Most women who were pregnant in the camp were simply excecuted, while the Jewish babies who were born anyway were considered stillborn and murdered. Disgusted by this process, Leszczyńska decided to disobey orders and do things her own way. She was determined to deliver newborns and save as many as she could from being brutally murdered. Assisted by her daughter and other prisoners, she delivered and saved over 3,000 babies during her two years at Auschwitz.
If a baby wasn't murdered immediately, it was often "kidnapped" and given to Nazi couples as "Aryan" babies. Leszczyńska worked as hard as she could to protect the newborns she delivered. She tried to tattoo babies before they were taken so they could eventually be reunited with their true mothers. However, some women chose to murder their own babies before handing them over to Nazis.
A very limited amount of newborns were allowed to live (usually non-Jewish babies or very carefully selected Jewish babies), but they would die within a few weeks due to the terrible conditions at Auschwitz.
After the war, Leszczyńska returned to her home town and continued her work as a midwife. Her husband died in the war, but all of her children went on to become physicians. Leszczyńska didn't like to talk about her work at Auschwitz, but most people in Poland praised her.
Stanisława Leszczyńska was one of the few women who rose in opposition to the Nazis, and it was for her heroic and relentless work to save newborns that she was nicknamed "Mother."
Sources:
https://www.businessinsider.com/21-rare-and-weird-facts-about-world-war-2-2015-8#4-more-us-servicemen-died-in-the-air-corps-that-the-marine-corps-4
https://www.history.com/news/auschwitz-midwife-stanislawa-leszczynska-saint
https://www.argunners.com/stanislawa-leszczynska-saved-3000/
Leszczyńska is truly a hero, as she risked her own safety to save so many lives. While some pregnant women were lured into gas chambers and murdered at the camp, others were subject to the human experiments of the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele (he was especially interested in twin experiments, which often involved mothers as well). Despite this, brave medics and midwives like Leszczyńska sought to help these women survive their incarceration. In addition to Leszczyńska, Gisella Perl was a Jewish gynecologist who performed emergency abortions behind Dr. Mengele's back to save women from being subject to his cruel experiments. In their own ways, Leszczyńska, Perl, and many other brave women led a secret resistance against the Nazis, even under seemingly hopeless circumstances.
ReplyDeleteSource:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6204995/How-Polish-midwife-Jewish-gynaecologist-helped-save-lives-thousands-women.html