[The Polish Paderewski Hospital in Edinburgh]

On 22 March 1941 the Polish School of Medicine was established at the University of Edinburgh for soldier students in the Polish Forces. Six months later the Polish Paderewski Hospital was opened at the Western General Hospital in a building offered by the Edinburgh City Council. It was meant for Polish soldiers and civilians for the time of war. The moving force behind these events was Professor Jurasz, the organiser and dean of the Polish School of Medicine. He was made the superintendant of the Paderewski Hospital. The hospital was also a teaching hospital for the Polish students. The Hospital was very well equipped thanks to the financial aid coming from the Paderewski Fund in New York. The peak activity of the hospital was in 1944/45 with the invasion of Europe and still more after the end of the war when tens of thousands of Polish soldiers arrived from Italy and the Middle East to Gr. Britain for demobilisation. The hospital was closed down at the end of 1947. It had been planned that a new Medical School would be set up in Poland after the war, based on the Polish School of Medicine in Edinburgh and the Paderewski Hospital. The post-war political changes in Eastern Europe with enforced communism in Poland prevented the realisation of these plans.