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Mark Dvorzhetski

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Mark Dvorzhetski
מרק דבורז'צקי
Dr Mark Dvorzhetski and others at the opening of the Ninth Conference of the Association of War Invalids against Nazism, Tel-Aviv, Beit-Tavori. Dr Dvorzhetski in the center.
Dr Mark Dvorzhetski and others at the opening of the Ninth Conference of the Association of War Invalids against Nazism, Tel-Aviv, Beit-Tavori. Dr Dvorzhetski in the center.
Born(1908-05-03)3 May 1908
Vilnius, Lithuania, Russian Empire
Died15 March 1975(1975-03-15) (aged 66)
Israel
OccupationSocial historian, physician
LanguageHebrew Yiddish
CitizenshipIsraeli
Notable awardsIsrael Prize (1953)

Mark Dvorzhetski (Hebrew: מרק דבורז'צקי; 3 May 1908 – 15 March 1975) was an Israeli physician, historian and Holocaust survivor.

Biography

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Mark Dvortzhetski was born in Vilnius (Vilna), Lithuania (at the time part of the Russian Empire).[1] He received his education in Vilnius (Polish: Wilno) during the interwar period, when the city was part of the Second Polish Republic. He completed a medical degree there in 1935, and received a rabbinical diploma in 1938.[1]

At the beginning of the Second World War, in September 1939, Dvorzhetski was drafted into the Polish army as a medical officer.[2] After being taken prisoner by the Germans, he escaped and returned to Vilna.[1][2]

Under the German occupation of the city, he lived in the Vilna Ghetto (established in September 1941), working in the Jewish hospital.[2] In September 1943 he was deported with other physicians to forced labor in Estonia; his wife, Miriam, and his sister, who volunteered to go with him, perished on the journey there.[2] He worked in the Vaivara concentration camp in Estonia until the fall 1944,[2] when he was transferred to concentration camps in Germany.[1][2] In 1945 during a death march toward Dachau, he managed to escape into the forest with other Jewish internees, and was subsequently liberated by the French army.[1][2]

After the war, Dvorzhetski lived in Paris, before immigrating to Israel, in November 1949.[2]

He authored a number of books on the Holocaust, in particular with reference to the Baltic States and the medical profession.

Awards and recognition

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  • In 1953, Dvorzhetski was awarded the Israel Prize, for social sciences,[3] the inaugural year of the prize.

Published works

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  • Between the Pieces - an autobiography
  • Yerusholaym de-Lita in kamf un umkum. Zikhroynes fun Vilner Geto [Lutte et chute de la Jérusalem-de-Lithuanie. Histoire du Ghetto de Vilna], Paris, L’Union Populaire Juive en France 1948 (Jerusalem of Lithuania in Revolt and in the Holocaust – History of the Vilna Ghetto and the Resistance Movement)
  • Europe without Children: Nazi Plans for Biological Destruction
  • The Jewish Camps in Estonia
  • Hirshke Glik, Paris 1966 [4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Rivlin, Benjamin (2007). "Dvortzetsky, Mark Meir." Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2nd ed. Macmillan Reference USA. Vol. 6, p. 74. Retrieved via Gale eBooks database. Also available via Encyclopedia.com.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Hemstreet, Deborah E.; Weisz George M. (31 July 2023). "Remembering Dr Mark/Meir Dvorjetski: Physician, Survivor, Teacher, Historian, and Pioneer of Shoah Medicine Research". Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal. vol. 14(3):e0018. doi:10.5041/RMMJ.10505.
  3. ^ "Israel Prize recipients in 1953 (in Hebrew)". Israel Prize Official Site. Archived from the original on 19 August 2011.
  4. ^ Music from the Holocaust Archived 2011-05-14 at the Wayback Machine