Franciszek Paweł Raszeja (April 2, 1896 in

Chełmno Chełmno (; older ; , formerly also ) is a town in northern Poland near the Vistula river with 18,915 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the seat of the Chełmno County in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Due to its regional importance ...

– July 21, 1942 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

) was a Polish

orthopaedic Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

physician and academic teacher. The brother of activist Leon Raszeja, he was killed while visiting a Jewish patient in the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Biography

Raszeja was born on April 2, 1896, in

, (Kulm) in the family of a postal clerk, Ignacy and Maria, née Cichoń. When he was born and until he was about 22 this area was part of the German Empire. He attended the Chełmno Junior High School, where he made friends with

Kurt Schumacher Curt Ernst Carl Schumacher, better known as Kurt Schumacher (13 October 1895 – 20 August 1952), was a German politician and resistance fighter against the Nazis. He was chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1946 and the fir ...

, a later

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

politician and activist. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he was conscripted into the

German army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

, fought on the eastern front, and was taken captive and held in

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

. In 1918, he made his way through

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

to Poland. He took part in the Polish-Bolshevik war as a medic. After studying medicine in

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

and

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

and obtaining the degree of

doctor Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

medical sciences Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

, Raszeja worked at the university hospital in Poznań. In 1928, he was one of the five founding members of the Polish Orthopaedic and Traumatic Society. Raszeja received his

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

diploma in 1931 and became the director of an orthopaedic hospital in

Swarzędz Swarzędz (German language, German: ''Schwersenz'') is a town in west-central Poland with 29,766 inhabitants. It is the seat of a mixed urban-rural commune called Gmina Swarzędz with 40,166 inhabitants. The town is situated in the Poznań metropo ...

. At the same time, he headed an orthopaedic

polyclinic A polyclinic (where ''poly'' means "many"; not to be confused with the homonym policlinic, where ''poli'' means "city" and which is sometimes used for a hospital's outpatient department) is a clinic or health care facility that provides both g ...

in Poznań. Raszeja led to the reopening of the orthopaedic hospital of the Poznań University in 1935 and took over its management, an action that a year later resulted in him being awarded the title of professor. He later belonged to the Polish Academic Corporation Baltia. In September 1939, after military actions had ceased, Raszeja worked as a doctor in Warsaw (from December 1939, he was the head of the surgical department of the

Polish Red Cross Polish Red Cross (, abbr. PCK) is the Polish member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Its 19th-century roots may be found in the Russian and Austrian Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. On regaining its ind ...

Hospital) and taught at the Secret

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

. Raszeja contacted Professor

Ludwik Hirszfeld Ludwik Hirszfeld (; 5 August 1884 – 7 March 1954) was a Polish microbiologist and serologist. He is considered a co-discoverer of the inheritance of ABO blood types. Life He was a cousin of Aleksander Rajchman, a Polish mathematician, and ...

, who was in the Warsaw Ghetto, and organized a blood donation campaign to help the Jewish population.

Death

On July 21, 1942 he went to an apartment in a tenement house at Chłodna Street 26 in the ghetto to take care of a patient (he had a legal pass, which was required to enter the ghetto). Raszeja was murdered in the apartment along with his patient Abe Gutnajer, his family, two Jewish doctors and a nurse by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

under the command of SS-Sturmbannführer Hermann Höfle.Franciszek Paweł Raszeja
-

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

website

Personal life

He married Stanisława Deniszczuk in 1923. They had two daughters: Bożena and Ewa.

Honors

His name was given to the Municipal hospital in

at Mickiewicz Street (opened in 1953), one of the streets in

, Koło district (present district of

Wola Wola () is a district in western Warsaw, Poland. An industrial area with traditions reaching back to the early 19th century, it underwent a transformation into a major financial district, featuring various landmarks and some of the tallest offi ...

),Uchwała nr 28 Rady Narodowej Miasta Stołecznego Warszawy z dnia 24 listopada 1961 r. w sprawie nadania nazw ulicom, "Dziennik Urzędowy Rady Narodowej m.st. Warszawy, Warszawa, dnia 20 grudnia 1961 r., nr 22, poz. 96, s. 2. and a neighbourhood in Chełmno. He received the

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

title from

in on April 11, 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raszeja, Franciszek 1896 births 1942 deaths Polish orthopaedic surgeons People from Chełmno Polish Righteous Among the Nations People from West Prussia German Army personnel of World War I Burials at Powązki Cemetery 20th-century Polish surgeons People who died in the Warsaw Ghetto Polish people executed by Nazi Germany for aiding Jews