Marie Zakrzewska

Marie Elizabeth Zakrzewska
Born	6 September 1829
Died	12 May 1902 (aged 72)

Marie Elisabeth Zakrzewska (6 September 1829 – 12 May 1902) was a Polish physician who made her name as a pioneering female doctor in the United States. As a Berlin native, she found great interest in medicine after assisting her mother, who worked as a midwife. Best known for the establishment of the New England Hospital for Women and Children, she opened doors to many women who were interested in the medical field and provided them with hands-on learning opportunities. Within The New England Hospital, she established the first general training school for nurses in America. Her drive and perseverance made the idea of women in medicine less daunting.

During the final partition of Poland, Ludwig Martin Zakrzewski and his wife, Caroline Fredericke Wilhelmina Urban, fled to Berlin, Germany, after losing much of his land to the Russian power. After settling into their new life in Germany, Marie Elizabeth was born on September 6, 1829. She was the eldest of six children. Marie Zakrzewska was a bright child and excelled during grade school. Here she exhibited traits that portrayer her as an exceptional student. Her teachers would applaud her for her great successes in school. However, her father did not plan on allowing her to continue in school past the years of acquiring basic skills. Zakrzewska left school at the age thirteen.

After moving to Berlin, Ludwig Zakrzewski first worked as an army official and then as a government official in later years. When he lost his position in the government, he was forced back into the army, reducing his family to poverty. In the years of crisis, Marie’s mother enrolled in the government school of midwives in Berlin. Once her mother’s practice became successful, Marie accompanied her as she made rounds to her patients. Zakrzewska learned novel lessons and kept a record of these experiences in her diary. She read any medicinal book that she could get her hands on. Zakrzewska became increasingly interested in the field of nursing and eventually decided to become a midwife.

Zakrzewska applied for admission to the government midwifery school, Royal Charité Hospital in Berlin. She applied at age nineteen and again at twenty, only to be repeatedly rejected. Dr. Joseph Schmidt, a professor at the school, was impressed with her persistence. He was also fascinated with Zakrsewska as he watched her work with her mother. After several applications, Zakrzewska was admitted into the midwifery school when Dr. Schmidt secured her a spot. She was the youngest female to attend the school, which made her highly visible in the classroom. Regardless of the obstacles that came in her way, she outperformed her fellow classmates and graduated from the program in 1851. Dr. Schmidt was so impressed with Zakrzewska’s success that he attempted to appoint her a chief midwife with the rank as a professor at the college. No woman had ever held this position and debates arose surrounding this appointment. Many believed that because men would surround her, she would fall in love, thus ending her career. Despite the challenges, Zakrzewska was appointed to the position at age twenty-two. She was responsible for more than two hundred students, men included. Zakrzewska’s mentor died only a few hours after she assumed the position. Without Dr. Schmidt supporting her role as chief midwife, protests led to her early dismissal after only six months in the position.

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