Wrocław – Hanna and Ludwik Hirszfeld’s Great Love
He has discovered blood groups and serological conflict and was nominated for the Nobel Prize. She was an innovator in post-war paediatrics. Shortly after the Second World War, they committed their lives to Wrocław, contributing significantly to the development of Polish medicine and science.
.In pursuit of her dream to care for children, Hanna Kasman, who hailed from Wilczkowice near Warsaw, had to travel abroad as at the end of the 19th century, Polish universities did not admit female students. She began her medical studies in Montpellier and continued in Paris and Berlin, where she married the promising scientist Ludwik Hirszfeld in 1904. Shortly thereafter, the couple embarked on a years-long academic journey through Europe’s leading research centres.
Initially, they settled in Heidelberg, where Hanna assisted Professor Emil Feer with research on infant feeding methods. Ludwik defended his doctoral thesis and joined the Institute for Cancer Research in the parasitology department, a burgeoning area of study at the time, as many believed that parasites played a role in cancer development.
It was there that Hirszfeld met Emil von Dungern, with whom he then conducted blood research for many years. Their pivotal discovery, which established their permanent place in medical history, was the identification of the blood groups A, B, AB, and O, still in use today. Meanwhile, Hanna Hirszfeld dedicated her time to studying blood in children.
The couple spent the following years in Zurich, where Ludwig worked in bacteriology and Hanna in a paediatric clinic. During the First World War, they volunteered to combat a typhoid fever outbreak in Valjevo, near Belgrade. There, Hirszfeld identified paratyphoid bacilli, which he named ‘para-C’ (later known as Salmonella hirszfeldi), and developed a vaccine to treat affected soldiers. He also continued his research into the prevalence of various blood groups across different populations.
After Poland regained its independence, the Hirszfelds returned to Warsaw to assist in rebuilding the nation after years of partition. Ludwik contributed to the establishment of the State Institute of Hygiene, while Hanna led the university’s paediatric clinic. In 1925, Ludwik described the phenomenon and mechanisms of serological conflict, a breakthrough that garnered him a nomination for the Nobel Prize in 1950.
The couple lived in Warsaw when the Second World War started. In September 1939, Hirszfeld created a blood transfusion centre in the capital, and after being forced into the ghetto, he led the Health Judenrat. He used a vaccine from Professor Rudolf Weigl in Lviv, which was smuggled into the ghetto, to treat patients suffering from spotted fever. He also continued his scientific work. In July 1942, the Hirshfeld escaped the ghetto and, with the help of many supporters, managed to safely wait out the war outside Warsaw. Tragically, during this time, their only daughter, Maria, died of pneumonia at the age of 23.
Before the war officially ended, Hanna relocated to Lublin to assist in reconstructing the Department of Paediatrics. Shortly after Poland’s liberation, Ludwik joined her and engaged in establishing the Maria Curie-Sklodowska University. They soon received an offer from the Ministry of Health, who reached out to them for help in rebuilding Polish medicine in Wrocław. “Many of the scientific departments were in ruins; expensive instruments and books were hidden in bunkers or taken by the Germans. Some departments were looted not only by military marauders but unfortunately also by doctors and students. Books and instruments from the Wrocław University were sold all over Poland. The paediatric, neurological and neurosurgical clinics suffered severe damage. The action plan for the Faculty of Medicine in Lower Silesia needs to be broader to include more than just didactic and scientific tasks, Ludwik Hirszfeld wrote in his autobiography published shortly after the war.
Upon arriving in Wrocław, Ludwik quickly became involved in organising the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Wrocław and served as the faculty’s first dean. He gave the inaugural lecture on bacteriology at the Polish university on 6 September 1945. In 1952, he founded the Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy at the Polish Academy of Sciences (which was later named in his honour) and became its first director. It was also his initiative that led to the establishment of the Research Centre for Pregnancy Pathology in Wroclaw.
Hanna, drawing upon her experience in establishing paediatric clinics in Zurich and Warsaw, created the first children’s hospital in Wrocław after the war. The clinic was located on Józef Hoene-Wroński Street. Facing a shortage of Polish doctors, she employed German medical staff and treated German children as well. Under the patronage of the Polish Red Cross, a nursery and nursing school were also established at the hospital, which continues to operate today in a modified form, bearing the name of its founder for nearly half a century.
After their harrowing experiences in the ghetto and the trauma of hiding, the Hirszfelds found a second home in Wrocław, even though they had the option to relocate to the USA, where prestigious laboratory work awaited Ludwik. From the early 1950s, the communist authorities attempted to undermine Hirszfeld, accusing him of racism in his research and critiquing his personnel decisions. In the wake of his sudden demise in 1954, the staff of the institute he established was entirely replaced; many of his successors faced harassment and were forced to leave Poland.
.Hanna Hirszfeld outlived her husband by ten years, passing away on 20 February 1964. She retired two years earlier at the age of 78. The couple were laid to rest in St. Laurentius Cemetery.
