For the group of co-workers she was simply Zosia, for the patients a doctor who knew them by name. In the hospital, she wore white sneakers, in the Senate, she wore elegant slippers. Her book on HIV showed panic to be the worst epidemic of all.
- In the mid-80s, Poland was worried about the spread of HIV. Although the registration of subsequent cases indicated that drug addicts and hemophiliacs are also victims of AIDS, the slogan: “HIV is transmitted by gays” has dominated the public opinion
- Zofia Kuratowska – hematologist, politician and diplomat, was the first in Poland to write a book on acquired immunodeficiency syndrome – AIDS. Its publication has spread in 30. copies
- Unlike the rest of the medical community, instead of isolating patients, prof. Kuratowska proposed a preventive program
A new plague
Until 1983, AIDS was not referred to as GRID (Gay-related immunodeficiency disease) – gay cancer. The “new plague” was generally known to be the punishment for the sin of homosexuality. The first carrier of the virus whose name was known to the whole world was Gaetan Dugas, a Canadian airline stewart. A twenty-year-old handsome man known for his numerous romances was called patient zero by the press, and subsequent cases of illnesses were associated with his bedroom.
We did not have to wait long for the effects of “fake news” … The fear of the epidemic caused an escalation of intolerance and aggression. Homosexuals were dismissed from work, asked to leave bars and restaurants. The story of an AIDS victim child – a three-year-old Australian removed from kindergarten – has become famous. Although the registration of subsequent cases indicated that drug addicts and hemophiliacs were also victims of the new disease, the slogan “HIV is transmitted by gays” has dominated the public opinion.
The Polish narrative of talking about AIDS did not differ from the rest of the world. Among the proposals to subject homosexuals to compulsory screening and quarantine, there was also a voice of common sense. He belonged to a woman called by her relatives “associate professor in sneakers”
Out of the box
A titan of work – that’s what colleagues said about her. In the medical world, she became known as a great hematologist, author of many scientific publications and a doctor devoted to patients. Zofia Kuratowska climbed the career ladder quickly – she obtained her doctorate at the age of 31, and habilitation eight years later. For political reasons, she had to wait for the title of professor until the fall of communism.
In every workplace – in the clinic on Barska Street, in the outpatient clinic in Fieldorfa, in the hospital in Banacha – she created a family atmosphere. For her co-workers, she was an authority not only in substantive matters. “It’s not a coincidence, it’s a human,” she told the trainees as they walked around. She always knew where who was, in which room and bed. She remembered the names of patients from years ago. She approached the token of gratitude with caution – on the door of her office in the hospital in Barska Street, and then in the clinic in Banach Street, there was a note: “The head doctor and his assistants do not accept any gifts from patients and their families”. Even though she kept saying that the doctor should be totally devoted to work, she managed to find time for her passion number two – politics.
Wife on the TV
She was a flesh and blood patriot – to job offers abroad, she had one answer: “here is my place, here is my homeland”. She was active in Solidarity from the very beginning, and after the outbreak of martial law she went underground. She published “Notebooks for Independent Medical Thought”, chaired meetings under the slogan “Truth about Poland” and headed the medical section of the committee on Piwna Street. After winning the first free elections in 1989, she became deputy speaker of the Senate of the Republic of Poland, but she did not resign from work in the hematology clinic at Banach. The first one allowed her to see all human misfortunes, the second gave her real tools for change.
She went to the celebrations and consulted patients every day. Her husband Grzegorz Jaszuński – a journalist and publicist, used to joke that he watches his beloved wife mainly on TV. She held the mandate of a senator in the second and third terms. She was one of the most active parliamentarians. She was a pioneer in efforts to obtain electoral quotas and rights for LGBT communities, and initiated work on the act to remove architectural barriers for the disabled. It was approached by groups of discriminated people – the Roma, the disabled and AIDS patients. She wrote a book about the latter, which sold over 30. copies.
Let’s stop hysterics
Two things determined the publishing success of Kuratowska’s publication. First, «AIDS. The New Disease »was the first book on HIV in Central and Eastern Europe. Secondly, it did not arouse fear and intolerance, but provided factual information. The Polish hematologist knew very well that the worst of the epidemics was panic, and a society that is afraid does not act rationally. – AIDS hysteria fosters the worst instincts and awakens the demons of intolerance. It is high time to start treating AIDS itself and the equally harmful and socially even more dangerous movement against the victims of the disease, she wrote. Her book debunked harmful myths – she pointed out that AIDS affects the partners of homosexuals who have bisexual relations and their joint children, and that drug addicts’ disease does not only concern heroinists.
Unlike the rest of the medical community, she proposed a preventive program instead of isolating patients. – Certainly, it is morally repulsive to practice homosexuals with a huge number of random partners, sometimes collectively. But just as morally disgusting and unacceptable are the customs of various completely “normal” men who use the services of prostitutes who have intercourse with a large number of casual partners and take part in pink ballets.
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Bow and Africa
After writing the book, Kuratowska continued her clinical work. It was on her initiative that in 1986 the illustrated booklet on the immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS of the Scientific Department of the British Medical Society “AIDS and YOU” was published. Three years later, together with Marek Kotański and Mikołaj Kozakiewicz, she founded the Association of Solidarity towards AIDS PLUS, the first non-governmental organization dealing exclusively with activities related to HIV and AIDS. There was one goal – to provide medical, social, therapeutic and legal support to the victims of the disease and their families. Her activities were appreciated by the National AIDS Center, which awarded her with the Red Bow in 1996.
The last years of Kuratowska’s life are Africa, which she first visited in 1989 during the conference against racial discrimination in Johannesburg. Then there were more journeys. As an envoy of AWEPA, the Association of European Parliamentarians for Africa, she was an observer of the elections in South Africa and Mozambique, and in 1998 she became the Polish ambassador to South Africa. She promoted her homeland in many ways – she organized festivals of Polish films, art exhibitions, and the celebration of the 3rd May Constitution Day. She died on June 8, 1999. In Pretoria, two urns were made for her ashes. The contents of one were scattered over a lake in Africa, the other was placed in Powązki in her father’s grave.