Lindsey Harris & The Amelia Greenwald Papers (Video)
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- [Music]
- Hello, I'm Lindsey Harris, a Ph.D.
- candidate in history
- at Tulane University.
- I'm currently researching
- and writing my dissertation
- on transnational nursing networks
- in the interwar period.
- During the COVID 19 pandemic,
- I came across a small collection
- within Tulane University
- Special Collections,
- which enabled me to investigate
- the role of multilingualism
- within the nursing profession
- in interwar Warsaw.
- This collection was the Amelia
- Greenwald Papers.
- It's composed of three boxes
- and contains documents
- in both English and Polish.
- Tulane University acquired
- the collection in 1989
- as a gift from Amelia Greenwald's
- cousin, Liselotte Levy Weil.
- Ms. Weil was a philanthropist
- and staple of the New Orleans
- Jewish community.
- Amelia Greenwald adopted
- Liselotte in 1939
- so the young girl could obtain a visa
- and escape Hitler's Germany.
- Naturally, this fascinating story
- caused the collection
- to receive a great deal
- of biographical attention in the 1990s.
- Yet, there remains a considerable
- amount of primary sources
- on nursing in interwar Europe,
- not only within this collection,
- but in other collections
- in the United States
- that require further inquiry.
- My dissertation sets out
- to show how nurses
- in a recovering post-imperial Europe,
- operated and carried out
- public health campaigns
- through transnational networks,
- which were forged by camaraderie
- during their service in the Great War.
- A chapter within my dissertation
- will focus on Warsaw, Poland
- and the Amelia Greenwald Papers.
- Based upon my research,
- I found that the bulk of the Amelia
- Greenwald Papers
- documents interwar Warsaw
- as a scientific center
- of Jewish professional life
- in the nursing and medical fields.
- As an independent state,
- Poland was at the center
- of a new post-imperial Europe
- and Warsaw was one of the
- nation's medical hubs.
- Partitioned no longer,
- the second Polish Republic
- was composed of substantial territory
- from the fallen Austrian, Prussian
- and Russian empires.
- Poland's central locality within Europe
- engulfed a postwar migratory wave
- following the Great War,
- the Bolshevik Revolution and subsequent
- civil wars within central
- and eastern Europe.
- The legacy of imperial partition
- combined with a postwar migratory
- wave created a multilingual landscape
- within the nursing and
- medical professions in Warsaw.
- One of the major questions I contemplated
- while looking at this collection was:
- What does the Jewish medical
- and nursing community's multilingualism
- in interwar Warsaw reveal to us?
- And why does it matter?
- To answer this question
- we have to look into
- why Amelia Greenwald was in Warsaw
- in the interwar years.
- Amelia Greenwald was a US nurse
- who completed her nursing degree
- at Touro Infirmary in New Orleans in 1908
- and then completed her
- postgraduate education in psychiatric
- nursing at the Phipps Clinic
- at Johns Hopkins.
- She served with the American
- Expeditionary Force during the Great War.
- Then in 1923, she was employed
- by the Joint Distribution Committee
- and given the assignment
- to establish a School of Nursing
- at Starozakonnych Hospital in Warsaw.
- The School of Nursing
- at Starozakonnych hospital,
- provided a first-class nursing education
- to young Jewish women in Warsaw.
- Documents within this collection discuss
- how Jewish women were not allowed
- to study with the Polish Red Cross.
- Through Greenwald's
- documentation of Warsaw,
- we see how antisemitism plagued
- Warsaw's Jewish community.
- The Starozakonnych Hospital
- or the New Order Jewish Hospital
- was the only hospital in Warsaw
- allowed to treat Jewish patients.
- Greenwald documents
- how Jewish patients are denied
- entry and medical care
- at Christian hospitals in Warsaw.
- Despite Warsaw's religious intolerance
- towards its Jewish population,
- the Starozakonnych
- Hospital was impressive.
- It housed eight medical
- pavilions and 1100 beds
- and it gained a nursing
- school on its grounds.
- Starozakonnych Hospital
- experienced a severe nurses' shortage
- following the Great War
- and the Polish-Soviet war.
- The JDC's goal was to increase
- the hospital's nursing staff
- and US nurse Amelia Greenwald
- was selected by the JDC
- to lead the project and serve
- as directress of the nursing school.
- However, she faced one
- major limitation.
- She did not speak Polish.
- Every task Greenwald took on
- whether it was securing the building
- permits for the school's renovation
- or lecturing to its new pupils,
- all was done through an interpreter.
- Greenwald's lack of language
- skills caused her to document
- the dynamic multilingualism
- by which the medical and nursing
- communities of interwar Warsaw studied
- and communicated.
- Russian, French and German
- were the preferred languages
- of nursing students, lecturers
- and doctors alike
- at Starozakonnych Hospital.
- Greenwald was shocked
- by what little Polish was spoken
- by the nursing students
- that she added a Polish language course
- to the curriculum.
- In reality,
- the nursing students had very little
- Polish language skills and preferred
- speaking and learning in Russian
- and reading medical texts
- in Russian, French and German.
- Greenwald was frustrated
- by their multilingualism
- as much as she admired it.
- She also feared that the School
- of Nursing at Starozakonnych
- Hospital would face reprimand
- from the Polish government.
- She disclosed, "You might get an idea
- of the "intricacy"
- of our teaching problem
- when I tell you that
- the Polish authorities are very sensitive
- about the languages used
- in their country,
- and especially in their schools.
- They pay much more attention to this
- than one would believe.
- German and Russian
- seem to be the languages best known
- and most condemned here.
- Naturally, the Polish Government
- insists that Polish be used,
- though there are vast
- numbers of Polish citizens
- who can't speak that language
- because neither the Russians
- nor the Germans permitted its use
- when they were in power here.
- (and that was most of
- the time, till 1918).
- Most of our students speak Russian,
- and but few of them know
- any Polish at all."
- Greenwald also concealed
- from the Polish government
- that courses were primarily
- given in Russian and German.
- She wrote, "...it is like waving
- a red flag in the face of a bull
- to let them hear lectures
- or classes given in Russian
- or German, therefore
- when any of the Government
- officials visit us,
- as they occasionally do,
- we have to find an excuse
- to discontinue class."
- What does this tell us
- about interwar Poland?
- We are not only seeing
- the legacy of imperial partition
- within the territory
- that composed independent Poland,
- but also a disconnect
- between the Polish government's
- nationalizing sentiments
- and the cosmopolitanism
- exhibited by Jewish professionals
- in the nursing and medical fields
- in interwar Warsaw.
- This cosmopolitan spirit
- among nursing and medical professionals
- in interwar central and eastern Europe
- showcased a desire for greater
- scientific collaboration
- across national boundaries
- in an increasingly totalitarian
- political environment.
- Researching the Amelia Greenwald papers
- within Tulane University
- Special Collections has provided me
- with the foundation for my dissertation
- as I set out
- to investigate its connection
- with other collections
- in the United States and Europe
- on nurses in the interwar period.
- [Music]