The Autobiography of Frances Dworecki

We are honored to be given the privilege of posting the life story of Dr. Frances Dworecki, who was born in Lida, grew up there, survived the Holocaust, and eventually came to the US.


By Frances Dworecki, M.D.

Chapter 1 - family background and early childhood
Chapter 2 - The difficult years 1927-30; description of the summer vacation villages Niemen, Novojelnia and Druskieniki
Chapter 3 - Father established as stomatologist; end of high school, start of university
Chapter 4 - A trip across Europe on the eve of WWII, year of medical school in France
Chapter 5 - Summer 1939; antisemitic outbreaks in Poland
Chapter 6 - September 1939; the German invasion & Soviet take-over
Chapter 7 - Life under the Soviets;  refugees flee to Lida, people leave secretly
Chapter 8 - early 1940: Father arrested & sent to Gulag; daughters apply to medical school
Chapter 9 - 1940: medical school in Minsk
Chapter 10 - Germany invades Russia.  June 21, 1940:  Minsk bombed, the sisters flee east
Chapter 11 - Arrival in Kazakhstan, life on a collective farm, Father freed from Gulag in amnesty, elects to stay
Chapter 12 - Father sends for daughters, who receive permit to travel.  A 1941 letter from their mother
Chapter 13 - the trip north to Izma Gulag
Chapter 14 - 1941-1942; Life in Izma Gulag; Sam
Chapter 15 - the sisters resume medical school in Yaroslavl
Chapter 16 - 1943-1944; the year in medical school; summer vacation
Chapter 17 - 1944-46; transfer to medical school in Tashkent & move there; sister Ella marries, family prepares return to Poland
Chapter 18 - the trip back to Poland
Chapter 19 - Marriage, settling in Krakow, completing studies, births of children, life in Poland
Chapter 20 - 1957: Death of Father
Chapter 21 - Leaving Poland
Chapter 22 - the trip to France, life in France
Chapter 23 - 1958; trip to Israel
Chapter 24 - arrival in US, training in order to obtain MD license in US
Chapter 25 -  life in the US to 1983

Map  of the places mentioned in the work.  The underlying map is courtesy of the Perry-Castaneda Collection at the University of Texas.  Places mentioned & already on the map have had their initial letters colored green.  Green dots label other places.  Because this map lacks a latitude & longitude grid, positions are only approximate.  To locate them more accurately on other maps, there's a table of latitude & longitude for the smaller places.

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copyright 2002, Frances Dworecki M. D.
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