I love this statue of Józef
#Dietl by Xawery
#Dunikowski, an outstanding
#sculptor, a murderer (but less talented), and a prisoner of
#Auschwitz.
Józef Dietl was born on January 24, 1804 in Podbuże, eastern
#Galicia. He was the son of Franz Dietl, an Austrian, and Anna, née Kulczycka, a Polish noblewoman. He studied philosophy in
#Lemberg [Pol: Lwów, Ukr: Lviv) and medicine in
#Vienna, and remained faithful to
#medicine. He settled in
#Krakow, where he took the position of professor and head of the Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Clinic at
#Jagiellonian #University. From 1861 to 1865 he was its rector. He was removed from his post and expelled from the university by Vienna for supporting Krakow's aspirations for full autonomy. Dietl created a new branch of medicine, namely
#balneology. Among his publications a treatise on
#typhus is notable(*). From 1866 to 1874 Dietl was the
#mayor of Krakow. He proved to be an outstanding steward of the city, and the people of Krakow unvaryingly keep him in grateful memory.
(*) I mentioned this very Dietl's thesis because the final solution to the epidemic typhus problem was the work of another Pole of choice, namely Rudolf
#Weigl (* September 2, 1883, Przerow,
#Czechia - # August 11, 1957, Zakopane,
#Poland). It was Weigl who created the first effective
#vaccine against this fatal illness and he was twice nominated for the
#Nobel Prize. The first time the award was blocked by Nazi Germany and the second time by Soviet Russia.