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In Remembrance of Professor Stefan Wesołowski |  |  |  |
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The past "per continuitatem" becomes the present and the present becomes the past. What we have today, was not born out of a non-existence. We have to realize how much of normal everyday life grew out of ideas, creativity and the dedication of our teachers and ancestors.1
In Remembrance of Professor Stefan Wesołowski
Andrzej Borkowski, Janusz Judycki
On 26th December last year, a teacher and tutor of many generations of Polish urologists Professor Stefan Wesołowski passed away at the age of 102.
Up to the end of his life he was an active participant in environmental issues and thanks to that his exceptionally charismatic personality became widely renowned, recognized and respected. He is a renowned figure in the field of urology in Poland. He lived and worked in difficult times, but his achievements are the best proof that, irrespective of circumstances, his passion and consistency, ongoing professional development and contacts with the best medical centers in the world, as well as his particular sense of having a mission managed to form the basis for him as a doctor for whom a prime aim was always to serve patients.
Stefan Jacenty Wesołowski was born on 16th August 1908 in Kamienica near Płońsk. He began his education in elementary school in Szczytno, then attended the Polish Native Secondary School (Gimnazjum Polskiej Macierzy Szkolnej) in Płońsk, and from 1923 the Stanislaw Konarski State Secondary School in Dubno. There he revealed his artistic interests and talents: he belonged to literary and drama activity groups, played in the orchestra and sang in the choir. Stefan graduated from school in June 1927. Owing to his exemplary results he was rewarded by the Dubno mayor with a scholarship which enabled him to start studies at the Medical Faculty of Warsaw University.
His love for the theatre lasted throughout his life and resulted in many friendships in that environment and culminating in his being awarded with an honorary membership of the Association of Polish Stages Artists(Związek Artystów Scen Polskich - ZASP) in 1999.
During his studies he was active in the Medics Group of Self-help Association and together with other medicine and Drama School students prepared and performed a "Medical Puppet Theatre Show". The group toured Poland with their performances several times. All the income from this was donated in support of the construction of the Medics House located in Warsaw at 7 Oczki street and completed in 1936.
Professor Wesołowski received his diploma as a medical doctor on 30th June 1933 and after that he completed an internship at the Infant Jesus Hospital in Warsaw. Following the internship he volunteered to work in the surgical ward of the hospital instead of enlisting for regular military service (September 1934 - March 1935). On 15th March 1936 he began work as an assistant to Dr. Wacław Lilpop at the Urology Department of St. Lazarus Hospital in Warsaw at 2 Książęca street.
The most important event in that period, the highest value and significance of which Professor Wesołowski emphasized throughout his life, was his marriage to Zofia Flaszyńska in 1937. Zofia (1911-1993) was not only the Professor's beloved wife, but also a partner and invaluable assistant in his medical work. Zofia and Stefan had two children: a daughter Anna (now Wesołowska-Szegidewicz - a theatre and film actress, currently engaged in study and analysis of her father's legacy) and a son Stanislaw.
On 9th December 1938 Professor Wesołowski earned a Ph.D. degree in medical science following his defending the thesis "Epidural Anesthesia in Urology" (Znieczulenie nadoponowe w urologii).2
During the September campaign, from 1st to 8th September 1939, as a surgeon in the rank of a second lieutenant, he worked in the Regional Hospital (Szpital Okręgowy) in Toruń, and during the battle of Bzura in the Field Hospital in Żychlin and Dobrzelin. After being taken prisoner by the Germans he worked in Sochaczew hospital, and was later sent by the Nazis to work in St. Lazarus Hospital in Warsaw. At its Urology Department, led by Dr. Wacław Lilpop, he worked as an assistant and senior assistant until 31st December 1942. From 1st January 1943 he began work at the Surgical Department of Wolski Hospital in Warsaw at 26 Płocka street directed by Dr. Marian Piasecki. The Professor motivated his transfer to a surgery ward as follows: "Leaving urology meant not only parting with my dear boss and favourite ward, but also the loss of substantial financial resources. I decided to take the step, however, because I knew that if I did not do that then and did not learn general surgery, I would never be a good urologist."
His tutor was Dr. Leon Manteuffel, a pioneer in thoracic surgery in Poland, and their relationship which started at that time became a long-term friendship. During the German occupation the Professor took an active part in the underground resistance movement, helping injured soldiers who, in spite of being gunshot wounded, were admitted to the tuberculosis ward and diagnosed as civil patients and their bullet wounds and combat background hidden from the occupying enemy. He stayed in Wolski Hospital until the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising. During the Uprising, on 5th August 1944, the Nazis shot dead doctors in the hospital (including the director Dr. Marian Piasecki) and the remaining medical staff and patients at the corner of Zagłoby and Górczewska streets which was the venue of the mass execution of Wola residents (with a total of about 12000 people shot there). Only three doctors survived the slaughter: Leon Manteuffel, Zbigniew Woźniewski and Stefan Wesołowski, the last one only thanks to being recognized by a German soldier, whom he had treated before. Till the end of the Uprising, Stefan Wesołowski worked in the Infectious Diseases Hospital at 37 Wolska street, and after the capitulation he moved to Piotrków Trybunalski, where he was an assistant at the Surgical Department of St. Trinity Municipal Hospital (Szpital Miejski św. Trójcy) led by Dr Vincent Tomaszewicz, after the war a surgery professor in Łódź. On 1st June 1945 Stefan Wesołowski returned to the Surgical Department of Wolski Hospital in Warsaw directed by Dr. Leon Manteuffel. On 1st December 1951 he was appointed the head of the newly established Urology Department in this hospital and he held the position until 1962. In the years 1950-1953 he also managed the Urology Department of the City Hospital No. 1 (Szpital Miejski nr 1) at 17 Kasprzaka street (he stood in for the arrested Dr. Stefan Czubalski). In 1951 he completed the habilitation proceedings based on his clinical and experimental work presented in the thesis "Urine conveying to alimentary tract" ("Odprowadzenie moczu do przewodu pokarmowego").
On 4th September 1954, Stefan Wesołowski was appointed the director of the Urology Clinic of Warsaw Medical University (Klinika Urologii Akademii Medycznej), and promoted to the rank of an associate professor. He did not become a full professor until 22 years later in June 1976, owing to his "improper political attitude".
Despite the obvious difficulties of those years the Professor managed to maintain permanent contact with the world science, to keep up with its rapid development, to motivate a large group of his students and assistants, creating a remarkably enterprising research center, whose activities covered the entire country. It was where many innovative urological operations and surgeries were carried out for the first time in Poland.
In 1971, Professor Wesołowski led to the construction of the Urology Clinic new building in Warsaw, where in 1977 the museum of urology was established. At that time, it was the most modern urology center in Poland.
From the beginning of his work in the Urology Clinic of Medical Academy to 1980 Professor Wesołowski had classes with students. During that time he supervised 29 doctoral dissertations and 5 habilitation proceedings (Tadeusz Krzeski (1965), Zdzisław Kuźnik (1969), Mirosław Kazoń (1971), Andrzej Borkowski (1977), Józef Wencel (1978)). He is the author of over 550 scientific publications.3
During the work in Wolski Hospital (now the Institute of Tuberculosis - Instytut Gruźlicy) in Warsaw he published a lot of papers on tuberculosis of a urogenital organ (gruźlica narządu moczopłciowego). He was especially focused on urinary organ injuries during surgical interventions and complications following plastic surgery. He was also the editor of "Urology" - a two-volume textbook for doctors published in 1960 which covered the whole urology knowledge of those times. The next one appeared only after 30 years. In 1980 the Professor's monograph "Ureters Injuries" ("Urazy moczowodów") came out, which he considered to be the work of his life. He published three books of a biographical nature as well: "Memories" (Wspomnienia") (2003), "From the Cabaret to a Scalpel and Hospital" ("Od kabaretu do skalpela i lazaretu") (2006) and "Mature Years" ("Lata dojrzałe") (2008).
From 1st May 1951 to 31st July 1974 Professor Wesołowski was the Ministry of Health national specialist in urology. Cooperating with the Medical Center for Postgraduate Education (Centrum Medyczne Kształcenia Podyplomowego) he trained more than 600 physicians. He immensely contributed to opening many new urological wards. Prof. Leon Manteuffel, whom Professor Wesołowski assisted in 1947 during the first in Poland lungectomy carried out due to lung cancer, wrote: "So far, no other doctor has done as much for urology in our country as Professor Wesołowski."4
Professor Wesołowski followed medical advances on an ongoing basis, trying to develop professionally all the time. He fully understood the importance of participation in international scientific meetings, trainings and courses worldwide. He was a visitor to the best urological clinics and kept in touch with the most outstanding urologists. With his warm and open personality he had no problems in getting on with others and was popular and liked in the global urological environment. He was a true ambassador of Polish science and urology in particular. Here is the opinion of one of the greatest physicians of the twentieth century professor Jan Nielubowicz, addressed to Professor Wesołowski: "We owe you special words of gratitude for the role you played internationally. Indeed, there was no urological congress, symposium, conference whose programme would have not included the name: S. Wesołowski ... Poland ".5
What needs emphasising too, is Professor Wesołowski's major role in the integration of the Polish and European urological environment. He actively participated in establishing the Polish Association of Urology and its operating in the first particularly difficult years. From 1947 to 1949 he was the secretary of the organisational committee of the Polish Association of Urology, the secretary of its Main Board, the editor of its magazine" Polish Urology", and between 1960 and 1962 he held the position of the President of the Association, which in 1974 gave him an honorary membership.
Invited personally by Professor R. Couvelaire, he took part in the congress in Zurich on 25th November 1972 as one of the founders of the European Association of Urology. He also became an honorary member of the Association.
Profesor Wesołowski held the position of the director of the Urology Clinic of Warsaw Medical University until his retirement on 30th September 1978. From 1st October 1978 to 31st March 1980 he was a curator of the Clinic (its director was PhD. Andrzej Borkowski then). In September 1980, he received a professorial chair at the Medical Faculty of the University of Garyounis in Benghazi in Libya. He was also a urologist in a hospital in Sirte. He worked there until 31st August 1981. After coming back to Poland he continued cooperation with the Urology Clinic of Warsaw Medical University. From 1st January 1986 to 30th April 1992, he worked in the Regional Hospital (Szpital Wojewódzki) in Ciechanów, where he organized a urology ward, named after him on 2nd September 1998.
Professor Wesołowski definitely finished his work as a medical doctor in 1992.
He was a member of numerous Polish and European urological associations. In his lifetime he received a lot of honors, awards and medals, including: Cross of Valour (Krzyż Walecznych), Gold Medal "For Merit for Warsaw" (Złota Odznaka "Za Zasługi dla Warszawy"), and "Laudabilis". He also held Doctor Honoris Causa degree from Wrocław Medical Academy.
We have bid farewell to a man who was a history himself, the last living founder of the Polish Association of Urology and the European Association of Urology - two organizations significant for the development of urology in Poland. But according to the Latin maxim "he did not all die." He left all his scientific achievements, organizational successes, numerous students, grateful patients but above all his motto and message that the highest value in a doctor's life is to serve the sick. Professor Jan Nielubowicz said: "People who, like you Professor, have done a lot in their lives (...) know that in the moment of the final judgement all orders fall off, the applause subsides, the diplomas fade and the only things that are left are the good and true ones. The good and true ones in your life, Professor, were those whose lives and health you have saved giving them at the same time the chance to enjoy a healthy man's life".6
Honour to His Memory!
Professor Stefan Wesołowski's funeral took place on 6th January 2010 at the Old Powązki Cemetery (Cmentarz na Starych Powązkach), where he was buried in the family tomb.