Anna Tomaszewicz Dobrska (1854–1918)

Portrait of Anna Tomaszewicz-Dobrska from Cecylia Walewska's book "In the fight for equal rights: our fighters" from 1930, chapter about Anna Tomaszewicz-Dobrska. Polona Archive (National Library).

Anna Tomaszewicz Dobrska was born on April 13, 1854 in a town Mława (then part of Russian Empire, today in north-eastern Poland)  [1,2]. She was one of the six children of Władysław Tomaszewicz and Jadwiga Kołaczkowska. Their marriage was controversial at that time since he was a head of the gendarmerie with the rank of staff captain of the Tsarist-Russian troops, and Jadwiga came from a poor gentry family [3].

Anna received her secondary education with honors in Łomża and at Paszkiewiczowa's boarding school. In 1873 she went to Zurich to study medicine [4]. She was forced to study abroad, because at that time women were not allowed to study in the Polish Kingdom. It was only in 1894 that the Jagiellonian University was the first domestic university to allow women to study [5]. When she was at her fifth year of studies she received an assistantship with the neurologist and psychiatrist Eduard Hitzig at the Psychiatry Clinic of the University of Zurich [6]. Despite the difficult financial situation she was able to finish her studies in 1877 with writing her doctoral thesis entitled “Beitrage zur Physiologie des Ohrlabyrinthes” , published in Zurich and devoted to the physiology of the inner ear under the supervision of Ludimar Herman [2,6].

After graduation, she returned to Warsaw, where she had problems with validating her diploma because of her gender. Convinced of her good education and competences, Anna submitted an application to become a member of the Warsaw Medical Society. Unfortunately, despite the positive opinion of the Society's president, prof. Henryk Hoyer, her candidacy was lost during the voting with lack of only one vote of support [3]. In the public debate, which began with an article criticizing female students and praising the rejection of Tomaszewicz-Dobrska's application, Aleksander Świętochowski and Bolesław Prus took her side [6,7,8]. Due to the impossibility of practicing in the country, Tomaszewicz-Dobrska went to Saint Petersburg to the Medical and Surgical Academy where her diploma was valid. Thanks to her fluent knowledge of English, German and French she was hired as the keeper of the harem of the Turkish Sultan, who was temporarily visiting the city which allowed her to take the final exams at the Medical and Surgical Academy [7].

Journal „Pamiętnik Towarzsytwa Lekarskiego Warszawskiego 1878, in which president of Medical Society in Warsaw Henryk Hoyer described and praised scientific works of Dobrska

 

She returned to Warsaw in 1880 and started a private medical practice, specializing in women's diseases and pediatrics [2]. She was the second Polish woman to become a medical doctor, and the first female Polish medical doctor to practice in Poland [1,4,]. Despite that, As a female doctor, she could not count on much in the professional environment. A year later, she married doctor Konrad Dobrski, a well-known and respected laryngologist in the community, editor-in-chief of the "Zdrowie" magazine, member of the Warsaw Medical Society. Two years later, their son Ignacy was born - the only descendant of the Dobrski family [6]. She was very protective of her privacy therefore, little is known about her personal life.

 

 

 

From:  Album zasłużonych lekarzy polskich Warszawa 1925

 

 

Portrait of Anna Tomaszewicz-Dobrska from Wikimedia Commons

Anna Tomaszewicz-Dobrska, portrait circa 1880. (Photo: East News)

Doctor Anna Tomaszewicz-Dobrska in a photograph taken in J. Mieczkowski's studio

Doctor Anna Tomaszewicz-Dobrska from the Main Medical Library, GBL-F- 3453, GBL-F- 3447.

A breakthrough in Anna's career came in 1882, when an epidemic of postpartum infections broke out at the Maternity Institute. The situation was so serious that the authorities decided to close the clinic and, at the request of a special commission chaired by the mayor, several small maternity shelters were created. One of their founders was Stanisław Kronenberg - a wealthy industrialist from Warsaw. It was thanks to his support, obtained thanks to her husband's connections, that Dobrska took up the position of doctor in charge of Maternity Hospital No. 2. She worked at this position for the next 30 years [3,8]. For Anna, it was an unquestionable success - she could finally fully pursue her calling - helping women. She treated all women's ailments - from venereal diseases to complications during pregnancy and childbirth. During her time in charge of the shelter, the mortality rate among women giving birth dropped to 1%, which aroused the admiration of doctors in the capital and beyond. She was the first in Warsaw to perform a cesarean section in 1896 [4]. Simultaneously with her work in the hospital, she gave lectures to midwives. At the end of the 1880s, she started working at Jadwiga Papi's salary as a school doctor and hygiene lecturer [9]. She also worked as a tutoress at the Warsaw Charitable Society, from 1912 as a doctor at a teachers' shelter, and later at the Children's Summer Camp Society.

At the age of 52, she began to be active in the Polish Culture Society, writing, among others, to the weekly magazine "Kultura Polska" and publicly spoke on the importance of women's rights [10]. She also participated in the work of women's organizations, organizing anniversaries in honor of Eliza Orzeszkowa in 1881 and 1907. The jubilee in 1907 served as a pretext to create a congress of activists from the three partitions[11], which was organized by Melania Rajchmanowa.

She died on June 12, 1918, at the age of 64. "She was an extraordinary person, a truly silent heroine who devoted her life to saving poor women and changed the face of Polish midwifery"[5] - emphasizes Weronika Wierzchowska. The doctor's ashes were buried in the family tomb at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw (plot 178-5-28/29).

Anna Dobrska's grave (from: https://kielakowie.com/showmedia.php?mediaID=16603&tngpage=179&sitever=standard)

 

 

1. Uglow J.S., Hinton F., Hendry M. (1999). The Northeastern Dictionary of Women's Biography. UPNE. pp. 539–. ISBN 978-1-55553-421-9.
2. Bruzgielewicz A., Bartoszewicz R., Kaczmarczyk D., Niemczyk K.
   (2021) Women in Polish otorhinolaryngology; Pol Otorhino Rev 10 (2): 59-64
3. Urbaniak Kopeć A. Nonsens i lekarz bastard. Anna Tomaszewicz-Dobrska (1854-1918). https://www.ihnpan.pl/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2020-1-A.-Urbanik-Kopec.pdf
4. Dziwisz E., Podogrocka E., Tomaszewicz-Dobrska A. (2018) Unlearned Lessons, www.unless-women.eu [zarchiwizowane 2018-12-10].
5. Kempa, M. E. (2009) Kobiety lekarzami, [w:] Zawód lekarza na ziemiach polskich w XIX i XX wieku, red. B. Urbanek, Warszawa 101–110.[in polish]
6. Bojczuk, H. (2008) Kobiety-lekarki w Towarzystwie Lekarskim Warszawskim w latach 1875–1905 (cz.1), „Medycyna Nowożytna” 15 (1), 139–157 [in polish]
7. Saurer E., Lanzinger M., Frysak E. (2006). Women's Movements: Networks and Debates in Post-communist Countries in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar. pp. 554–. ISBN 978-3-412-32205-2.
8. Grabowska A. (2021) Doktor Anna. Marginesy [in polish]
9. Wawrzykowska-Wierciochowa D. (1967) Z Dziejów Tajnych Pensji Żeńskich W Królestwie Polskim. Rozprawy z Dziejów Oświaty 10, 145,146. [in polish]
10. Walewska C. (1930) W walce o równe prawa. Nasze bojownice. Warszawa pp 30-31 https://polona.pl/preview/f23d735b-7b39-46a9-8e85-4493f86e25db
11. Tomaszewicz-Dobrska A. (1930) in: Cecylia Walewska, W walce o równe prawa: nasze bojownice, Polona, 30–31 [in polish]