A Polish Doctor in the Nazi Camps: My Mother's Memories of Imprisonment, Immigration, and a Life Remade

by Barbara Rylko-Bauer

2015 IPPY Gold Medal in Biography Gold Medal in Biography, Foreword Reviews' 2014 IndieFab Book of the Year Awards 2015 Michigan Notable Book Finalist, 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Jadwiga Lenartowicz Rylko, known as Jadzia (Yah′-jah), was a young Polish Catholic physician in Łódź at the start of World War II. Suspected of resistance activities, she was arrested in January 1944. For the next fifteen months, she endured three Nazi concentration camps and a forty-two-day death march, spending part of this time working as a prisoner-doctor to Jewish slave laborers. A Polish Doctor in the Nazi Camps follows Jadzia from her childhood and medical training, through her wartime experiences, to her struggles to create a new life in the postwar world. For more information, see rylkobauer.com
Jadzia's daughter, anthropologist Barbara Rylko-Bauer, constructs an intimate ethnography that weaves a personal family narrative against a twentieth-century historical backdrop. As Rylko-Bauer travels back in time with her mother, we learn of the particular hardships that female concentration camp prisoners faced. The struggle continued after the war as Jadzia attempted to rebuild her life, first as a refugee doctor in Germany and later as an immigrant to the United States. Like many postwar immigrants, Jadzia had high hopes of making new connections and continuing her career. Unable to surmount personal, economic, and social obstacles to medical licensure, however, she had to settle for work as a nurse's aide.

As a contribution to accounts of wartime experiences, Jadzia's story stands out for its sensitivity to the complexities of the Polish memory of war. Built upon both historical research and conversations between mother and daughter, the story combines Jadzia's voice and Rylko-Bauer's own journey of rediscovering her family's past. The result is a powerful narrative about survival, resilience, displacement, and memory, augmenting our understanding of a horrific period in human history and the struggle of Polish immigrants in its aftermath. 

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Holocaust, War, World War II, Biography, Medical

416 pages, Hardcover

First published February 24, 2014

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I... Just wow. This book was amazing. I absolutely loved this true story of a Polish Doctor that endured 3 concentration camps. I am just stunned at how well this book incorporated historical context to back up the author's mother's survival, struggle, outlook on life, as well as what happened before she ended up in the camps to where the story concludes with the eventual death of her mother. But Jadzia's story will now live on forever. Also, this book has images to really help you understand the situation that Jadzia was going through at different stages of her life.

Okay so first off this was a very delicate read for me. I slowed down, processed, analyzed, and breathed this book for the last week and a half. I wanted to know all of the wisdom and knowledge that Barbara could give to me. As I mentioned earlier, this book follows Jadzia's life- childhood, medical training, life as a concentration camp physician, and her life post World War II. All of this is done surrounded by what was happening in the moment of her life. Jadzia tells her story to her anthropologist daughter, Barbara, who recorded hours and hours of Jadzia's life.

I was amazed at Jadzia's skill, knowledge, luck, and ability to try and thrive no matter what came her way. As Barbara Rylko-Bauer travels back in time with her mother, we learn of the hardships that female concentration camp prisoners faced. The struggle doesn't just end there. It continues into her post war years when Jadzia tried to rebuild her life. She was a refugee doctor and then an immigrant to the U.S. I had no idea of the struggles immigrants had during this time period so I learned quite a bit. Like many immigrants during this time, Jadzia had hopes of making new connections and continuing her career as a physician. However, for various reasons (personal, economic, and social obstacles to receiving a medical license) she was unable to obtain that goal. She ended her career as a nurse’s aide at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.

I think Rylko-Bauer did an amazing job of capturing her mother's story. Jadzia's story is created with historical research and conversations with her daughter. I could hear both voices in the writing. It was interesting to see what Jadzia would say, how she would react, how Rylko-Bauer would react, and the research to corroborate what Jadzia had said. The result was a book about struggle, survival, and displacement helping the reader to understand a brutal time in history and the aftermath struggles if Polish immigrants in the United States.

I will never be able to do this book the justice it deserves by writing this review. It will be a book I will hand out to anyone and eventually discuss with my own family. I have had the amazing chance to meet Barbara Rylko-Bauer. She was very kind and so amazing to speak to at the Great Lakes Conference held at Grand Valley State University.
It was interesting that her family settled in the same state I live in! The only complaint I had was that sometimes the abbreviations took away some of the story for me because I was busy trying to look up what they meant (felt like I had short term memory loss)! With that said, I still would give this book a 5/5 star review!

[Reading For Sanity · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://readingforsanity.blogspot.com/...

[Helena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a compelling book about having your life as you know it turned upside down by war and then never being able to recover what you once had - the family, friends, career, and a life of culture and opportunity were now gone. By reading this book I was able to reflect more deeply on my own experience and how it impacted my parents who also emigrated from Europe as DPs after years of slave labor in Nazi Germany. They rarely talked about it and, like Barbara Rylko-Bauer's mother had done so initially, they preferred keeping it to themselves, choosing to move on and start over. Rylko-Bauer honors not only her mother and father by writing this ethnography but also, she honors the others who were similarly caught up in those turbulent times. Her well-researched book is a wake-up call for today's political climate.

[Veronica Wellington · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the real story of Jadwiga Lenartowicz Rylko, a Polish Doctor who was imprisoned by the Germans during WWII. I had to read this novel, since my grandmother's name was also Jadwiga, who was Polish. My grandmother, however, was taken prisoner by the Soviets, which this story does not have much information regarding. However, it was a very fascinating account of what she had to endure during these troubling times. To hear stories about the war from those who went through it (though this story is written by her daughter) is more impacting than hearing it from a report or history book. It helped me to further understand the details of what happened to those in Poland. I very much recommend this novel to anyone of Polish Descent, or who is interested in WWII.

[Aryeh Kozuch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this book to read by my great aunt. She was given a copy by Barbara. She marched with Jadzia from Neusalz to Flossenbürg. I am thankful for the dutiful account of her mother’s experience provided by Rylko-Bauer, and the diligent research that went into this volume. The book is an excellent portrait of her mother’s life, allowing her reflections to stand un-abridged. The part on “surviving survival” and building a life after the concentration camps is especially potent. 5* <3

[Lana Hasper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard this author speak at Aquinas College this spring. This is a well-written account of a Catholic Polish female doctor who was arrested by the SS for listening to the radio for news on the war.
My points of interest & reflection:
1) Barbara Rylko-Bauer laments that if she had only been interested in her family's history earlier, she would have been able to glean so much more information. I found this to be true for me as well.
2) Just last week a 94-year-old guard was convicted of Nazi concentration camp war crimes. The news reported that he listened impassively as his charges were presented. He said he was just doing his job as an accountant in Auschwitz. This author repeats information presented by historian Raul Hilberg regarding the Nazis meticulous documentation and lists: "All this bureaucracy and documentation gave individual people in the Nazi system ...a way to distance themselves from actions that caused great suffering...."
3) There is nothing new under the sun. Jadzia faced immigration hurdles galore trying to come to Detroit. "Public opinion in the United States strongly opposed a large influx of immigrants from Europe. Members of some segments of U.S. society harbored prejudices against DPS that were grounded in stereotypes and lack of knowledge..." Sounds just like todays news.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biography is a comprehensive study of the author's mother's history in Poland before and during the occupation of Poland during WWII and covers her family history, her medical studies , her practice and subsequent arrest by the Nazis and her time -16 months in different Concentration camps and her life following her release from the camps. I ESP. Appreciated her overview of historical events at this time of history. I always wondered why people did not just riot at the policies of the Nazis but I now realize how powerful this military and political machine was in its overpowering control of the general populace and how futile resistance was in revolt. I appreciated the coverage of the history of Poland. I would reccommend this book to all who want another view of WWII history and concentration camps. The author is a medical anthropologist and her writing shows her great detail and effective communication skills.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jadzia was a remarkable women who lived through being in three concentration camps, a 42 day death march when the was was ended. Although she was not Jewish, she was a Catholic, she was a Catholic that found herself arrested and forced to tend to the Jewish prisoners because she was a doctor. After a few years, she emigrated to the US with her husband and young daughter and settled in Detroit. It was very hard to find work and they never recognized her as a doctor, she worked as a nurse' said for 23 years. She lived to be a hundred gave her life story to her daughter who wrote this book. A moving story that I enjoyed reading, especially after touring the Holocast museum this year.

[Sue Merrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable, well-documented, fast-paced read about the experiences of the author's mother during WWII. The casual interchanges between the author and the mother in the framing of the book create a wonderful way to tell the story of a real person caught up in a horrifying time. Jadzia isn't some fictional hero, she's a frightened survivor, sometimes sharp-tongued, sometimes humorous, but always very real right up until her death at age 100. Her life in Detroit after the war is in some ways just as revealing as her memories of the concentration camp.

[Ellen Cassedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book brings us close to an ordinary woman who suffered in the Nazi camps. That she was a Polish non-Jew adds a piece to the puzzle, helping us to enlarge our understanding of the World War II era. The author’s sensitive and careful approach, in her conversations with her mother, provide a model for all of us as we conduct our own “intimate ethnographies” to learn from the stories of our family members.

[Sherrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author writes of her mother's days in WWII and after, in a straightforward style without embellishment, which does absolutely nothing to reduce the horror of her mother's--and so many people who suffered even worse fates--stories. It is amazing to me that anyone involved in the terrible events of the death camps and concentration camps could have ever recovered enough to lead any kind of a normal life.

[Joan Funk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has essentially two parts- one during the war and the other what happened after the war. I found this book very interesting. The connection between the author and the principle person in the book helped to make the book even more compelling. We don't hear much about what happened after the war to the people displaced who lost everything.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seemingly without effort, the author links her mother's story to a broader historical narrative. Easy to read and very moving, this book is another way to understand the difficult years of Nazi Germany and especially the experience of the Poles.

[Urszula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book.
Already has several awards:

2015 IPPY Gold Medal in Biography

2015 Michigan Notable Book

Finalist, Foreword Reviews' 2014 IndieFab Book of the Year Awards

Finalist, 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards

[Tanya Procknow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. It was a bit too factual and dry for me to be totally hooked. It is a story that does need to be heard and I'm glad I finished it. The one thing that caught me was their impression of America. How busy and shallow life is here.

[Kali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story, and a perspective of WWII and immigrant life I haven't read before. Many thanks to Barbara Rylko-Bauer for documenting her mother's story. Loved reading about a fellow Polish Catholic who eventually settled in my city.

[Michael Rudzik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye opener to ww2

[Kathi Maciejewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting read.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very dense, with lots of information, but quite interesting.

[Camellia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend. The powerful strength of the will to survive.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some books the sentiment of the author conflicts with the subject of the book; this is not one of those. It complements and deepens the emotion of the reader. Mrs. Bauer, in writing about her mother's experience during World War II and afterward, tells of her conflict in a very human way.
Some of the sections where her mother's memory fails.... I'm grateful, in a way. I don't know that I'd want to know all of the details of the Death March in early 1945. It makes sense that all of that would blur together, that Dr. Rylko would not remember details, and even possibly that she would want to spare her daughter the depth of fear and anguish.
Well worth reading.