Polish School of Medicine

[1] Initially, the idea was to meet the needs of the Polish Armed Forces for doctors but from the outstart, civilian students were admitted.

[1] Founded on the basis of an agreement between the Polish Government in Exile and the Senate of The University of Edinburgh this unique wartime initiative enabled students to complete their medical degrees.

[5] After the fall of Poland and subsequently of France, the Polish military forces were relocated to and reorganised in Great Britain.

[6] A key issue that emerged was obtaining a suitable number of doctors and pharmacists for the newly forming military units.

The initiator of the idea to establish an academic institution that would provide doctors for the polish armed forces was professor Francis Albert Crew who was in charge of the military hospital in Edinburgh.

[2] The joint initiative was approved by the authorities of the University of Edinburgh and was subsequently endorsed by the Polish Government in Exile.

Professor Antoni Jurasz was chosen to negotiate with the University of Edinburgh on behalf of the Polish government in exile.

In January 1941 an edict which asked for all medical students to be sent to Edinburgh was published by the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces (Poland's highest unit of military organisation).

From the very beginning, thanks to the tireless efforts of the staff members, the courses at the PSM were very highly regarded by the University of Edinburgh authorities.

Under Defence regulation 32B the General Medical Council was able to register doctors who had qualified in countries such as Poland temporarily.

As the British authorities recognised the right of Polish professors to work as doctors in the UK during the war, this allowed them to teach the students within Scottish wards.

[2] On 12 December 1941 further degrees were granted to Wladyslaw Galuszka, Jadwiga Mickiewicz, Ferdynand Solich and Stanislaw Sychta.

On 15 November 1949 Dean Jakub Rostowski unveiled a memorial plaque in the Medical Quadrangle (Teviot Place).

The situation was even more challenging because initially the Polish School of Medicine degrees were not recognised by the General Medical Council.

With the limited possibilities for satisfactory positions in Great Britain many PSM graduates ended up working outside Europe within the commonwealth (i.e. Henryk Podlewski, Lukasz Kulczycki, Jean Kryszek, Wladyslaw Aleksander Wielhorski).

[4] At least 11 graduates remained or returned to Edinburgh after a period in the British Colonial Service – Józef Goldberg, Kazimierz Durkacz, Stefan Adamczewski, Dawid Becher, Władysław Kluger, Maria Dobroszycka, Janina Ciekałowska, Władysław Koźmiński, Kazimierz Kuczyński, Krystyna Munk, Tadeusz Michał Kraszewski (after returning from Borneo) and Wiktor Tomaszewski.

Many of the graduates stayed in the Far East and Africa (Jean Kryszek), a big number of alumni settled in the United States and Canada.

Also during the 1986 reunion Dr Wiktor Tomaszewski, who had been a senior member of staff at the PSM and then became Edinburgh GP, established the Polish School of Medicine Historical Collection.

Part of the Collection is on view in the Polish Room within the Chancellor's Building at the Little France Campus of the University of Edinburgh.