[Polish doctors in the Cieszyn of Silesia on the threshold of the 19th and 20th centuries (until 1920)]

The Polish medical profession in the Cieszyn part of Silesia (the powiats of Bielsko, Cieszyn, Frysztat and Frydek) began to take shape in the second half of the 19th century. The doctors either came from the local, peasant population, or were migrants, mainly from western Małopolska. Because of the influx of Germans and Czechs, in search of employment, to the ethnically Polish Cieszyn part of Silesia, the proportion of the Polish population in this area fell from 74.5% in 1880 to 68.5% in 1910. The local population became progressively German or Czech. Out of about 30 Polish doctors belonging to the Polish community, only a dozen or so were still active by 1920. The doctors not only satisfied the Polish community's medical needs, but also their cultural, educational, political, economic and sports needs. In 1919, the Polish medical profession provided a medical bulwark against the Czech aggression and took part in preparations for the plebiscite in the Cieszyn part of Silesia. Following the partition of this region in 1920, those Polish doctors living in the part annexed to Czechoslovakia moved to Poland. Three Polish doctors remained in Zaolzie, and they began to reestablish a Polish medical group for the 100.000-strong Polish ethnic minority in the Zaolzie part of Czechoslovakia.