The Doctors of the Warsaw Ghetto

The most detailed study ever undertaken into the fate of more than 800 Jewish doctors in the Warsaw Ghetto based on years of archival research and review of testimonies from dozens of survivors,

Provides the reader with an in-depth understanding of how against all odds, the medical system continued to function in the Ghetto, a system that initially included three operational hospitals as well as numerous clinics and pharmacies and a couple of medical laboratories,

The reader learns about the heroic resistance of the Ghetto doctors against the background of hunger, disease and violence perpetrated by the Nazis who were killing thousands of Jews on a regular basis,

One learns of the doctors’ incredible resilience, how facing the risk of personal annihilation, they continued to perform their duties, engage in medical research, and teach students at the underground university,

The fates of many individual doctors are described; the ones that were able to escape the Ghetto, sometimes only to be betrayed in the Aryan side, and the ones that were deported to the death camps, in some cases choosing to go with their patients and give away their ‘life cards’ to others.

The challenges that many Jewish doctors faced in Poland in the 1920’s and 30’s is presented as well as their participation in the Polish war effort against Nazi Germany.