Bernard Bornstein (1900-1977): His life and contribution to Polish and Israeli neurology.

Bernard Bornstein (1900-1975) was one of a few Polish-Jewish neurologists who escaped the tragic fate of Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland. Educated at the University of Vienna and practicing until the war in Cracow, Bornstein in his scientific work dealt comprehensively with various neurological topics, bringing to Israeli medicine the best of pre-War European neurological diagnostics and combining them with the latest achievements of genetics. He was a teacher of many prominent Israeli neurologists. On the basis of previously unknown archival sources, the fate of Bornstein and his family during World War II was reconstructed.

The scientific path of Jakub Frostig in the light of his correspondence with the leading representatives of world psychiatry - from psychoanalysis and phenomenological approach to biological psychiatry. Part 1. Towards psychoanalysis and phenomenological approach. / Droga naukowa Jakuba Frostiga w swietle jego korespondencji z czolowymi przedstawicielami psychiatrii swiatowej ­ od psychoanalizy i podejscia fenomenologicznego do psychiatrii biologicznej. Czesc 1. Ku psychoanalizie i podejsciu fenomenologicznemu.

Jakub Frostig (1896-1959) was one of the most active Polish psychiatrists of the interwar period, with broad scientific interests, maintaining close scientific contacts with the leading specialists of world psychiatry, from the German -and English-language areas. This aspect of his activity is presented in the two-part publication based on new sources, which have never been used before, especially on the correspondence with Ludwig Binswanger (1881-1966), Max Müller (1894-1980) and Adolf Meyer (1866-1955), spanning several years. In addition, the German-language work of the psychiatrist and its reception in this language area are described in more detail for the first time. The first part of the article discusses the little known participation of Frostig in the Polish psychoanalytic movement and his attempts to popularize psychoanalysis in Lviv in the 1920s, as well as the philosophical inspirations of his work from the early period of his scientific activity. Frostig's ambitions and chances for a scientific career did not always go hand in hand. The work presents the causes of these discrepancies, which limited his career in the period before and after his emigration to the United States in 1938.

The scientific path of Jakub Frostig in the light of his correspondence with the leading representatives of world psychiatry - from psychoanalysis and phenomenological approach to biological psychiatry. Part 2. Towards biological psychiatry. / Droga naukowa Jakuba Frostiga w swietle jego korespondencji z czolowymi przedstawicielami psychiatrii swiatowej ­ od psychoanalizy i podejscia fenomenologicznego do psychiatrii biologicznej. Czesc 2. W strone psychiatrii biologicznej.

In the second part of the article devoted to Jakub Frostig (1896-1959), his research from the 1930s on insulin coma treatment is presented in a broader context. Frostig began his research in the psychiatric hospital Zofiówka in Otwock and continued after his emigration to the United States. Thanks to new sources, we managed to determine the reasons underlying Frostig's departure from Poland. At the end of the 1930s, the issue of emigration became a necessity for him, saving his life and his family. Frostig was well aware of the political atmosphere at the time and the threats that followed. The inability to make a scientific career in Poland was the first impulse to look for a job abroad. After taking over the post of director of Zofiówka in 1933, this factor ceased to be decisive. The feeling of danger born on the wave of European anti-Semitism, especially in Germany, after Hitler came to power, came to the fore. Efforts to obtain awork permit in Switzerland and Australia proved unsuccessful. Eventually, just before the outbreak of World War II, Frostig managed to emigrate to the USA, where he concentrated on popularizing the treatment of psychiatric disorders with insulin comas in the local psychiatric environment. He did not accomplish a scientific career in the USA as he intended. His life story came full circle, and just as in the first years of his professional career in Lviv, he was forced to switch to a private practice. Despite the difficulties mentioned above, Frostig played a significant role in Polish psychiatry and greatly contributed to its development.

Oskar Kobylinski (1856-1926) and the first description of Noonan syndrome in the medical literature.

While a student of University in Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia) Oskar Kobylinski published an article reporting on his 22-year-old patient Leisar Eischikmann, who suffered from a congenital deformity of the neck. Kobylinski described this rare anomaly and called it "flüghautige Verbreitung des Halses" (wing-like extension of the neck). It was only in 1902 when the name pterygium colli was introduced, and it has been in use ever since. This malformation is part of some congenital syndromes, most prominently, Turner syndrome and, more rarely, of Noonan syndrome. As Opitz et al. pointed out, the patient described in the 1883 article from Archiv für Anthropologie is probably the first person with Noonan syndrome to have been pictured in the medical literature. The article was signed only by "O. v. Kobylinski, student of medicine." Further archival research was needed to identify this physician and provide more details about his unusual career.

Rafal Becker: psychiatrist, eugenist, Zionist.

In the interwar period the eugenic ideas gained the status of a scientific theory and become attractive to a wide range of physicians. Among them were doctors of Jewish origin who perceived eugenics as a tool in the fight for biological rebirth of the Jewish nation. Polish-Jewish psychiatrist Raphael Becker (1891-1939?), the author of dozens of scientific papers, was the most famous eugenist among Jewish psychiatrists, not only in Poland but also in Europe. After graduation in medicine at the University in Zurich and training in the psychiatry clinic Burghölzli under the guidance of Eugen Bleuler, Rafal Becker became interested in the question of epidemiology of mental disorders among the Jews. In the interwar period, dealing with the statistics of mental disorders among Polish Jews, and directing a psychiatric hospital "Zofiówka" in Otwock, he significantly contributed to the development of medical care for the mentally ill Jews in Poland. Becker's scientific ideas were greatly influenced by the work of Alfred Adler and Ernst Kretschmer. The article presents the life and scientific achievements of Becker, with particular emphasis on his views on eugenics.

[Maurycy Urstein: forgotten Polish contributor to German psychiatry]. / Maurycy Urstein: zapomniany polski wspóltwórca niemieckiej psychiatrii.

Polish psychiatrist Maurycy Urstein (1872-1940) is nowadays almost forgotten. He is not mentioned in the history of Polish psychiatry which only partially may be explained by the fact that his most essential works were published in German language. His scientific oeuvre contains dozens of publications, including four monographs on catatonia. Urstein was an ardent advocate of the autointoxication theory of psychiatric disorders, fierce opponent of psychoanalysis and enthusiast of the use of biological methods of treatment in psychiatry. Both some eccentric views and specific personality probably equally contributed to his almost complete isolation among psychiatrists in the interwar Poland.

[Leon Daraszkiewicz and his monograph on hebephrenia]. / Leon Daraszkiewicz i jego monografia o hebefrenii.

Leon Daraszkiewicz (1866-1931) was a Polish psychiatrist, a pupil and co-worker of E. Kraepelin and V. Tsiz on the University of Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia), the author of highly regarded monograph on hebephrenia (1891). In his work on the basis of over 20 case histories, he described a natural history of hebephrenia and his own views on its aetiology and prognosis. Hebephrenia as described by Daraszkiewicz, served as a clinical model for the Kraepelinian concept of dementia praecox. In the article, the life and career of Daraszkiewicz is covered, with particular emphasis on the role of his doctoral dissertation on hebephrenia in the history of the concept of schizophrenia.