Edinburgh institution that defied the Nazis
WITH Nazi forces occupying Poland during the Second World War, the only place in the world to earn a Polish-accredited degree was in Edinburgh.
The Polish School of Medicine in Edinburgh (1941/49) was originally established to support Polish medical students and officers in exile, who had been previously pushed out of Poland, then France, as Nazi forces progressed through Europe.
The roughly 17,000 men and officers of the 1st Polish Corps were stationed in Scotland in 1941, to help protect the coast from an anticipated German invasion, according to former Edinburgh University surgeon Dr Iain Macintyre, who has written a history of the school.
Among these were doctors and medical students who had been cut off from their homes and left with no opportunities to earn their degrees or practice.
Colonel Kurtz, director of medical services of the Polish Forces in Scotland, and Colonel Archer Irvine-Fortescue, deputy director of medical services, Scottish Command, worked together to create hospital settings for Polish medics to train.
Eventually, Lt Colonel FAE Crew convinced the university to take on a teaching role. From there, the idea for the Polish School of Medicine quickly grew legs, Dr Macintyre wrote.
“The school was formalised by an agreement between the Polish government-in-exile and the University of Edinburgh, which was signed on February 24, 1941.
“Under this agreement, the Polish School of Medicine was to be governed under the academic rules and regulations of Polish universities.
Most teaching was conducted at Edinburgh’s main teaching hospital, the Royal Infirmary. However, it was felt the school should have its own hospital where Polish doctors could care for Polish patients.
The school received support from the US as well as a major final donation from the Paderewski Testimonial Fund, named after former Polish prime minister Ignacy Paderewski.
With this funding, a portion of the Western General in Edinburgh was transformed into the Paderewski Hospital. Between 1941 and 1946, up to 40,000 patients were treated there.
Over its eight-year lifespan, 227 students graduated with medical diplomas and 19 earned doctorates. Initially, the school was only open to military personnel but soon began accepting civilians. Students arrived from all over Europe. As the war dragged on, it welcomed students from newlyliberated Poland and even those who had survived Nazi concentration camps.
After it formally closed in March 1949, very few graduates returned to Poland. Many remained in the UK or took up practice in other parts of the world.
Beginning in 1966, former students held regular reunions every five years. In 1986, graduates helped establish the Polish School of Medicine Memorial Fund. The scholarship supports Polish medical scientists Polish universities and research institutes to come to Edinburgh.
The Polish School of Medicine’s Paderewski Hospital closed in 1947 and was demolished in 2010. Visitors can still find a plaque at its former site, recognising Edinburgh University’s contributions to Polish medicine “in the dark days of 1941, when Polish universities were destroyed and Polish professors died in concentration camps”.