Dr Cyprian Sadowski, nom de guerre Skiba.

Those who knew Dr. Cyprian Sadowski well, especially during World War II, will probably not deny that he had a talent for taking good and quick decisions, especially in difficult, dangerous situations. Also his post-war employment in Ciechocinek,¹ his favourite resort, showed that he took a realistic and practical approach to life. However, Dr. Sadowski won people’s respect and admiration primarily as chief medical officer of Kedyw² and the resistance soldier known as Skiba.

Dr. Cyprian Sadowski (photo taken after the War). Source: Przegląd Lekarski – Oświęcim, 1988. Click the image to enlarge.

He was born on 26 September 1902 in Osiek near Toruń, as the ninth child of Paweł Sadowski, a labourer, and his wife Marianna Sadowska. His parents chose Cyprian for his name from the Church calendar, as he was born on the feast of SS. Cyprian and Justina, martyrs of Antioch.

Cyprian attended primary school in Sinogóra, but he was not a hard-working student; he had a lively temperament and liked to play pranks. So when his classmates became too noisy or unruly, Sadowski was usually considered the ringleader of the mischief.

To continue his education, he was enrolled in a trading school in Mława, but had to interrupt his education in 1914, when World War I broke out. He returned to school when it re-opened in 1916 as a grammar school specialising in the humanities. His childhood and teenage years were marred by poverty and frequent food shortages, which he described with a dose of humour in his memoirs entitled Wyboista droga [A bumpy road], especially in a chapter on his years of hunger. Unsurprisingly, when he was examined by the medical officers on the Polish army recruitment board, he was not qualified for enlistment on the grounds of “poor health and malnutrition.”

On several occasions, Sadowski barely missed being expelled but managed to crawl his way to his school-leaving exams and passed them in 1923.³ Yet now the pressing problem was what to do next. He could not expect his poverty-stricken family to support him at university. So he enrolled for medicine at the University of Warsaw and was admitted to the Military Medical School (CWSan⁴). On 1 August 1923 he joined its Second Company. CWSan’s aim was to educate a sufficient number of medical officers for the Polish Army. Its curriculum included both military training and regular medical studies at the University of Warsaw. The School was located on the premises of Ujazdowski Hospital, in the erstwhile residence of the Dukes of Mazovia. On 1 October 1923, following an introductory training period, Sadowski started his university studies. As he wrote in his book, he found them extremely useful and at last realised that he had to work hard.

As every military doctor had to be able to ride a horse, officer cadets were sent away to spend their first time off in the 7th Uhlan Regiment stationed in Mińsk Mazowiecki. There they went through the ordeal of the “horse-riding academy” and those memories never faded.

During his third year at university, Sadowski witnessed the dangerous moments of Marshal Józef Piłsudski’s coup d’état⁵ between 12 and 14 May 1926. He described those days in a chapter on “fratricide.” Lubaszewski, one of Sadowski’s fellow students, was killed, which came as a shock. I would like to quote Sadowski’s words. He recollected the aftermath of the coup in the following way:

. . . Apart from Lubaszewski, no one else [i.e. none of his fellows] was killed. We buried him with honours. But what shall become of Dolatkowski and Ryl– They were in that group of a hundred cadets who “went out for a stroll” on 12 May⁶ and, led by Col. Osmólski,⁷ attacked the headquarters of the Warsaw Garrison. They were the only two brave enough to speak up and disobey the order when they realised they would have to rebel against the Polish government. In protest, they removed the school badges from their uniforms. Col. Osmólski, who was a great commander and trainer, told them to leave the group. So, weeping, they came back to the school, while the unrest continued in the streets. We expected they would be harassed, but Col. Osmólski seemed not to remember the incident. On the contrary, he often spoke of them as fine soldiers. Both of them graduated with a distinction. One was promoted to the most junior officer rank by President Mościcki, the other by Marshal Piłsudski. . . .

Sadowski completed his medical studies and finished his tough military training in 1930. On 5 January 1931, he reported in the 54th Infantry Regiment in Inowrocław to work as a regimental junior physician. Three years later, on 5 January 1934, he was relocated to Warsaw, to complete a specialist course in internal diseases and physiotherapy. On 10 May 1934, he was assigned for duty during the summer season to the military sanatorium in Ciechocinek.

On 31 August 1939, when mobilisation was ordered,⁸ he left for Warsaw and reported at the meeting point in Ujazdowski Hospital.⁹ During the defence campaign against the German invasion, he was relocated to Modlin, and subsequently Rembertów, Garwolin, Chełm Lubelski, and Kowel. Finally, near Piotrków Lubelski, he had to disband his unit¹⁰ and change into civilian clothes in order to reach Warsaw safely.

On 10 October 1939 he reported for duty in No. 1 District Hospital,¹¹ whose commander was Prof. Edward Loth,¹² a colonel of the reserve forces. On his orders, Sadowski opened a physiotherapy ward where wounded soldiers could convalesce. The casualties were admitted to Ujazdowski Hospital, No. 1 District Hospital on ulica 6 Sierpnia and its branch in a school building on Śniadeckich, as well as in the Knights of Malta Hospital¹³ on Senatorska. I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Cyprian Sadowski at the time, because I was wounded too. Later, the physiotherapy ward was moved to Ujazdowski Hospital, which is no longer in operation, more precisely to the ground floor of its largest building, next to surgical ward No. VI A.

These and other hospitals in Warsaw were extremely important places during the War, especially for the resistance movement, whose members were not just medical professionals, of course. The first chief medical officer of SZW (Service for Poland’s Victory¹⁴), Col. Dr. Kazimierz Baranowski,¹⁵ took the resistance movement’s military oath in Wolski Hospital before Brig. Gen. Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski,¹⁶ Commander in Chief of SZW and nominally an employee of the Hospital. Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski was given a hospital job thanks to a false identity card made out to one Józef Karaś, which he received from Stefan Starzyński¹⁷ while the latter was still serving as Warsaw’s mayor (Celma-Panek, 349–365).

Dr. Cyprian Sadowski began his work for the resistance by organising the ZWZ medical services in the Wola district in Warsaw. Helped by medical students and doctors, he trained teenage girls and young women to become nurses. The participants viewed that endeavour quite seriously, but initially did not enjoy Sadowski’s favour. He wrote,

. . . I was once asked to run such a class. On a Sunday. At 10 a.m. In a pretty flat on Działdowska, where I saw about twenty lassies aged 15–18. I was flabbergasted. To train such children– What for– When they heard the first shot fired, they’d be bound to whimper and make themselves scarce.

But there I was, and had to say something. So I started with a short lecture on human anatomy, followed by a few words about bone fractures, wound dressing, and transporting casualties. They listened up, breathless. Then we murmured¹⁸ several new patriotic songs. Reporting to my superiors, I said I wouldn’t train children as I didn’t want my work going to waste. It became obvious just how wrong I was once the Uprising¹⁹ broke out. These girls were the first to volunteer. Showing neither fear nor fatigue, they fought on the barricades, under fire. They were amazing! Even today I’m so ashamed to have been so fundamentally wrong about them. . . .

As suggested by Col. Dr. Leon Strehl²⁰ and arranged by the oculist Dr. Szczepan Wacek,²¹ Dr. Cyprian Sadowski met Adam Pług²² and became the chief medical officer of the Warsaw Kedyw. Sadowski described the circumstances of his appointment and conversation with Gen. Emil Fieldorf, nom de guerre Nil,²³ who was commander-in-chief of Kedyw:

. . . We ended up in Pelcowizna,²⁴ in a house with a garden in a side street. There we met seven or eight men and two women, Przemysława and Stasia.²⁵ So we were introduced and enjoyed some small talk, nothing important. Waiting. After a while, a man entered the room. He was plainly dressed and carrying a briefcase. Everybody stood up. He greeted us and approached me, and I was introduced by Mr. Rudzki:

“This is our medical head.”

“Do you know your duties– Your medical service has to be flexible and dedicated. You have to make arrangements with the hospitals, open your own first-aid points, recruit doctors for the units, set up your headquarters and find couriers. Stasia will be your assistant, she’ll be working with you all along. How much money do you need for a start–”

“I’ve no idea,” I replied.

“Please remember you may never cut back on medicines or food for the men. What’s your nom de guerre–”

“Skiba,” I said. At school I had a friend, his name was Skibiński and we called him Skiba for short [“furrow”]. In 1939 the Germans arrested him, sent him to a concentration camp, and killed him.

“So in our communications, your cell will be called Rola [literally “soil”]. Przemysława, please send him 50 thousand złoty for a start, later you can arrange how to transfer the money. Thank you,” he said and shook my hand.

I went to another room with Stasia and Przemysława to discuss how to collect the money, settle the accounts, and other practicalities. And that’s how I became the chief medical officer of Kedyw.

I started organising my cell at once. Stasia was treasurer and responsible for liaison with Dr. Przemysława, who, in turn, was the courier for General Nil, our commander-in-chief, whom I had just met. I also needed an aide, a young boy, spirited and gifted. And I got one. He was described very briefly:

“This is Zbyszek [Zbigniew] Podlewski, a medical student from Zaorski’s²⁶ school.”

Zbyszek was a young, bespectacled, round-shouldered man, with a smile on his face and always sniffling. He was a second-year student in the Jan Zaorski School. . . .

According to the report drafted by Jerzy Celma-Panek and attested by Dr. Sadowski, the Kedyw medical service was organised in the following way:

. . . Every combat unit had its own physician, usually young, sometimes a person who had not graduated yet. They cherished their job and considered it an honour. The physician for Battalion Parasol²⁷ was 2^nd Lt. Zbigniew Dworak (nom de guerre Dr. Maks²⁸); Lt. Dr. Zygmunt Kujawski (Brom²⁹) for Battalion Zośka;³⁰ Officer Cadet Jan Kamiński for Battalion Miotła;³¹ and Lt. Dr. Tadeusz Jankowski (Wiesław³²) for the Baszta Regiment. The sabotage unit led by “Andrzej”³³ was under the care of Prof. Jan Andrzej Chomiczewski (Pobożański³⁴). The person responsible for medical training was Col. Dr. Zygmunt Siedlecki.³⁵ Drs. Włodzimierz Nakwaski (Wodołaz)³⁶ and Tadeusz Marcinkowski (Miakisz³⁷) were employed by the commander of Rola to perform especially difficult missions. His aide was Zbigniew Podlewski (Zawadzki), a medical student from the Zaorski school, who knew all the commanders of the Kedyw units. The administrative and financial matters were handled by Stanisława Kwaskowska³⁸ (Stasia). Zofia Krassowska (Zosia)³⁹ had the task of training prospective nurses and couriers. “Maria” managed the store of dressings and arranged safe houses, for combatants wounded in action to stay. The main stockpile of medicines and dressings was kept in Ujazdowski Hospital, which also “loaned” stretchers when needed. There were other, smaller reserves in Potocki’s pharmacy on Aleje Ujazdowskie, Bukowski’s pharmacy on Nowy Świat, Dr. Biskupski’s flat on Chmielna, the Wargum⁴⁰ factory on Czerniakowska, and the Ulrich⁴¹ gardening company in the Wola district. . . .

One of the particularly courageous members of Rola, which was my unit too, under Skiba’s command, was Zbigniew Dworak (Dr. Maks), highly esteemed by Skiba (I 9 d). Dr. Sadowski worked in Ujazdowski Hospital and had a physiotherapy facility there, located right under Ward No. VIE. This room turned into a focus for resistance work, though actually resistance activities were conducted on the entire premises of the hospital. For instance, I remember the solemn moment when I took the oath of allegiance in the presence of Skiba and the hospital chaplain, in a room next to Ward VIA (Marcinkowski, “Zbigniew Dworak”).

The whole of Ujazdowski Hospital was a hub of anti-Nazi resistance and an underground centre of medical studies, especially for the graduates of the Zaorski school, which offered only two years of training. Formally, Zaorski’s was a vocational nursing school, but actually it was a two-year course preparing students for the university course in medicine. Several wards of Ujazdowski Hospital and the Holy Spirit Hospital, which moved to the Ujazdowski premises, were used for clandestine teaching for the medical students of the University of Warsaw and the University of the Western Lands.⁴² They arrived either individually or in small groups of two to four. However, some classes were run for larger groups, e.g. Prof. Adam Wrzosek’s⁴³ lectures and Prof. Józef Grzybowski’s⁴⁴ surgery course involving post-mortems.

This is why Ujazdowski Hospital earned its honourable titles, such as “the Ujazdowski Republic” and “the Unenslaved Town.” Many people have written in their memoirs and recollections of the glorious work Ujazdowski Hospital accomplished in its teaching and care-giving activities (e.g. Bayer, 1974 and 1985; Chmielewski; Chróścielewski; Dąbrowski, 1977; Dąbrowski and Marcinkowski; Lityński; Marcinkowski,1964; Marcinkowski, Tadeusz, and S.J.S. Marcinkowski; Odrowąż-Szukiewicz, Sadowski, 1969 and 1973; and Siedlecki). Initially, Col. Prof. Teofil Kucharski⁴⁵ was the commander of the hospital until April 1940, when he was succeeded by Col. Dr. Leon Strehl, while Prof. Kucharski worked as a consultant internist and head of research in the internal wards.

Prof. Kucharski regularly held study sessions, which usually took place in our ward (VIE), which had a large room that could seat a few dozen. Dr. Sadowski was involved in underground education, too. He was a close friend of Cpt. Dr. Michał Lityński,⁴⁶ my direct supervisor and chief physician of Ward VIE (I 9 b). Skiba, Kedyw’s chief medical officer, was kept informed about forthcoming sabotage and retaliatory operations and assassination attacks, because each of them required a medical standby. Such operations were not limited to the city of Warsaw alone, but were also carried out in its neighbourhood, e.g. when railway tracks were blown up to stop military transports heading for the Eastern front.

Dr. Sadowski recollects some of these incidents in his chapter on sabotage operations (“Akcje,” Sadowski, 1964), saying they were meticulously designed. For example, he writes about the execution of Franz Bürkl,⁴⁷ one of the chief functionaries in the Pawiak jail, who lived on Litewska.

. . . The first medical point was arranged in the back storeroom of the Kwiatkowskis’ shop on Poznańska. I waited in an ambulance on plac Zbawiciela, while Zbyszek stayed closer to Litewska.

At 9 a.m. on the day of the operation, Adam took up his position at the pharmacy window. The gunmen were in a car parked behind the hospital on Litewska, watching Adam and waiting for his signal. . . .

After a while, Bürkl showed up on the street. Adam gave the signal. The car started. Then there was a volley from a machine gun and Bürkl dropped down dead on the pavement. The car accelerated and had nearly left Litewska, but unluckily had to stop in front of an approaching tram and move back a little. There was panic in the street. The Germans in the front part of the tram realised what was going on and opened fire on the getaway vehicle. In turn, one of the cover group threw a grenade into the tram. Some people, Germans and Poles, were killed, some were wounded. To make matters worse, a military police patrol arrived and opened fire on the combatants’ car. The operation might have ended badly if it had not been for the cover group boys, who started shooting at the patrol. Some of them were killed, the rest ran away, and the operatives withdrew. As they drove past the medical point, they waved their good-byes to us. Everything went fine. We suffered no losses.⁴⁸

Another operation was the assassination of Gösser, commander of the military police battalion stationed on Chocimska. Gösser was harassing the inhabitants of Warsaw with executions and round-ups.⁴⁹ The attack was precisely planned at the briefing that preceded the operation. It was to take place on plac Unii Lubelskiej and the escape route was via Belwederska and Czerniakowska up to the medical point on the corner of Mączna (I 12 d).

. . . Before 9 a.m. on the day of the operation, Maks (Dworak) and I were walking down Mączna. Dworak was strolling along the other side of the street. On the corner of Mączna and Czerniakowska, a girl of about fifteen was sitting by the wall. She had a basket full of flowers, violet posies, on her lap, offering them to passers-by. At that hour and in that district, she had very few buyers. The flowers in the basket lay on top of hand grenades. We knew. If our men were chased, we were supposed to get them and throw them at the pursuers. We waited and I looked at my watch every few minutes. My heart was beating faster and faster, louder and louder. Could we pull it off– What would we do if we were pursued or if someone was wounded– In the meantime, the city was silent. . . .

All of a sudden, we heard an explosion far away, one and then another. . . . So the operation had been carried out. The tension grew. Seconds seemed like hours. I imagined the feelings of those who had to assassinate the target. Then we heard a hellish racket. The getaway car appeared from a sidestreet, entered Czerniakowska and then Mączna. Two of its wheels had no tyres, so it was running just on the rims, grinding against the cobblestones. When it stopped, four men jumped out, one of them was covered in blood. The other three took out their SMGs from under their coats and stood there, ready to shoot. They knew Maks, who was their doctor. He ran towards the car, got hold of the wounded man, and led him into one of the houses. There was a stampede on the street, because those three devils were still there, waiting. I saw people running away. The street became empty. A young woman pushing a child in a pram and carrying a milk-can hurried across the road, but the pram tumbled over, the baby fell out, the milk was spilt. I rushed forward to help her up. She ran away. We were left there on our own, the three gunmen (one of them a hunchback), Zbyszek, myself, and the flower seller, looking as if she could expect customers. The driver examined the car. We waited for Maks and the casualty. At long last they turned up. The combatant was carrying a coat folded over his arm, so the bleeding wound was concealed. He and Maks calmly got into a horse-drawn cab and drove away. The gunmen hid their SMGs under their coats and started walking slowly towards the Vistula. “Now run,” I said to the girl with the violets. Zbyszek and I calmly headed for the hospital. We were not followed. At a safe distance from the scene, Stanisław Blicharz, manager of the Wargum factory who lived on Czerniakowska, was watching the developments. The military police arrived and carefully checked out our getaway car.

After the daredevil Operation Góral (also called Operation A Hundred Million) on Senatorska, led by Mr. Pola,⁵⁰ one of the combatants received medical assistance in Ujazdowski Hospital (I 12 d).

. . . Dr. Bayer⁵¹ had been notified in advance, so he was waiting in the operating theatre. The surgery had to be performed immediately. The man had been shot in the buttock, just in the muscle, but he was bleeding profusely. No anaesthetic was applied, one blood vessel was tied up and a few sutures put on, and that was it. I was with the patient throughout the procedure, holding his hand. The boy asked me out loud:

“Are you one of us, sir–”

“Shut your trap,” I said.

But he went on babbling, how they managed to dispatch all the Krauts etc. No single room was available, so he had to be accommodated with other patients. And the silly youngster again started talking about what had happened on Miodowa. He was a new problem for us. So before dusk we took him to one of our safe houses. The following day we discussed the operation. Our intelligence had known the Germans were making ready to transport a huge sum of money. They had to drive along Senatorska, as there were road works on Miodowa. The boys took up their positions along the street: buying things in the shops, drinking beer, loitering in the passageways.

It’s coming! With one escort vehicle in front, the money van in the middle, followed by more escorting Gestapo men in open lorries. Just then, a two-wheeled handcart packed full of old furniture trundled out of a gateway. Pola was pushing it to block the first German car. The convoy stopped, which was the signal for our boys. The SMGs opened fire from all directions. In the wink of an eye, all the men in the convoy, even the drivers, were killed. Then we got into the cash van and drove away. . . .

In his report on an attack on a fortified station near Małkinia, Dr. Sadowski describes the exploits of Dr. Brom (Kujawski), who provided the medical back-up for the operation. Having attended to a wounded soldier and noticing that the attack could fail, he decided to act on his own. He crawled up to the station and threw a grenade into the window from which a machine gun was firing. Thanks to this manoeuvre, the operation was successful, although one of the soldiers of Battalion Zośka was killed. Dr. Brom was punished for abandoning the medical point without permission, but later he was awarded the Cross of Valour⁵² for bravery.

Dr. Sadowski stressed the importance of the mutual trust uniting members of Rola, especially as they often handled large sums of money. That trust was never abused.

. . . Often, during a meeting with doctors and nurses before an operation, when I asked for volunteers, I had so many that they had to draw lots. Those young people were amazing. No one considered the risks or the chances of staying alive. Everybody said, “Those who take part in the operation as such are at a much greater risk, so we should support them.” That’s the kind of people they were.

Dr. Sadowski gives an extensive account of his part in the assassination of SS and Police Leader Franz Kutschera.⁵³ The attack was staged on Aleje Ujazdowskie, near aleja Róż, that is in the immediate vicinity of Ujazdowski Hospital. As we know, due to unforeseen circumstances, it was difficult to provide surgical assistance to the wounded soldiers of Battalion Parasol. Obviously, Ujazdowski Hospital could not be used for that purpose, so during the planning stage it was decided that casualties would be taken in either by the Knights of Malta Hospital on Senatorska or the Infant Jesus Hospital. However, it turned out that the Knights of Malta Hospital could not admit as many as two patients with abdomen wounds. Therefore Dr. Maks ordered they be transported to the Praga district, to the Transfiguration of Jesus Hospital. As he worked there, he risked exposure (I 12 d).

Sadowski wrote,

. . . Maks instantly arranged for the wounded to be taken in by his hospital. I parked our ambulance at a distance, so as not to draw attention. The driver and one of our men stayed in the getaway car. I approached them and told them to scarper for Rembertów and abandon their vehicle in the forest.

“You can’t stay here, run, they’ll be after you any minute.”

I went back via Poniatowski Bridge. While on it, I heard three shots fired on Kierbedź Bridge. I returned to Ujazdowski Hospital with gloomy forebodings and waited anxiously for news. I got it pretty soon. Apparently the two men did not listen to me and did not head for Rembertów. Instead, they decided to go back to town, using Kierbedź Bridge. In the same car! They bumped into the pursuit team on the bridge. Maybe, if they had not lost their composure but kept driving on, they might have gone unnoticed in the crowd. But probably their nerves were on edge, so they wanted to turn round. As they did not manage it, they jumped into the river from the bridge. The Germans shot them down in the water. . . .

Obtaining supplies of dressings and medicines was not an easy matter in those days. You needed plenty of resourcefulness and sometimes sheer bravado in order to get what you wanted: the necessary bandages and medications in large quantities. Sadowski was able to do that and built up a reserve supply, which was stored in places like the Roche factory on Rakowiecka.

In the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, Dr. Cyprian Sadowski was a member of the group commanded by Col. Radosław (real name Jan Mazurkiewicz,⁵⁴ now a retired brigadier general). The main medical point for the units fighting in the Wola district and for the Radosław Group was the Karol and Maria Hospital on Leszno. The area saw heavy combat. On the third day of the Uprising Sadowski went to Wolski Hospital to see how the casualties were being taken care of. He made a round, accompanied by the hospital’s head, and met Prof. Józef Grzybowski, who was the operating surgeon there. Soon afterwards the Germans took the hospital. They shot Dr. Piasecki⁵⁵ on the spot and went on to kill the staff and the patients. Sadowski managed to escape through the window, run the length of Działdowska, and return to the Karol and Maria Hospital, which, as he found, had been seized by the Germans half an hour before.

When the insurgents liberated the ghetto⁵⁶ and its Jewish inhabitants were freed, the Radosław Group could move to Stare Miasto (the Old Town district) and the Hospital of St. John of God, which had discharged its regular mental patients and now functioned as a surgical hospital. Sadowski wanted it to take in the wounded soldiers who had been accommodated in the Gęsiówka jail;⁵⁷ there were about twenty of them. The evacuation was successful despite the ongoing fighting. One night, Col. Radosław, who was seriously wounded, was brought to the Hospital of St. John of God. His brother Niebora (real name Franciszek Mazurkiewicz⁵⁸), was shot in the head and died when he tried to lift Radosław.

It was only by lucky chance that Skiba was not killed in an explosion of a tank which the Germans had filled with dynamite and left as a booby trap on Kilińskiego. During the intense military operations in Stare Miasto, Sadowski fell ill with pneumonia and pleurisy. He survived the dramatic evacuation of the insurgent units which withdrew to the Żoliborz district via the municipal sewers, but was wounded when the enemy threw grenades into the storm drain in which they were hiding. He was saved by the dependable Zbyszek.
Helped by the young couriers called Sowiątka, “owlets,” Skiba and Zbyszek managed to get out of Warsaw, reach the Kampinoska Forest,⁵⁹ and join the Kampinos Group, which was fighting off an outbreak of dysentery. Sadowski recommended that the sick soldiers should drink fresh animal blood, and that’s how they recovered (I 5). The Kampinos Group wanted to cross the forests near Skierniewice to reach the Świętokrzyskie Mountains. When they were fording the River Utrata, Sadowski again narrowly escaped death. Finally, having avoided many dangers, he reached Kraków and stayed in a makeshift hospital arranged for the Warsaw evacuees⁶⁰ in Dom Medyka on Grzegórzecka.

In 1945, after the liberation,⁶¹ Dr. Cyprian Sadowski became chief physician of a military sanatorium in Ciechocinek and began to restore the damaged spa facilities. After a spell of serious trouble, he was appointed head of another sanatorium in Ciechocinek, owned by ZUS, the national social insurance company. By 1950, it had acquired 350 beds for children and 250 beds for adult patients and offered treatment all year long, not only during the four summer months, as before. Within the next decade, the establishment grew and could take in as many as a few thousand patients.

Dr. Cyprian Sadowski put in a lot of dedicated work as head of the sanatorium and proved to be a good manager. He promoted Ciechocinek on television and in the mass media.

When it was necessary, he presented the problems of the region to the general public, and did so with plenty of personal commitment, as we can see in the article published in issue 11 (406) of the local social and political weekly Kujawy, dated 17 March 1976. When impassioned, he would roar, “Don’t forget! You can’t build a new, pretty Ciechocinek, so don’t ruin the things that are old, but still beautiful! You’re developing the town, building up rich beetroot soil, while an expanse of wasteland out to Raciążek and Nieszawa is available.” He was very happy to see new developments that served the resort best, but extremely worried by erroneous decisions and foolish actions that were harmful to the town. As he recollected, his greatest joy was the gratitude and satisfaction of simple, poor people who improved thanks to treatment (Marcinkowski, 1986). When I visited Dr. Sadowski and his wife in April 1984, he took us for a drive in his small Trabant, showing the attractions of Ciechocinek and the recently erected buildings, and talking about forthcoming investments. Little did I know that I would never see this great man again.

Dr. Cyprian Sadowski died in Ciechocinek on 12 November 1985. On 12 September 1986, when the resort celebrated its 150th anniversary, the main spa house, Dom Zdrojowy, was officially named after Dr. Sadowski and a plaque commemorating him was unveiled.

Dr. Sadowski was awarded many medals, decorations, and other distinctions for his resistance work during the War, bravery during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising and combat in the underground units as well as all the efforts he made for the common good. He was decorated with the Silver Cross of Virtuti Militari (1967), the Cross of Valour (1949, three times), the Insurgents’ Cross (1959), the Knight’s Cross of Polonia Restituta (1964), the Warsaw Uprising Cross, and the Physician’s Badge of Merit awarded by the People’s Republic of Poland (1980⁶²).

***

Translated from original article: Marcinkowski, T. “Dr Cyprian Sadowski „Skiba”.” Przegląd Lekarski – Oświęcim, 1988.

1. Ciechocinek is a well-known Polish health spa resort.^a
2. Kedyw – the deception, sabotage, and propaganda unit attached to the Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK), the largest Polish (and European) resistance organisation during World War II.^a
3. In the original Polish article there is an obvious misprint in this date, which is given as “1932.”^a
4. CWSan – Wojskowa Szkoła Sanitarna, later re-named Oficerska Szkoła Sanitarna and Centrum Wyszkolenia Sanitarnego.^a
5. Józef Piłsudski (1867–1935), Marshal of Poland. One of the chief Polish military commanders to whom credit is due for the restoration of the country’s independence in 1918 and its successful defence against the Bolshevik invasion in 1920. A member of the PPS Socialist Party, Piłsudski was appointed First Marshal of Poland in 1920 and held the top position in the country’s government. He had bitter political antagonists, and in 1926, when he and his supporters were out of office, staged a military coup. The Piłsudskiite military regime ran the country for the rest of the time until the outbreak of the War. Hated and reviled by the Communist rulers of People’s Poland (1944–1989), he is now generally regarded as a national hero for his contribution to the restoration of Polish independence.^a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Pi%C5%82sudski
6. In the original Polish article there is an obvious misprint in this date, which is given as “1 May.” Piłsudski’s coup started on 12 May and finished on 14 May 1926.^b
7. Perhaps Col. Władysław Leon Osmolski (1883–1935), Polish Army medical officer and head of the Polish Army’s physical training college. Curiously, none of his online biographies say he was involved in Piłsudski’s coup.^a https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Leon_Osmolski
8. Anticipating a German attack, the Polish military authorities declared general mobilisation on 31 August 1939, on the eve of the outbreak of World War II. Germany invaded Poland in the small hours of 1 September, launching an air raid on the town of Wieluń at 4.45 a.m. without declaring war.^a
9. Szpital Ujazdowski w Warszawie, the oldest and largest military hospital in Poland, established around 1792. https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szpital_Ujazdowski_w_Warszawie For the history of Ujazdowski Hospital during the Second World War, see the following articles on this website: Stanisław Bayer, “Episodes from the story of the hospitals of the Warsaw Uprising,” and “Col. Michał Dobulewicz”; and Tadeusz Marcinkowski, “Dr. Michał Lityński”.^a
10. The Second World War started 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.”^a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland
11. I Szpital Okręgowy.^a
12. Edward Karol Loth (1884–1944), Polish anatomist, anthropologist and eugenicist, doctor of medicine and philosophy, one of the restorers and professors of the University of Warsaw, correspondent member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Finnish Academy of Sciences, colonel of the Polish Army. Active in the Polish resistance movement during World War II; killed in a Luftwaffe bombing raid.^a https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Loth
13. Szpital Maltański.^a
14. SZW, Służba Zwycięstwu Polski, an early Polish combat resistance organisation which later evolved into ZWZ, the Union of Armed Struggle, Związek Walki Zbrojnej, and finally into the AK (Armia Krajowa, the Home Army), the largest underground resistance movement in occupied Europe.^a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Army
15. Dr. Kazimierz Baranowski (1891–1945), medical officer and colonel of the Polish Army. Served in army medical units during World War I; in the medical department of the Polish Ministry of Military Affairs, 1919–1923; and in various Polish Army medical units until the outbreak of World War II, continuing to serve in the Polish resistance movement’s medical units during the War.^a https://www.1944.pl/powstancze-biogramy/kazimierz-baranowski,2012.html
16. Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski (1893–1964), General of the Polish Army. Served in the Polish Legions fighting for the restoration of the country’s independence, 1914–1917; in the Polish–Ukrainian War of 1918; and the Polish–Bolshevik War of 1919–1920. Continued a military career until the outbreak of World War II, in which he served in the defence campaign against the German invasion. Captured by the invading Soviets and imprisoned in the Lubianka jail in Moscow. On release following the Sikorski–Maisky Pact, served in the Polish Second Corps under General Władysław Anders. After the War spent the rest of his life in political exile abroad.^a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micha%C5%82_Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski
17. Stefan Starzyński (1893–1939), Mayor of Warsaw. Served in the Polish Legions fighting for the restoration of the country’s independence, 1914–1917; and in he Polish–Bolshevik War of 1919–1920. Stayed in Warsaw during its defence against the German invasion in September 1939 and directed the civilian aspects of the defence. Arrested and murdered by the Germans after the city's surrender.^a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Starzy%C5%84ski
18. “Murmured,” so as not to give themselves away to a potential snooper or informer. Under German occupation, all large meetings were illegal.^b
19. The Warsaw Uprising of the summer of 1944, not to be confused with the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of April–May 1943.^a
20. For more on Col. Strehl, see his biography, forthcoming on this website.^a
21. For more on Dr. Wacek (1895–1980), see Marcinkowski’s biography of Dr. Michał Lityński, forthcoming on this website.^a Also https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szczepan_Wacek and https://www.1944.pl/powstancze-biogramy/szczepan-wacek,47128.html
22. Probably Adam Borys, nom-de-guerrePług (1909–1986), a Lt.-Col. of the Polish Army who made a major contribution to the Warsaw Uprising.^b https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Borys and https://www.1944.pl/powstancze-biogramy/adam-borys,817.html
23. August Emil Fieldorf, nom de guerre Nil (1895–1953). Senior officer serving in the Polish Army from 1914 (in the Polish Legions), the Polish –Bolshevik War of 1919–1920, the September 1939 Campaign against the German invasion, and in the underground resistance forces under German occupation. Arrested in 1945 by the NKVD and deported to the Soviet Union. Re-arrested by the Communists on his release and return to Poland, and murdered following a show trial.^a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_August_Fieldorf and https://muzeum1939.pl/24-lutego-1953-roku-zamordowano-gen-augusta-emila-fieldorfa-ps-nil/timeline/3191.html
24. Pelcowizna is a district in the north-east of Warsaw. At the time it was on the outskirts of the city.^a
25. Stanisława Kwaskowska (1898–1978), Polish Army nurse, combatant in the Warsaw Uprising.^a https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82awa_Kwaskowska and https://www.1944.pl/powstancze-biogramy/stanislawa-kwaskowska,26178.html
26. Jan Zaorski (1887–1956), Polish surgeon. Under the German occupation of Poland, he founded a vocational school for assistant medical staff (Prywatna Szkoła Zawodowa dla Pomocniczego Personelu Sanitarnego; Private Fachschule für Sanitares Hilfpersonal in Warschau). Nominally a vocational school for the nursing staff which functioned with the permission of the German authorities, but actually it was a cover for the underground operations of the Medical Faculty of the University of Warsaw, which educated over 1,900 medical staff.^a https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Zaorski
27. Battalion Parasol was a Home Army combat unit for special operations. Its members were Polish scouts.^a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battalion_Parasol
28. 2nd Lt. Zbigniew Dworak, aka Dr. Maks (1917–1963), physician and surgeon (graduated in 1945), medical officer serving with Kedyw during the Warsaw Uprising. The surname is misspelled “Dworek” in the original Polish article.^b https://www.1944.pl/powstancze-biogramy/zbigniew-dworak,9187.html
29. Lt. Zygmunt “Brom" Kujawski (1916–1996), chief medical officer of a Polish Army sanitary train during the September’39 defence campaign. Later joined Kedyw and worked in Ujazdowski Hospital.^a https://www.1944.pl/powstancze-biogramy/zygmunt-kujawski,25488.html
30. Battalion Zośka was one of the most renowned Polish resistance units fighting in the Warsaw Uprising. Its members were Polish boy scouts.^a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battalion_Zo%C5%9Bka
31. Real name Jan Pęczkowski (1923–1991; “Jan Kamiński” was his nom de guerre). Member of Kedyw and Battalion Miotła (“Broom”), another Kedyw operational unit.^a https://www.1944.pl/powstancze-biogramy/jan-peczkowski,34137.htmlhttps://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batalion_Miot%C5%82a
32. Dr. Tadeusz Jankowski (aka Wiesław; 1914–1990), Polish Army medical officer, active during the September ’39 Campaign and in the resistance forces under German occupation, when he served as chief medical officer for the Baszta Regiment.^a https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadeusz_Jankowski_(lekarz) and https://www.1944.pl/powstancze-biogramy/tadeusz-jankowski,12991.html
33. Cpt. Józef Rybicki, nom de guerre Andrzej (1901–1986), Polish Classics scholar, grammar school headmaster and encyclopaedia editor. Served in active combat for Polish independence during the Polish–Ukrainian War (1918), the Polish–Bolshevik War (1919–1920), and in the resistance movement during World War II. Appointed delegate for military affairs at home by the Polish government-in-exile. Arrested and imprisoned by the Communists in 1945. On release continued resistance activities as a prominent contributor to the pre-Solidarity opposition movement in the 1970s and '80s.^a https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Rybicki
34. Jan Andrzej Chomiczewski, aka Pobożański (1909–1992). Senior medical officer in the Polish Army; served in the defence campaign of September 1939, and later in the underground resistance movement. After the War served in the Polish People’s Army (i.e. the forces of the People’s Republic of Poland).^b https://lekarzepowstania.pl/osoba/jan-andrzej-chomiczewski-ps-pobozanski/
35. Zygmunt Siedlecki (1893–1973), Polish Army medical officer and lieutenant. Served in the September ’39 Defence Campaign (wounded and deported to a German POW camp) and later, on release, in the resistance movement.^a https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygmunt_Siedlecki_(lekarz)
36. Lt. Dr. Włodzimierz Nakwaski (aka Wodołaz; 1916–1975); served as a medical officer in the Radosław Group during the Warsaw Uprising.^a https://www.1944.pl/powstancze-biogramy/wlodzimierz-nakwaski,53115.html and http://www.szpitale1944.pl/i/693,wlodzimierz-nakwaski-ps-wodolaz
37. Tadeusz Marcinkowski’s biography on the website of the medical personnel serving in the Warsaw Uprising gives Miakisz as his mother’s maiden name and Dobrosław as his nom de guerre.^b https://lekarzepowstania.pl/osoba/tadeusz-marcinkowski-ps-dobroslaw/
38. At this point in the original Polish article, Kwaskowska is designated as a doctor, but in fact she was a nurse.See Note 25.^b
39. Zofia Halina Krassowska (Zosia; 1921–1944). Polish girl guide and nurse during the Warsaw Uprising. Fatally wounded during the attack on Warschau concentration camp (see below).^a https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zofia_Krassowska and https://www.1944.pl/powstancze-biogramy/zofia-krassowska,24250.html
40. Misspelled “Wargun” in the original Polish article.^a http://dlibra.umcs.lublin.pl/Content/20258/B26986.pdf
41. Misspelled “Ulrych” in the original Polish article.^a
42. Uniwersytet Ziem Zachodnich was an underground educational institution conducting secret university teaching in German-occupied Poland. It was founded in 1940 when the Germans closed down all of Poland’s universities, colleges, and secondary schools.^a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_the_Western_Lands
43. Adam Wrzosek (1875–1965), Polish pathologist, anthropologist, and historian of medicine, held professorships at several Polish universities, and served as Dean of the Medical Faculty of the secret University of the Western Lands during the War.^a https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Wrzosek
44. Józef Marian Grzybowski (1897–1944), Polish surgeon working in Wolski Hospital during the War. Lectured in anatomy for students of the secret University of Warsaw and was involved in other resistance activities. Killed by the Germans in a group of Wolski Hospital staff murdered during the Uprising.^a https://www.1944.pl/powstancze-biogramy/jozef-grzybowski,10954.html
45. Teofil Kazimierz Kucharski (1889–1955), professor of medicine, colonel and medical officer of the Polish Army. Served in combat units fighting for Polish independence during World War I, in the Polish–Bolshevik War of 1919–1920, in the September ’39 defence campaign, and in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.^a https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teofil_Kucharski and https://www.1944.pl/powstancze-biogramy/teofil-kucharski,25317.html
46. For more on Dr. Lityński, see his biography by Marcinkowski, forthcoming on this website.^a
47. SS Scharführer Franz Bürkl (1911–1943; name misspelled in the Polish article), German Sicherheitspolizei (secret police) sergeant working in the Pawiak prison in Warsaw, notorious for his brutality. Assassinated by Kedyw men on 7 September 1943.^a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_B%C3%BCrkl
48. The gunmen “suffered no losses,” but in fact the Germans implemented their policy of reprisal, and retaliated by hanging 20 Pawiak inmates.^a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_B%C3%BCrkl
49. The German occupying authorities organised street round-ups in Polish cities, detaining random passers-by who were deported to Germany for slave labour.^a https://www.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/en/zwangsarbeit/zwangsarbeit/index.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_labour_under_German_rule_during_World_War_II
50. Roman “Pola” Kiźny (1910–1986), Polish Army captain and quartermaster. Served in the September’39 defence campaign and in the AK combat resistance force. Commanded Operation A Hundred Million involving the robbery of 105 million zł from a bank vehicle. The money was used to finance resistance operations.^a https://www.1944.pl/powstancze-biogramy/roman-kizny,21079.html
51. Stanisław Bayer (1913–1991), Polish Army physician, commanding officer of an insurgents’ hospital. Held in a POW camp in Germany after the fall of the Uprising, and later served in General Anders’ Polish Second Corps. For more autobiographical details, see Bayer’s article “Episodes from the story of the hospitals of the Warsaw Uprisin51. g” on this website.^a https://www.1944.pl/powstancze-biogramy/stanislaw-bayer,2383.html
52. Krzyż Walecznych.^a
53. Franz Kutschera (1904–1944), SS and Police Leader in German-occupied Warsaw; notorious for his crimes against the civilian population; assassinated by Kedyw men with the approval of the Polish government-in-exile. In reprisal, the Germans murdered 300 Polish civilians.^a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kutschera
54. Jan Mazurkiewicz aka Radosław (1896–1988), Polish Army officer and politician. Fought for the restoration of Poland’s independence during World War I , in the Polish–Bolshevik War of 1919–1920, and in the September ’39 defence campaign. Served as Gen. Fieldorf’s Kedyw deputy on German-occupied Poland and commanded a unit in the Warsaw Uprising.^a https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Mazurkiewicz_(wojskowy)
55. The Germans massacred Dr. Józef Piasecki, chief physician of Wolski Hospital and over 20 other members of the hospital’s staff on 5 August 1944.^a https://www.umb.edu.pl/medyk/tematy/historia/warszawskie_szpitale_podczas_drugiej_wojny_swiatowej
56. After the fall of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on 16 May1943, the Germans “cleared” the area by killing or deporting all the insurgents and civilians still in it at the time to concentration camps and razing the site. Thereafter, they set up a concentration camp, Konzentrationslager Warschau, on the ruins, holding Jews, mostly in transit to a concentration or death camp. During the 1944 Uprising insurgents stormed and took Warschau concentration camp.^a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_concentration_camp
57. The “Gęsiówka” was the colloquial term local inhabitants used not only for the prison located on ulica Gęsia, but also for the ghetto the Germans set up in its environs after the fall of the Ghetto Uprising.^a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C4%99si%C3%B3wka
58. Franciszek “Niebora” Mazurkiewicz (1901–1944), commanding officer of Battalion Miotła.^a https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franciszek_Mazurkiewicz
59. The Kampinoska Forest is about 48–52 km (30–32 miles) north-west of Central Warsaw.^a
60. After the fall of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, the Germans drove the civilians out of the city before razing it to the ground. Some of the evacuees were sent to concentration camps; others went to Kraków.^a
61. That is, when the War was over, or when the Red Army had “liberated” Poland.^a
62. Original Polish names: Srebrny Krzyż Orderu Virtuti Militari, Krzyż Walecznych, Krzyż Partyzancki, Krzyż Kawalerski Orderu Odrodzenia Polski, Warszawski Krzyż Powstańczy, Zasłużony Lekarz PRL.^b

a—notes by Teresa Bałuk-Ulewiczowa, Head Translator for the Medical Review Auschwitz project; b—notes by Marta Kapera, the translator of the text.

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