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Not only talented and remarkably intelligent, but also stubborn and determined. She rejected the offer that opened the door to her international career and went to Warsaw instead of Tokyo. Her life was full of sudden twists and turns. The fact that she entered a male-dominated profession was determined by her meeting with the Turkish Sultan. Currently in Poland, 60 percent. doctors are women, she was the first.
- Anna Tomaszewicz made the decision that she would become a “medicine” at the age of 15
- She graduated from medical studies in Zurich with honors as the first Polish woman
- After returning to the country, she was not allowed to practice. A coincidence helped her in the recognition of her diploma
- In Warsaw, she dealt with the main gynecology, ran a maternity shelter, and trained midwives
- She actively supported the fight for equal rights for women, wrote articles, spoke, was a co-organizer of the first Congress of Polish Women
- You can find more up-to-date information on the TvoiLokony home page
When the newly minted graduate of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Zurich returned to her homeland to start her practice, an outstanding surgeon, to this day patron of many Polish hospitals, prof. Ludwik Rydygier said: «Away from Poland with the freak of a woman doctor! Let us continue to be famous for the glory of our women, which the poet proclaims so nicely “, accompanied by Gabriela Zapolska, considered one of the first Polish feminists:” I do not want female doctors, lawyers or veterinarians! Not the land of the dead! Do not lose your feminine dignity! ».
Polish newspapers report on her studies in Switzerland on the front pages
Anna Tomaszewicz was born in 1854 in Mława, from where the family moved to Łomża, and then to Warsaw. Her father was an officer in the military police, and her mother, Jadwiga Kołaczkowska, came from a noble family with a long patriotic tradition.
In 1869, Anna graduated with honors from the higher salary of Mrs. Paszkiewicz in Warsaw. Already during her studies, she had the idea that she would become a doctor. At first, the parents did not accept the 15-year-old’s plans not only for moral but also economic reasons. They had six children to support. Anna had to convince her father for a long time to make her decision, and the final argument turned out to be … hunger strike. Mr. Władysław finally bent and opened the casket. For two years, he employed private tutors to prepare his daughter for studies. They taught her subjects that were not taught in salary – biology, physics, chemistry, French, German and Latin.
Finally, a 17-year-old girl went to Zurich. In 1871, she passed the entrance exams and began her studies.
The first woman was admitted to medical studies there in 1864. The Polish woman was the fifteenth student. Before her, six women, four German women, two English women and one American entered medicine. Women studying at the medical faculty were called medics. Men – lecturers and colleagues – often questioned their suitability for the profession. There were rumors that female candidates for doctors were doing badly, so when enrolling for the first year, they were asked for a certificate of morality.
Nevertheless, Warsaw newspapers reported on the front pages: “In September 1871, Anna Tomaszewiczówna left Warsaw for Zurich to study medicine at the university there”. It was an unprecedented thing.
Anna turned out to be a very talented student. From the third year she participated in research, and in the fifth year she became an assistant to prof. Edward Hitzing, a neurologist and psychiatrist. She almost paid for this paid assistant with her life, because during her work she contracted typhus, which she went through very hard.
In 1877 she was awarded a doctoral degree and a distinction for her thesis entitled “Contribution to the physiology of the auditory labyrinth”. She was immediately offered to extend her assistantship and go to Japan. However, brought back to her homeland, Anna refused and went to Warsaw.
Dr. Tomaszewicz quickly regretted her decision
At home, the press portrayed female doctors as people who were reckless with no predispositions to the profession. Her colleagues also treated her contemptuously. Immediately after his return, he took action against her, inter alia, the famous prof. Rydygier.
Dr. Tomaszewicz decided that she would crush the resistance of her colleagues, proving her knowledge and skills. She applied for admission to the Warsaw Medical Society. Her work, written for a prestigious German medical journal, was already in the society’s library. Now she has sent two more there. President Henryk Hoyer assessed them highly, writing that the candidate had “great abilities” and “complete acquaintance with the goals and means of medicine”, but it did not convince other members of the society. Her candidacy was lost in a secret ballot.
Aleksander Świętochowski and Bolesław Prus defended her in the press. Prus wrote: “We think that this accident is a simple symptom of aversion to extraordinary things, a phenomenon so common in the world that even sparrows peck a canary because it is yellow”.
Unfortunately, the young doctor was not allowed to validate her diploma and thus start working in the profession. “Przegląd Lekarski” reported: “It is regrettable to admit that Miss T., at the very beginning, only experiences unpleasantness in her profession. She wanted to take an exam here and went to the curator of the scientific district, who sent her to the minister, and the minister refused to do so. Moreover, she offered her services to the Red Cross Society, but it rejected her offer ”.
The Red Cross Society justified the refusal to employ the doctor with the lack of the right to practice and the circle was closed.
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The doctor is trying in St. Petersburg
Seeing that her efforts to obtain recognition of her Swiss diploma in Warsaw are fruitless, Dr. Tomaszewicz leaves for St. Petersburg. It is not easy there either, because the doctors present the following arguments: «women cannot be doctors because… they don’t have beards!«.
However, Annie came to the rescue by accident. At the same time, a certain Sultan was visiting St. Petersburg, who was looking for a woman to provide medical care to his harem. He had a lot of requirements because the candidate had to be fluent in , German and English. Dr. Tomaszewicz met all these conditions. She was hired, and this in turn allowed her to validate her diploma. She passed the exams at the St. Petersburg university, obtaining the right to practice throughout Our Country.
In 1880, Anna returns to Poland and begins her own practice in Warsaw in June. She does not deal with physiology, which was her specialization. He works at Niecała Street, specializing in the treatment of women and children. This choice was largely forced by circumstances, as few men would be willing to consult her at that time.
A year later, her personal life also changes. She marries a colleague – an ENT specialist Konrad Dobrski, with whom he has one son, Ignacy.
In 1882, Dr. Tomaszewicz-Dobrska recorded another small professional success. He starts working in a maternity home on Prosta Street. It wasn’t easy to get the job as she had to beat her male competitors. However, she received strong support from her husband, as well as Bolesław Prus and Aleksander Świętochowski.
The first Polish gynecologist
The maternity home where he works was established on the initiative of the famous banker and philanthropist Stanisław Kronenberg. He allocated funds to open five similar facilities after an epidemic of puerperal infections broke out in Warsaw.
The beginnings of Dr. Tomaszewicz-Dobrska’s work were dramatically difficult. The old tenement house on Prosta Street had no running water, no toilets, and the old, cracked stoves were smoking. In such conditions, the doctor implemented the rules of antiseptic treatment. She also developed the basic rules of hygiene, which she called “Vows of Chastity”. All staff had to strictly follow them.
- Let your profession sanctify your vow of chastity.
- Have no beliefs other than bacteria, no aspirations other than decontamination, no other ideal than sterility.
- Swear to the spirit of the time not to blaspheme it in any way, especially to boastful and empty raving about colds, overeating, fear, agitation, hitting the brain with food, or any other heresy that contradicts the infectious nature of fever.
- For eternal times and eternal damnation, curse oil, sponge, rubber, grease, and everything that hates fire or has not known it, for it is bacterial.
- Be always aware and aware that the invisible enemy is lurking everywhere, on them, on you, around you, and in yourself near pregnant, in labor, obstetricians, babies’ eyes and navels.
- Do not touch them, even with the shout and groan of your help, until you clothe yourself in white from head to foot, neither do you anoint your naked hands and arms or their bodies with abundant soap, or bactericidal power.
- The first internal examination is ordered to you, the second is permissible, the third must be excused, the fourth may be forgiven, the fifth will be charged to you as a crime.
- Let slow pulses and low temperatures be the highest title of glory for you.
The help there was free, and it was used by the poorest female inhabitants of Warsaw. In 1883, 96 children were born in the facility, and in 1910 – already 420.
Under the rule of Dr. Tomaszewicz-Dobrska, the death rate of those in labor dropped to 1 percent, which aroused admiration not only among doctors in Warsaw. Thanks to her efforts, in 1889 the asylum was moved to a new building at ul. Żelazna 55. There, the premises and sanitary conditions were much better, even isolation rooms for febrile obstetricians were created. There, in 1896, the doctor was the first in Warsaw to perform a caesarean section.
Additionally, Dr. Anna trains staff and obstetricians. She educated 340 midwives and 23 obstetricians. She has published several dozen medical articles on the treatment methods used in her facility, as well as, for example, on the standard of living of the Polish community compared to Europeans.
Her descriptions of the asylum sparkle with a little irony, such as the cramped, poor kitchen where cooking and washing are done, and where servants sleep and wait for visitors, she calls the “Pantheon, embracing all cults and all rituals”.
The doctor worked in the profession for almost 30 years, gaining the fame of an excellent doctor, and her office was filled with women from all walks of life. At the end of her life, Dr. Tomaszewicz-Dobrska is one of the most popular doctors in the capital, who heals poor patients for free, and even provides financial support. When in 1911 two maternity hospitals were established in Warsaw: St. Zofia and Fr. Anna Mazowiecka, and the shelters were closed, he refuses to take over the management of the hospital, proposing his deputy for this position.
In addition to her professional activity, Dr. Anna was also active in the Warsaw Charity Society (she is the caretaker of the sewing room) and the Summer Camps for Children Society, she is also a doctor in a shelter for teachers. She writes articles for the weekly Kultura Polska and speaks on women’s rights. He is friends with Eliza Orzeszkowa and Maria Konopnicka. Since the age of 52, she has also been an active member of the Polish Culture Society. In 1907, he participated in the organization of the first Congress of Polish Women.
Dr Anna Tomszewicz-Dobrska dies in 1918 of pulmonary tuberculosis, which she contracted much earlier. Knowing her views, her friends decided that instead of buying wreaths and flowers, they would spend the money on the “A Drop of Milk” campaign.
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