[Social and political commitment of Lvov physicians in the first half of the 20th century. Contribution to the characteristics of the Polish medical environment]

Before the First World War Lvov was under the Austrian occupation and this is why there is only a scarce evidence of patriotic commitment of the Polish physicians. Political activities were demonstrated through occasional speeches given at the national ceremonies or during their inauguration of an academic year. One of such ceremonies was the centenary of F. Chopin's birth when a patriotic oration, kept till the present day in the family collection, was made by a representative of the University, Forensic Medicine Professor, Włodzimierz Sieradzki. During the First World War, the battle of Lvov and the war with Bolsheviks, many young physicians or doctors' sons took part in the warfare, displayed bravery and were honored with medals, and many of them were killed. Within the period between the world wars the atmosphere of patriotism was still enthusiastic. Subsequent years are hard to judge as the only material to be used to that end was mainly memoirs issued only in the People's Republic of Poland and these were to a large extent abridge by censorship. This also applies to the period of the Soviet occupation after the outbreak of the Second World War. The memoirs that depicted an open animosity towards the representatives of the Soviet authorities remained as typescripts and only today they are published, for instance the Memoirs of Neurosurgery Professor, Aleksander Domaszewicz.