Dr Antoni Ostaszewski

Major Antoni Ostaszewski was associated with the city of Piotrków Trybunalski. He was born there on 26 June 1896¹ and attended a local private grammar school. After many vicissitudes, , he arrived in Kraków in 1915 to begin medical studies at the Jagiellonian University. He was going through a hard time in his life, as he could not count on his family’s help. His father had been deported into the interior of Russia² and his mother had been left on her own with many children and needed to be looked after. Young Antoni adored his mother and adopted this attitude towards all women, making it a gallant practice he cultivated to the end of his life.

Dr Antoni Ostaszewski. Source: Przegląd Lekarski – Oświęcim, 1969. Click the image to enlarge.

He was a good university student, especially in chemistry. Professor Leon Paweł Marchlewski³ noticed his potential and recommended Antoni as a tutor to students who had problems with chemistry. Young Ostaszewski also had a penchant for social work; he joined in the work of the welfare committee⁴ presided over by the Bishop of Kraków, Adam Sapieha (later Cardinal Sapieha⁵ ). This Committee did charity work and helped the poor, mainly in the region of Podhale, where the inhabitants were being decimated by typhus epidemics. Full of youthful enthusiasm, Ostaszewski engaged in the committee’s medical work; he travelled from village to village in a farm cart and vaccinated inhabitants against typhus. It was a pioneering job, requiring a lot of effort and dedication.

From his earliest years, Antoni Ostaszewski was interested in the history of his country. His family’s exciting military traditions came from his ancestors’ involvement in the November and January Uprisings⁶ . He loved to read historical novels, especially Sienkiewicz’s Trilogy⁷ . During a summer holiday at home, he met Władysław Sikorski⁸ , a family friend of the Ostaszewskis. Sikorski was the chief of the Military Department in the Supreme National Committee (Naczelny Komitet Narodowy, NKN⁹ ) in 1914-1916. Sikorski who suggested Antoni should graduate as a military doctor. Antoni did not hesitate long and in 1918 volunteered for the Polish Army. Although Ostaszewski broke off his studies to serve as a battalion doctor in the 26th and 49th infantry regiments, at the same time working in the Piotrków Trybunalski hospital for infectious diseases.

In 1921, he returned to Kraków to complete his interrupted medical studies. Yet, before taking his final examination in 1924, he was mobilised¹⁰ as a physician in a motorised squadron in Grodno. Moreover, he was assigned work in the internal medicine ward of the local hospital. He was also involved in social work, organising scout camps and military training courses in Grodno.

He received his graduation certificate in March 1926, but had to leave the army due to poor health. He moved to Upper Silesia, and work with the Silesian miners was very challenging. He took a liking to Silesia, part of which had been restored to Poland¹¹ . He enjoyed the local patriotic traditions and made friends with miners, whom he treated in an outpatient clinic of the Kasa Bracka¹² miners’ friendly society, enjoying their esteem and great trust.

However, he did not work there for long. The Ministry of Military Affairs asked for him again and appointed him physician to the 4th Podhale Rifle Regiment¹³ stationed in Cieszyn. He was also appointed head of the neonatal ward of Cieszyn voivodeship¹⁴ hospital. His long-term service in Cieszyn focused on professional work and intensive involvement in a patriotic organisation¹⁵ in which he worked with General Józef Kustroń¹⁶ .

Dr Ostaszewski was a charming and cheerful person. He was sociable and friendly, which made him very popular. He was on very good terms with fellow officers. His special interests were planning Poland’s military strategy and tactics, to which he made a substantial contribution. In 1937, he completed a course for the commanding officers of medical units at the Warsaw¹⁷ military college.

In September 1939, Dr Antoni Ostaszewski went through the entire military campaign ¹⁸ in the rank of major, as commanding medical officer of the 21st Mountain Infantry Division¹⁹ , making his military reputation in the battles fought by the Division, and attending to the wounded with supreme dedication and courage. In the Battle of Dzików-Oleszyce on 15 September, in the midst of a torrent of German artillery fire and Luftwaffe bombs, dropped with no regard for the Red Cross emblem on field hospitals and medical stations, Dr Ostaszewski was busy looking after the wounded, calming them down, put on bandages, and treating them in the main medical station located in Dzików Stary school. He earned a reputation as a very brave and dedicated medical officer. Around 2 p.m. on 16 September he treated General Kustroń, the Division’s mortally wounded commander.

The 21st Mountain Infantry Division was defeated, sharing the fate of the Kraków Army²⁰ . Major Ostaszewski was captured by the Germans and taken to a prisoner-of-war transit camp east of the River San, and released due to poor health on 20 October 1939. He found his wife Emilia, who was staying with friends in Staszów, and the couple returned to Piotrków Trybunalski in December 1939. He intended to work as a doctor in his home town, and of course be involved in the underground resistance movement. Indeed, in December he managed to contact ZWZ (the Union of Armed Struggle²¹ ) and was appointed the first commander of its Piotrków unit. In March 1940, he was succeeded in the post by his deputy, while he was promoted to medical commanding officer of the Piotrków district.

Dr Ostaszewski’s made a distinguished contribution to the resistance movement in many aspects. He organised an underground medical service, recruiting numerous doctors and nurses for this work. He was always busy and put in a lot of effort to create five-person medical teams, distribute underground papers and broadsheets delivered from Warsaw, and conduct intelligence work. He was in close contact with groups of railwaymen who carried out minor sabotage operations. And this was only the first stage of the underground movement. In addition, he worked for the Polish Red Cross, the social insurance institution and the hospital for infectious diseases.

He was especially concerned for soldiers’ families. He was a compassionate humanitarian sensitive to human suffering, providing treatment for the city’s poor free of charge, and often leaving some money for the “little ones” for their parents to buy them food or the medications he prescribed. Despite the growing Nazi reign of terror, he did not lose his optimism, but kept saying “Nil desperandum, we will survive, we will win.”

He provided medical assistance to Jews, and Jewish children visited him every day. As soon as Dr Ostaszewski or his wife heard Jewish children gently tapping on their front door, they let them in, gave them bread and hot soup, and frequently a portion to take home as well, regardless of the death penalty the Germans had introduced for Poles who helped Jews²² . As their apartment was located close to the ghetto²³ , their contacts with the Jews were relatively easy²⁴ . After the evening curfew, it was enough to run out of the ghetto and cut across a small square to get to the ground floor of the house where their apartment was located. In the evenings, Dr Ostaszewski often visited Dr Józef Galer, who was confined in the ghetto and died in 1944. Dr Ostaszewski had a pass permitting him to enter the ghetto for medical consultancy in the infectious diseases ward of the ghetto hospital.

On 2 November 1942, the Piotrków Gestapo arrested Dr Ostaszewski and his wife, who was also involved in the resistance movement²⁵ . They were ratted on by an informer from the railway cell of the underground organisation. It was a big affair related to a major sabotage operation on the railways. After being interrogated, they were sent to Majdanek²⁶ concentration camp. Dr Ostaszewski (camp no. 9029) worked as a doctor in the Soviet POWs²⁷ ’ field, together with Prof. Konopka and Prof. [Mieczysław] Michałowicz, Dr [Jan] Nowak, Dr [Henryk] Wieliczański and others. He was a helpful friend to all the inmates, and dedicated to his medical duties. Whenever he could, he substituted for his fellow prisoner-doctors in their hospital work. He helped to save many prisoners’ lives.

In 1943 he was transported from Majdanek to other Nazi German camps—Gross-Rosen²⁸ (camp no. 29068), Oranienburg and Sachsenhausen²⁹ . There he was forced to work as a lumberjack and carpenter, in the quarries or on road construction. In the evenings, while other inmates rested after a long, hard day’s work, whenever possible he provided medical assistance to other prisoners.

He lived to see the longed-for end of the war. On returning to Piotrków in May 1945, he immediately started working as a doctor for the Polish Red Cross and the social insurance company. As before, he was again treating the sick and helping the poorest, but not for long. His devastated and exhausted body could not withstand the consequences of heavy labour in the concentration camps. Dr Ostaszewski died in Piotrków of a heart attack on 6 July 1943. He passed away prematurely, like many other victims of the Nazi German concentration camps.

Dr Antoni Ostaszewski was truly a doctor by vocation, a loyal soldier, a dedicated social activist, and above all an ardent Polish patriot. He was awarded the Cross of Valour ³⁰ and the Order of Virtuti Militari (5th Class) ³¹ for his participation in the September Campaign.

***

To write this potted biography of Dr Antoni Ostaszewski, I have used the following sources:

• information from Emilia Ostaszewska-Nakonieczna, Dr Ostaszewski’s widow,
• written accounts from Army Reserve Lt. Col. Władysław Steblik, an officer of the staff of Armia Kraków; and from Col. Adam Szejna (aka “Roztoka”), former head of the Organising Department of the Radom and Kielce district and former commander of the 74th partisan infantry regiment; as well as from Wacław Rakoczy and Jan Szczepański;
• a copy of Dr Ostaszewski’s graduation certificate from the Jagiellonian University, the certificates of his military decorations, and his postcards sent from Majdanek and Gross-Rosen.

***

Translated from original article: Kępińska-Bazylewicz, H., “Dr Antoni Ostaszewski.” Przegląd Lekarski – Oświęcim, 1969.

1. He was a son of Władysław and Aniela neé Szmitt.^a
2. From 1795 to 1918 Poland was not an independent country, but partitioned and ruled by three neighbouring powers, Russia, Prussia, and Austria Many times during Poland’s non-existence as an independent state, Polish people rose up against the Partitioning Powers, especially Russia, despite reprisals such as the death sentence or deportation to Siberia.^b
3. Leon Paweł Teodor Marchlewski (1869–1946), distinguished Polish chemist and Honorary Member of the Polish Chemical Society. Rector of the Jagiellonian University, 1926-1928. One of the founders of chlorophyll chemistry; twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, once nominated in Chemistry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Marchlewski^c
4. In March 1915 Bishop Sapieh set up a welfare committee for victims of the First World War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Stefan_Sapieha^c
5. Prince Adam Sapieha (1867–1951), Polish Roman Catholic cardinal; Archbishop of Kraków from 1911 to 1951. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Stefan_Sapieha^c
6. The November Uprising (1830–31) and the January Uprising (1863-64), both against Russia. See Note 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_Uprising; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_Uprising^c
7. The Trilogy is a series of three novels written by the Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz presenting a dramatized version of 17th-century Polish history. Sienkiewicz wrote The Trilogy to “warm Polish hearts,” i.e., to encourage and strengthen Polish national confidence against the occupying powers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trilogy^c
8. Władysław Sikorski (1881–1943), a Polish military and political leader. Active in the Polish independence movement before and during the First World War, fighting in the Polish Legions and also later in the newly created Polish Army during the Polish–Soviet War of 1919 to 1920. After the restoration of Polan Sikorski held top government offices, including Prime Minister (1922 to 1923) and as Minister of Military Affairs (1923 to 1924). During the Second World War, Sikorski wasbecame Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces. Killed in a plane crash on 4 July 1943. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Sikorski^c
9. NKN, Naczelny Komitet Narodowy, was a political and military institution set up during the First World War to work for the restoration of Polish independence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_National_Committee^b
10. Grodno (now Hrodna, Belarus), was in the north-eastern part of Poland at the time, and the region was jeopardised by frequent cross-border raids by Soviet secret service units in the aftermath of the Polish-Bolshevik War of 1919-1920. Polish troops and border guards were concentrated in the area. This article was written and published under the Polish People’s Republic, when Poland was in the Soviet Bloc, so the subject of the Soviet invasion of 1920 could not be mentioned for censorship reasons and was merely implied but left unsaid.^b
11. Poland was restored as an independent state in 1918 at the end of World War I, but its borders were not demarcated, which led to a series of wars with neighbouring states. The dispute with Germany over its western border led to three Polish Uprisings for Silesia (1919-1921) and a plebiscite for Upper Silesia, held in 1921 under the auspices of an international commission. Germany sent “temporary inhabitants” into Silesia for the period of the plebiscite to turn the scales in its favour. In outcome, part of Silesia with a Polish-speaking indigenous majority was left in Germany.^b
12. Spółka Bracka, a Silesian miners’ friendly society, was founded 1857. Members paid monthly contributions and the institution provided health and social insurance services. It was Poland’s largest social insurance company in the interwar period. http://www.montes.pl/montes25/montes_19.htm^c
13. Strzelcy podhalańscy is the traditional name of the mountain infantry units of the Polish Army. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podhale_Rifles^c
14. A voivodeship is the first-tier unit in the territorial division of Poland into administrative and local government regions.^b
15. Polski Związek Ziem Zachodnich (the Polish Union of the Western Territories). Its aim was to cultivate the Polish traditions of the western parts of the Republic of Poland and neutralise German influence. The organisation’s full name is not given the original Polish text, only abbreviated to Związek Ziem Zachodnich (Union of the Western Territories). https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polski_Zwi%%C4%85zek_Zachodni^b
16. Józef Rudolf Kustroń (1892–1939) a Brigadier General of the Polish Army, commanding officer of the 21st Mountain Infantry Division. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Kustro%C5%84^c
17. Wyższa Szkoła Wojenna. the principal Polish military academy in the period between the World Wars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wy%C5%BCsza_Szko%C5%82a_Wojenna^c
18. The Second World War stared on 1 September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. On 17 September 1939 the Soviet Union, Germany’s ally at the time, invaded Poland from the east. The Poles defended their country against the double invasion on their own for over a month. The period is sometimes referred to as “the September Campaign.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland^b
19. 21 Dywizja Piechoty Górskiej.^b
20. Armia Kraków was one of the large Polish forces which took part in the Polish Defensive War of 1939. It was officially created in March 1939 as the main pivot of Polish defence. Altogether, Armia Kraków was made up of 59 battalions, 29 squadrons, 352 heavy guns, 90 tanks, two armoured trains and 44 planes. These forces were not enough to stop the German advance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w_Army^c
21. Związek Walki Zbrojnej, ZWZ (Union of Armed Struggle) was an underground army formed in Poland following the German invasion in September 1939. It operated from 13 November 1939 until 14 February 1942, when it was succeeded by the Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Armed_Struggle^c
22. On 15 October 1941 Hans Frank, Governor-General of the Generalgouvernement (the part of German-occupied Poland not directly incorporated in Germany) issued an edict instituting the death penalty for ethnic Poles providing any form of assistance to Jews who escaped from a ghetto. https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/slownik/kara-za-pomoc-zydom^b
23. The Piotrków Trybunalski ghetto was created on 8 October 1939. It was the first Nazi German ghetto in occupied Europe and held up to 28 thousand Jews. The Piotrków Ghetto was liquidated in 4 days beginning on 14 October 1942. Its inhabitants were deported to Treblinka and Majdanek death camps, though some 3,500 Jewish factory workers still remained in the small ghetto. However, mass executions ensued in 1943. By 1944 only 1,000 Jews were still alive. As the Soviet front began to approach, they were loaded onto freight trains and sent to Buchenwald and Ravensbrück. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piotrk%C3%B3w_Trybunalski_Ghetto^c
24. As confirmed by archival records (see, for instance, the document with the reference number APMM, IV-34, Grypsy Mariana Ajzerta, k. 31-32, in the Archive of the State Museum at Majdanek, the Nazi German concentration and extermination camp), some parcels were sent to Ostaszewski’s address as he was considered a trustworthy person.^a
25. Emilia Ostaszewska neé Dubicka received prisoner No. 5363 when imprisoned in Majdanek. In April 1944 she was sent from Majdanek to Auschwitz. She survived the war.^a
26. They were included in the first transport of Polish political prisoners. Starting in January 1943 Poles from a number of Nazi German prisons, including these in Radom, Kielce, Częstochowa, Piotrków Trybunalski, Warsa, Lublin, and Lviv were sent to concentration camps to perform slave labour there.^a
27. Majdanek concentration camp was established in 1942 and had an area of 30.6 ha (75.6 acres) consisting of five main sections known as fields with a total of 108 barracks, and two mid-fields. After May 1942, Field 3 accommodated Polish prisoners, and political prisoners from various countries after January 1943.A women’s camp operated in Field 5 until September 1943. From March 1943, children were also interned there. For more on Majdanek, see the Majdanek Museum website at http://www.majdanek.eu/en^c
28. The evacuation from Majdanek to Gross-Rosen took place on 6 April 1944.^a
29. The original Polish article writes of Oranienburg and Sachsenhausen as separate camps, but in fact it was the same concentration camp, although it had several sub-camps. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachsenhausen_concentration_camp^b
30. Krzyż Walecznych.^b
31. Order Virtuti Militari (V Klasa).^b

a—notes by Marta Grudzińska, Expert Consultant for the Medical Review Auschwitz project; b—notes by Teresa Bałuk-Ulewiczowa, Head Translator for the Medical Review Auschwitz project;

A publication funded in 2020–2021 within the DIALOG Program of the Ministry of Education and Science in Poland.