Medical Review Auschwitz: Medicine Behind the Barbed Wire. Conference Proceedings 2018. Prologue

Prologue

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ith emotional attachment connected to my Polish heritage, as a son of Holocaust survivors, a professional cardiologist and also as Principal Investigator of a study dealing with long‑term psychosomatic

impact in Holocaust offspring, I am more than honored to introduce this book, of-

fered to participants of the 2nd International Conference Medical Review Auschwitz: Medicine Behind the Barbed Wire, taking place on May 7–8 in Kraków, Poland.

This bundle contains articles based on lectures presented in May 2018 at the 1st conference and it is la mer à boire. It shows so many aspects of violations of medical ethics together with the best behavior of people in our profession. Without any doubt we are dealing with Living History. Although realizing the many differences between the Central European and Anglo‑Saxon medical traditions, this scientific community knows the importance of a common perspective.

It is always important to realize where initiatives come from. So, thank you Prof. Dr Zdzisław Ryn, because it is your experience with the inhuman treatment, being interrogated as a 5‑year old by the Gestapo during the German occupation and transferring it into something so positive as this conference.

Thank you, Dr Piotr Setkiewicz, for showing in detail the omnipresence of the word Selection and Prof. Dr Aleksander Skotnicki for showing the antithesis of humanitarian medicine. Using power and knowledge in committing the most hideous crimes has to be prevented for all future times. Appreciation for Dr Maria Ciesielska, not only for sharing your knowledge about Experimental Block 10 in Auschwitz, but also for your focus on the gender specific topic of sterilization of women.

Zdzisław Ryn again, for interviewing Prof. Dr Wanda Półtawska, Polish survivor of Ravensbrück. She volunteered to talk about her experiences as a victim of

horrific experiments and as a result decided to study medicine to overcome and prevent future medical atrocities. Research on The KZ‑syndrome and its evolution through generations concludes: “… KZ‑syndrome, … doesn’t capture the essence of the condition, its physical and mental symptoms or its chronic and progressive nature.”

Dr Jacek Lachendro shows the enormous difficulties of taking care and lending first aid to survivors. It should be noted how tough and challenging it was to get the needed aid to the survivors.

It is important to realize, as Dr Stacy Gallin wrote, that the ethical implications of Nazi medicine are present in current medical practice.

From my personal perspective adding one single remark: the 1st Conference Medical Review Auschwitz: Medicine Behind the Barbed Wired was most impressive and I wish all participants the opportunity to gain and share knowledge during the second edition.

Jacques D. Barth, MD, PhD, FACC, FAHA Haarlem, The Netherlands, Santa Monica, USA

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Prologue

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he medical journal Przegląd Lekarski – Oświęcim (English title, Medical Re‑ view – Auschwitz) was an annual publication issued by Towarzystwo Lekarskie Krakowskie (the Kraków Medical Society), which ever since its foun-

dation in 1866 has been conducting scientific and social activities and has been engaged in medical practice. When Auschwitz‑Birkenau was liberated on 27 Jan-

uary 1945, Dr Józef Bellert and a team of doctors from St. Lazarus’ Hospital in Kraków who were members of the Society arrived on the site of the concentration camp and dispensed medical care to survivors. Many survivors and their families continued to receive medical assistance provided by the staff of Kraków’s university hospital.

A group of doctors from Kraków also launched a project to collect records relating to the Nazi German concentration camps and conduct research on the medical aftereffects observed in survivors. Their work was published in Polish in Przegląd Lekarski – Oświęcim, which came out as an annual in 1961–1991.

Every year the Kraków Medical Society, the Jagiellonian University, and the Auschwitz­‑Birkenau State Museum, hold a memorial meeting to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz‑Birkenau concentration camp. The video recording of the meeting on 24 January 2019 is available online at https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=yELWzqwqT3g.

The latest of the Kraków Medical Society’s undertakings concerning Nazi German concentration camps and their aftermath is the Medical Review Auschwitz Project, and this book has been published as part of the Project.

Professor Igor Gościński President of the Kraków Medical Society

Medical Review Auschwitz: Medicine Behind the Barbed Wire

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