Speech delivered by Dr. Bożena Laskiewicz, President of the PMA, at the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the Polish Medical Association in Great Britain.
On behalf of the Polish Medical Association in Great Britain, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Ambassador Professor Arkadiusz Rzegocki for inviting us to the Embassy for our Jubilee, Consul Tomasz Balcerowski, Ms. Agata Supińska, and all the employees for their assistance in organising our Jubilee.
Our colleagues, fathers, and grandfathers were fighting for free Poland 75 years ago and longed for their homeland to which they could not return, and I suppose they are looking down on us from above, happy that we have nurtured our Association for 75 years and can celebrate here at the Embassy, that is on Polish soil.
I based this outline of our history on the archives of the Polish Institute and the General W. Sikorski Museum, our Association archives, and in particular on the material collected in the wonderful book of our former president, Dr. Kazimierz Nowak – “50 Years of the Association of Polish Doctors Abroad”, for which I sincerely thank the Institute and Dr. Nowak.
Outline of the history of the Association
Initially, military doctors arrived in Great Britain and Scotland, part of the 1st Corps, especially after the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940 – then the Polish Medical Faculty was established at the University of Edinburgh, and in 1941 the Scientific Society of Polish Military Forces Doctors was established.
The later political reality shifted the scope of activity towards London, where the legal Government of the Republic of Poland was based and where there was the largest concentration of civilian Poles.
The Founder.
An extremely helpful person in founding our Association was Dr. Jerzy Świętochowski, born in 1888 in Mazovia, he completed his secondary education in Piotrków, where two months before his final secondary-school examinations he was expelled for participating in the famous strike on the grounds of the issue of the Polish language. He completed his secondary school-leaving exams in Kraków, where he began his medical studies at Jagiellonian University and then continued them in Zurich and finally graduated in Munich.
Around 1914 he lived and worked in England. During World War I, he closely cooperated with the Polish National Committee in Paris as well as with the International Red Cross, obtaining medicines, hospital equipment, clothing, and food for Poland. Throughout the interwar period, he remained entirely devoted to the cause of Poland, and during World War II, he offered his extensive knowledge of political affairs, and extensive professional, political and social contacts to meet the needs of Poles.
By the end of the war, he became aware of the need felt by the Poles to establish a medical organisation and his influence was crucial in obtaining the BMA support for this plan. In 1944, he co-founded the Polish Medical Association as a founding member and from that time on, as the first in the history of the Association, he held the dignity of Honorary President until his death in1951.
In 1946 there were already five branches of the Association in England and Scotland as well as branches in Germany, France, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Italy and Africa, in total numbering about 600 doctors. The Association helped doctors accept the reality of emigre life and many were faced with the dilemma of whether to return to Poland or not. Many also emigrated further to the USA, Canada, Argentina and South Africa.
Activities.
Meetings of the Association took place mainly in the BMA building as well as in major clinical hospitals. One aspect of the Association’s activities was its contribution to the establishment of the Foreign Relations Committee at the BMA, and later at the initiative of Dr. Świętochowski the World Medical Association, as well as the International Relations Committee at the BMA. The most important achievement was finalising the issue of registration and obtaining the right to practise for Polish doctors. After many efforts directed through the ministry and the BMA to the British government, particularly the minister of health A.Bevan, permission was obtained for the formal registration of physicians and pharmacists as “foreign practitioners”. This was not only an achievement of enormous significance for the future of Polish doctors in exile, but also for the British healthcare system because it coincided with the establishment of the NHS, and Polish doctors were the largest group of approximately 800 doctors included in the new system.
The Association cooperated with many emigre organisations including the Polish exCombatants Association, The Relief Society for Poles, Polish Educational Society, Polish Institute and General W. Sikorski Museum, Penrhos Housing Association as well as the Association of Friends of Polish Patients – who mainly cared for psychiatric patients, of whom there were about 1500, and from the very beginning belonged to the Federation of Poles in Great Britain.
The Association was one of the cooperating organisations of the Congress of Contemporary Polish Science and Culture, which took place in London in 1970. The Association also became a founding member of the emerging Polish Social and Cultural Centre.
The Association’s congresses used to be two days long, ending with a ball; these were among the most elegant social events of Polish London.
During the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Association at the Polish Hearth Club, there are already more ladies participating.
Like any organisation, the Association is experiencing its ups and downs. From the state of an almost military organisation, strong and efficient in its organisation and sense of discipline, the Association is transforming into a professional and scientific association, civilian in its image. In the 1980s the number of members decreased, so that the branches ceased to exist – only the Association’s Board remained in London, and the Association continued to work for Poland, funding books and publications for institutions in Poland, scholarships and helped the Medical Aid for Poland Fund. At this time, a new wave of doctors arrived from Poland and help was needed in the nostrification of diplomas and finding work.
It was also at this time that the Medical Association admitted the Dental Association and the Pharmaceutical Association into its ranks, associations which had also greatly diminished.
In the 1990s there were already more frequent ties with Poland, delegates from the Association took part in the 1st and 2nd Congress of Polish Medical Diaspora and other important conferences in Poland.
The Association helped form associations in Sweden in 1991 and in Germany in 1992 and maintained contacts with Paris, northern France and America.
The originator and founder of the Federation of Polish Medical Organisations Abroad was Dr. Kazimierz Nowak, our former president, who became the first president of the Federation.
It was also during his presidency that the Medical Association celebrated its 50th anniversary with great splendour under the patronage of Prince Charles the Prince of Wales.
Scientific Meetings.
Throughout its existence, the Association has organised scientific meetings, which are currently held in the ceremonial hall of the Polish Institute and the General W. Sikorski Museum about three times a year.
We always have outstanding lecturers and very interesting topics.
Initially, they took place in Polish, but since the 1970s they have taken place in English because members work in English institutions, and also for the benefit of guests.
Social gatherings also take place from time to time.
Headquarters.
The Association had a number of headquarters.
Meetings of the Board generally took place at these headquarters until 1986 – where for years the wonderful Miss Lala Buttówna was the secretary. Currently, they take place in various places, and with modern technology there is no need for a permanent secretary.
Chairmen.
In conclusion,
The Association has senior members who still remember the early years, as well as younger ones and students. We had many outstanding physicians and scientists, the elite of Polish medicine of the 2nd Republic, in our ranks. Many of them returned to Poland after the war and were appointed to university chairs over there. Many, however, brought glory to the Polish name abroad. We had generals, senior army officers, artists, politicians from the level of MPs, senators, mayors of Polish cities, to the President of the Republic of Poland himself, Prof. S. Ostrowski. We have had and still have ordinary doctors fulfilling the glorious duty of honest work for the good of the people they have decided to serve whether in Poland or in exile.
Loyalty to the hospitable country of our settlement is often highly appreciated as expressed by the awarding of royal honours,and state or academic decorations. Professional excellence in British medicine, which we co-create, is something completely natural and many have achieved the highest status in its hierarchy structure, as we will witness while listening to our distinguished lecturers today.
Is it worth it?
During the 25th anniversary celebrations, in his speech, Professor J. Rostowski, the last dean of the Polish Medical Faculty in Edinburgh, recalls that when asked – what does the Association give me? – he replied that nothing, except that it exists – as is often heard today as well. The speech reminds us how psychologically understandable it is that the Briton’s trust in the Polish doctor relates positively to every Pole – which casts an ever wider circle of good will towards our emigres as a whole.
In these conditions an external symbol is needed, a visible sign of the vitality of the Polish world abroad. This symbol must be the Polish Medical Association. Without the Association our existence as a whole will be forgotten – history will forget about us.