Siegmund Hadda (1882-1977) The Last Head-Surgeon Chief-Surgeon of the Jewish Hospital in Wrocław

Abstract

In 1760, the Wroclaw Chewra Kadisza (Sacred Brotherhood) organized a small hospital, called Hekdesz. Modern hospitals in Jewish communities are model after the Hekdesz throughout Europe. The hospital served as a charity institution and aided in the clinical treatment of patients. These patients were treated by one physician with an academic education and one “barber,” who performed the surgical procedures. Based on the structure and form of existing philanthropic organizations in the Jewish community, a modern health care system, consistent with the time, was formed at the beginning of the XIXth century in Wroclaw. The classical Hekdesz (ultimum refugium) was replaced by a modern hospital, which only focused on patient treatment, a change prompted by the emancipation of the Jewish Enlightenment-Haskali. The first Jewish hospital in Wroclaw was localized at Wallstrase street (currently known as -Wlodkowica street). Based on different sources, the above-mentioned was a massive, three-story building. The first floor was comprised of 20 beds in three rooms for curable patients. Subjects with psychotic disturbances were isolated in one of the rooms localized in the attic of the building. Soon, the hospital became over-crowded and the chairman of the Wroclaw Chewra Kadisz requested a separate building for psychotic (melancholic) patients, which would be localized on the grounds of the Jewish cemetery (Ohlauer Vorstadt). In spite of numerous complaints from physicians, due POLSKI PRZEGLĄD CHIRURGICZNY 10.2478/v10035-007-0037-3 2007, 79, 3, 256–262