Jan „Krok” Kurdwanowski (1924–2018) – lekarz, pisarz i bohater powstania warszawskiego oraz jego powojenna działalność

Abstract

JAN “KROK” KURDWANOWSKI (1924–2018) – PHYSICIAN, WRITER, AND HERO OF THE WARSAW UPRISING AND HIS POST-WAR ACTIVITY

Jan “Krok” Kurdwanowski (1924–2018) was a physician, a participant in the Warsaw Uprising, and an author o memoirs and literary works shaped by his wartime and emigrant experiences. The aim of this article is to present his biography and to examine both his scientific and literary achievements within a broader historical framework. As a medical student, Kurdwanowski took part in the Warsaw Uprising as a member of the Armia Krajowa, fighting in districts such as Wola, the Old Town, and Czerniaków. After the war, he resumed his medical studies, earning his medical degree in 1950 and specializing in pediatrics. Between 1951 and 1957, he published several scientific papers, primarily case reports, as well as articles on the diagnosis of Salmonella typhimurium infections in infants. In 1957, he left Poland; after several years in Europe, he eventually settled in the United States, where he specialized in psychiatry. A significant part of his legacy consists of memoir literature, particularly the books Mrówka na szachownicy and Jak wybrałem wolność na Zachodzie i inne wspomnienia, in which he recounted his wartime experiences alongside the realities of postwar Poland and life in exile. Kurdwanowski’s life story reflects the complex fate of a generation whose biographies were profoundly shaped by the dramatic events of the twentieth century.