and preparation to practice as a feldsher” (in Russian, 1909)

 

4 YoungJadzia1920

(25) Jadzia, elementary school photo (Łódź, perhaps 1920)

 

(26) Jadzia (top row, far right) and her classmates during the final year of high school, dressed in their navy blue school uniforms (Łódź, 1930).

 

6 1930UnivRecBk5x7     7 1935UnivRecBk 5x7

(28-30) Photos from Jadzia’s first year and fifth year university record books (Poznań, 1930 and 1935).

 

8 JadziaAtBaltic 5x7

 (34) Jadzia, arms draped over her friend, Irka Bolinska, vacationing on the Baltic Sea (summer, 1935).

 

9 JadziaFatherPoznan 5x7

(36) Jadzia and her father, who visited Poznań in September, 1935.

 

10 AnnaMariaHosp2001 5x7

 (45, 328) Front entrance of the former Anna Maria—now Janusz Korczak—Hospital in Łódź (2001)

Next Page > 1.2 The War Years in Łódź


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