of the Women’s Military Training

The medical services of the Polish Underground State began operations immediately after the end of the Defensive War in 1939. They consisted of doctors, nurses, medical students, and Girl Scouts. Secret courses and studies were conducted, forming resistance against the occupier and educating medical personnel. Teaching took place clandestinely, often thanks to professors acting out of passion, as in the Private Vocational School for Auxiliary Medical Personnel in Warsaw, known as Dr. Jan Zaorski’s School – essentially a secret medical university. In 1941, the Medical Service in the Union of Armed Struggle obtained military status. During the occupation, under the direction of Dr. Cyprian “Skiba” Sadowski, it focused on gathering equipment and preparing dressing stations and field hospitals.

After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, despite the existence of 25 city hospitals, 122 infirmaries, and about 200 rescue and medical points, the enormous needs could not be met. Hospitals, despite the protection under the Geneva Conventions, were targets of bombings and brutal attacks by German infantry, significantly limiting their operations. These facilities were scattered throughout Warsaw, from Śródmieście through Żoliborz, Wola, Ochota, to Mokotów. Many of them, like the Ujazdowski Hospital, St. Lazarus Hospital, or the Radowy Institute, had to adapt to circumstances, often relocating to safer locations, often in basements of houses or churches. Nevertheless, medical activity during the Uprising was not only an expression of organizational efficiency but above all heroism, with which doctors and volunteers tried to save lives in extremely difficult conditions.

An incredibly beautiful chapter in Warsaw’s wartime history was written by line medical assistants, who often sacrificed their lives trying to provide assistance and save wounded colleagues from the units.