Terapia balneoklimatyczna i lecznictwo uzdrowiskowe społeczności żydowskiej na Śląsku w latach 1945–1950
Balneoclimatic therapy and spa treatment of the Jewish community in Silesia in 1945–1950

Summary/Abstract: The issue of the health care of the Jewish community in Silesia (both Upper and Lower Silesia) just after the World War II in the context of spa and balneoclimatic therapy has so far not received a thorough scientific synthesis nor analytical study. In the literature to date, this issue has mainly appeared as an element within the broader context of studies. It should be noted, however, that Lower Silesia, which played a leading role not only in the history of post-war Jewish settlement, but also became the national centre for tuberculosis spa treatment in the People’s Republic of Poland, remained the main focus of interest for researchers. The current state of research still contains many areas of unrecognised research and is far from being considered satisfactory. This article is therefore an attempt to fill this research gap and aims to explore the history and place of spa and balneoclimatic therapy in post-war health care structures in the context of the Jewish community. The research therefore covered spa towns in Upper and Lower Silesia, providing treatment services, located within the borders of Poland after 1945. In the course of the research, available archives, sources, studies and e-documents were analysed. The paper focuses primarily on an attempt to reconstruct the activities of the Society for the Protection of the Health of the Jewish People in Poland, the primary organisation for Jewish medical care, which operated in Lower and Upper Silesia for less than three decades. The turning points of the article are: 1945 – thebeginning of the Polish administration in Silesia and the moment when the structures of the Jewish health service in Poland were reactivated, and 1950 – the symbolic end of Jewish autonomy in the country.

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