HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN MEDICINE AND SURGERY, FIRST HOSPITALS – DEVELOPMENT OF UROLOGY IN DANZIG/GDAŃSK
Authors: Zajączkowski Tadeusz 
Published: May 2020

The aim of the study is to present the development of hospital services and the teaching of medicine, and the development of urology in Danzig (Gdańsk). Well known Danzig surgeons who were interested in surgery of the genitourinary system are also presented. The beginning of urological surgery and its development within the framework of the department of surgery and as an independent facility at the Medical Academy of Gdańsk in the post‑war period is also described. Extensive research was undertaken for the collection of literature and documents in German and Polish archives and libraries in order to prepare this study. The history of hospitals in Danzig goes back to the arrival of the Teutonic Knights in 1308. The earliest institution, according to historical sources, was the Hospital of the Holy Spirit, built in the years 1310–1311. It was run by the Hospitalet Order until 1382, and was intended for the sick, elderly and disabled people, orphans and needy pilgrim, and the poor. Later centuries saw the further development of hospital services in Danzig. In the 19th century, the city’s increasing population, the development of the sciences, and rapid advances in medicine subsequently led to the establishment of three more hospitals in Gdańsk: The Hospital for Obstetrics and Gynaecological Disease (1819), the Holy Virgin Hospital (1852), and the Evangelical Hospital of Deaconess Sisters (1857), in addition to the old Municipal Hospital. In 1911, new modern buildings of Municipal Hospital in Danzig were finished. On the basis of the Municipal Hospital, the Academy of Practical Medicine was established in 1935. It was known under the name Staatliche Akademie für Praktische Medizin in the Free City of Danzig. Five years later (in 1940) the Academy was developed and changed to the Medical Academy of Danzig (Medizinische Akad‑ emie Danzig – MAD). The beginning of medical teaching at the middle level in Danzig (Gdańsk) dates back to the 16th century. It had its origins in the Chair of Anatomy and Medicine at Danzig Academic Gymnasium (GA; Sive Illustre), an establishment which lasted for 239 years, from 1584 to 1812. The history of surgery in Danzig has its roots in the centuries‑old tradition of the medical practice of surgeons who were associated in the Surgeons Guild, teaching, as well medical and scientific research. The Surgeons Guild existed in Danzig from 1454 to 1820. Over the centuries manual intervention was also in the hands of academically uneducated persons such as bath house attendants, barbers, and wandering surgeons. Until the end of 1946 there was no separate urology department in Danzig. Urological surgery was in the hands of surgeons. Interventions and operations on genitourinary organs were carried out, more or less, in all surgical depart‑ ments. The end of World War II created a new political situation in Europe. Danzig (now Gdańsk) and Pomerania became part of Poland. In 1945, on the basis of the former MAD, the Polish Government established the Polish Academy of Physicians, later renamed the Medical Academy in Gdańsk (Gdańska Akademia Medyczna – GAM). In 2009, GAM was again renamed, as the Medical University of Gdańsk (Gdański Uniwersytet Medyczny). The political changes after World War II accelerated the process of the separation of urology from surgery. In May 1947, a 30‑bed Urological Ward was opened in Gdańsk, in Dębinki Street, forming part of the First Surgical Clinic of the Academy of Physicians (headed by Prof. Kornel Michejda, 1887–1960, later by Prof. Stanisław Nowicki, 1893–1972, and lastly by Prof. Zdzisław Kieturakis, 1904–1971). The first head doctor of the new urological ward was Dr. Tadeusz Lörenz (1906–1986), a urologist from Lvov (Lemberg). After the departure of Professor Lorenz to Wrocław (Breslau) in 1958, Dr. Jan Renkielski was acting as Head of the Uro‑ logical Ward until 1971. In 1971 the ward was transformed to the separate Department of Urology. Docent (“lecturer”), and later Professor, Kazimierz Adamkiewicz from Zabrze (Hindenburg) became its Head. Professor Adamkiewicz organized and equipped the Department, leading it quickly to the level of modern departments in the areas of research, teaching, and therapy. During Professor Adamkiewicz’s illness, and after his retirement in 1988, Docent Kazimierz Krajka, Later Professor) headed the urological department until his retirement in 2012. Since 1 October 2012, Associate Professor (Docent) Marcin Matuszewski (*1965) has been the head of the Department of Urology in Gdańsk.