The diploma confirming graduation from medical studies by Stefan Kramsztyk (1877-1943?). Stefan Kramsztyk was a famous doctor, author of many medical publications, also populariser of knowledge about health.
The diploma was donated to the POLIN Museum by Krzysztof Prochaska when he received it from Maria Gross, Stefan Kramsztyk's stepdaughter who survived the Holocaust. Her stepfather did not survive the war and was captured by the Germans in Otwock together with his wife (Maria's mother) Jadwiga, née Reychman. The arrest was witnessed by one of the family members; we do not know the exact circumstances of their murder.
Until the moment of his deconspiration, i.e. March 1943, Kramsztyk wrote down his memoirs, which are stored in the University of Warsaw Library (catalogue no. Rps BUW 1428); their fragments have been published (see S. Kramsztyk, "Wspomnienia o ludzi i wydarzeniach" [Memoirs About People and Events], ed. Hanna Bartoszewicz, "Podkowański Magazyn Kulturalny" 2012, no. 68, http://www.podkowianskimagazyn.pl/nr68/kramsztyk68.htm#1, accessed on the 10.11.2021).
The document is issued in Russian, with the signatures of: the Rector of the Imperial University of Warsaw, Professor Ordinary Grigory Konstantynowicz Ulyanov (see R. Gawkowski, "Poczet Rektorów Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego" [Rectors of the University of Warsaw], Warsaw 2016); Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Professor Ordinary Mikhail Dmitrievich Chausov; Secretary of the Council of the Faculty of Medicine, Marchenko (first name unknown).
The title obtained by Kramsztyk after graduation – Lekar'(Ле́карь) – was the official name of the profession in the Russian Empire. In contemporary Russian this word has fallen out of use, but it is known, nonetheless.
The State Archives in Lublin hold another diploma of Edmund Faustyn Biernacki, a graduate of the Medical Faculty of the Imperial University of Warsaw, made in Warsaw on 28.10.1889, and a copy of that diploma, made in Warsaw on 18/31.01. 1902, both also bearing the signatures of Mikhail Dmitrievich Chausov, who also in 1903 held the post of Dean of the Faculty of Medicine (see Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона [Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Epron], 86th volume, Санкт-Петербург 1907). Chausov on Biernacki's diploma is signed as State Councillor, and on Kramsztyk's diploma of 1903 as Actual State Councillor.
Translation of the text on the recto page of Kramsztyk's diploma:
"Diploma
The Council of the Imperial Warsaw University hereby informs that Stefan Stanisławowicz Kramsztyk, having joined the ranks of the students of the Imperial Warsaw University at the beginning of the academic year 1896/7, in the years 1896/7, 1897/8, 1898/9, 1899/1900, 1900/1901 and 1901/2 attended all the subjects taught during his five years of studies at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Warsaw and on the basis of his final examinations in the compulsory subjects at the Faculty of Medicine he, Kramsztyk, by the decision of the University Council on the 28th of November 1902, was awarded the title of doctor.
In witness whereof, this diploma, duly signed and stamped, has been issued to Mr Kramsztyk. M. Warsaw, 29[date handwritten] May 1903.
Rector of the Imperial University of Warsaw, Full Professor [here Ulyanov's handwritten signature]
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Acting State Councillor [here handwritten signature of Chausov]
Secretary of the Council [here handwritten signature of Marchenko]
[on the right at the height of Marchenko's signature – the round seal of the Imperial University of Warsaw, in purple ink]
[diploma number:] No [handwritten addition:] 5842
[bottom right corner:] NB. The amount due for the diploma was paid to the Warsaw Gubernial Revenue Office, receipt no. 60888".
On the verso side of card 1 of the diploma there is a "Faculty Promise" in Russian. "The Promise" was a second, 19th century, modification of the so-called Hippocratic Oath. It forbade the "preparation and sale of secret remedies" – which was an unauthorised way of obtaining patients in medical practice. It was printed, as in the case of Kramsztyk's diploma, on the reverse of the diplomas of the Medical and Surgical Academy and the Warsaw High School. The content of "The Promise" in translation (Polish text after: Aleksander Tulczyński, Historia i ewolucja kodeksów deontologicznych, in Etyka i deontologia lekarska, ed. Tadeusz Kielanowski, Warsaw 1985, pp. 196-197):
"Accepting with profound respect the rights that are imposed on me by medical science, I promise that throughout my life I will not tarnish in anything the nobility of my state: I promise at all times to render the most suitable assistance to those who suffer seeking advice from me; I promise to keep sacred the family secrets entrusted to me and not to misuse the trust placed in me; to educate myself more and more in the art of medicine and to contribute with all my strength to its perfection, giving to the scientific world whatever I may discover; that I will not occupy myself with the preparation and sale of secret remedies. If the good of the sick requires it, I will speak the truth openly and without any partiality. In cases that are more important than I, and when I myself am called upon to deliberate, I will fairly assess their merits and efforts".
On the verso side of card 2 official annotations with stamps from 1921 and 1940.
[stamp with inscription:] District Health Office of the Capital City of Warsaw
On 27/VIII 1921 [date handwritten].
[stamp with inscription:] Director of the District Health Office of the Capital City of Warsaw
[Director's handwritten signature]
[stamp of the District Health Office]
[stamp:] On September 12 [day and month handwritten] 1940 [40 handwritten]. 1534/5/6 [number handwritten] copies [y – handwritten] of this document were certified in the Warsaw office.
Notary [handwritten signature here].