Requiescat In Pace: Wanda Poltawska

A giant has left us too soon at the age of 102.  Wanda Poltawska was arrested by the Nazi occupiers of Poland in 1941 for aiding the Polish resistance.  She survived four years at Ravensbruck concentration camp during which she was used as a guinea pig by the Nazis in some of their human medical experiments.  She was determined that she would survive it all and after the War become a physician.  She wrote about her experiences:  And I Am Afraid of My Dreams, her book being a major source on Ravensbruck.  After the War she married, had four children and became a psychiatrist.  She did groundbreaking work looking at children who had survived the concentration camps.  She was a close friend and collaborator of Pope John Paul II and would speak to him daily by phone.  The Pope called her his sister.

She organized the Institute of Family Theology at the Pontifical Academy of Theology at Cracow and managed it for 33 years.

In 1962 she told Bishop Wojtyla that she was ill with terminal cancer and had 18 months to live.  He asked Padre Pio to pray for her and the cancer miraculously disappeared.

An astonishing life.  I envy her the exit interview she had with Jesus.