Tender

Near Erlangen, German, about 1944. By the time this woman—a medical-school classmate of my Mom's—gave Mom this snapshot, the woman's husband had long departed for the Eastern Front.

Exchanging Portraits (Part 66)

Erlangen, Germany, 1946. This woman was one of my Mom's medical-school classmates.

Clinical Education

Erlangen, Germany, about 1946 or 1947. Mom remembers many medical-school clinics in the center of the college town.

Reminiscing

Suburban Chicago, June 1961. Mom and her medical-school roommate reconnect.

Castle Park

Erlangen, Germany, about 1946 or 1947. Here's another postcard Mom saved from her medical-school days. This is not the same park Mom frequented.

A University Street

Erlangen, Germany, about 1946 or 1947. This postcard features a scene from the medical-school campus.

"A Lady Physician of Medicine"

Brooklyn, New York, 1952. I described earlier—here and here—how some doubted Mom's medical training. Mom hired a lawyer to expedite receipt of her medical-school paperwork. Here's the transcript the university supplied when Mom applied for an Illinois license.

Exchanging Portraits (Part 54)

Erlangen, Germany, Spring 1946. Another classmate of Mom's passed along this memento.

Campus Memento

Erlangen, Germany, about 1946 or 1947. This postcard features an image of the building in which Mom attended anatomy class.

Exchanging Portraits (Part 51)

Erlangen, Germany, March 4, 1945. My Mom's classmate gave her this memento.

A Different Place

Australia, January 14, 1964. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, saved this photo of a pair of her relatives who settled in Australia. Many Displaced Persons landed there after World War II.

My Parents initially thought they, too, would settle in Australia. My Mom was reluctant to move there because at the time, Australia did not grant licenses to graduates of foreign medical schools. Mom and Dad therefore waited until they could sail to the United States. Once in Brooklyn, Mom had to wait some time before her diploma arrived from Erlangen. She even hired a lawyer to coordinate the transfer of her medical-school documents.

A Look Inside the Student Booklet

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Kaunas, Lithuania, 1940 to 1944. Here's the booklet my Dad's twin sister, Jonė, carried through medical and later dental school. The second column lists the university subject (example: "Fizika" is "Physics"). The third column states the number of hours spent on each subject during the week. The fourth and fifth columns present the professors' names and signatures for each subject. The sixth column provides the date the work (what we consider "credits," I think) was completed. The last column lists the date of the subjects' examinations, the grades (example: "l. gerai" is "very good"), and the professors' signatures.

Jonė's Student Booklet

Kaunas, Lithuania, September 16, 1939. This is the "Studies Booklet" my Dad's twin sister, Jonė, received when she enrolled in medical school. The outbreak of World War II interrupted her studies: the sentence added at the top of page indicates Jonė transferred from medical school to dental school in 1943.

Although the same university—Vytautas Magnus University—issued "Studies Booklets" for both Jonė and my Mom, Jonė's earlier version omits the warning about keeping the document clean.

Anatomy Class

Kaunas, Lithuania, 1940. Here's another image of my Dad's twin sister, Jonė, from the time she attended medical school. (I earlier posted a photo of my Mom's anatomy class.)

Thanks to my Toronto Cousin for making this photo available to us.

Share a Laugh

Erlangen Germany, 1946. My Mom and her medical-school roommate had a photographic day.

Exchanging Portraits (Part 13)

Kaunas, Lithuania, April 10, 1944. Mom's Brooklyn friend wrote, "Remember the better times, young doctor friend." The insignias, "Gedimino Stulpai," identify the uniform as a Lithuanian one.

The Soviets occupied Lithuania a few months later.

Aproned

Kaunas, Lithuania, about 1943. This is my Mom as a medical student. She sat for this photo around the time Vytautas Magnus University reopened after the first Soviet occupation.

Cheerful

Seligenstadt, Germany, about 1946. My Mom's friends light up for the camera.

Soon, the school year will begin.

Kaunas, Lithuania, about 1943. One of my Mom's medical-school classmates prepares her lessons.

A Sunny Saturday

Erlangen, Germany, about 1945. My Mom and her roommate step out and away from the books.