The Malta Hospital was a military hospital established by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in the in Warsaw, Poland. Opened on 7 September 1939, it operated during the 1939 defense of Warsaw, the German occupation, and the Warsaw Uprising. The hospital was evacuated and burned down by German forces on 14 September 1944.
The hospital was established by the Polish Sovereign Military Order of Malta during the defense of Warsaw amid the bombardments of the city, including its hospitals. Agreements with the International Red Cross and the Polish Red Cross allowed the hospital to operate under the Geneva Conventions and use the Polish Red Cross logo and the flag of the Order of St. John. It functioned as a branch of the Ujazdów Hospital.
The at 40 , then occupied by the , was chosen as the hospital's site. Lieutenant Stanisà Âaw Milewski-Lipkowski was appointed commandant, with Roman Chà Âapowski as deputy and Colonel Doctor Adam Huszcza as chief physician. Magdalena Lipkowska served as head nurse.
The hospital admitted its first patients on the evening of 7 September 1939, made possible by Warsaw residents who donated beds, linens, and equipment. On 8 September, the still-organizing hospital was bombed by the Luftwaffe.
During the defense of Warsaw, the number of patients quickly increased (to around 300 by the end of September). Up until the city's capitulation on 28 September 1939, they were mainly victims of Luftwaffe air raids. The wounded were placed in the Mniszech Palace and in neighboring buildings, including the Zamoyski Palace, which belonged to the Zamoyski family entail. After the capitulation of Warsaw, the hospital was classified as a military hospital, maintained â in accordance with the Geneva Convention â by the victorious side (civilian patients were ordered to be transferred to other hospitals). The number of beds was reduced to 190 (mainly for traumatology; the hospital had a well-equipped operating room, located in a shelter in the adjacent building of the Landau Bank). The hospital pharmacy was also located in the bank building. The position of chief physician was held (in succession) by Colonel Julian Szymaà Âski and Captain Doctor . The staff apartments for doctors, nurses, and hospital personnel were located in tenement houses forming the eastern frontage of the square in front of the Mniszech Palace.
The hospital staff cooperated with the Polish Underground State. They admitted wounded participants of the Union of Armed Struggle-Home Army operations, including those involved in the assassination attempt on Kutschera. They provided assistance to Jews and others threatened with arrest, and conducted medical courses for the needs of emerging clandestine military units. An important and difficult task for the hospital staff was also securing supplies of medicines and food.
Malta Hospital was also prepared to provide medical services during the Warsaw Uprising. The hospital staff also referred to their facility as "Maltaà Âczyk".
At the outbreak of the uprising, the Old Town area had two stationary hospitals: the Malta Hospital and the . The head of medical services for the Póà Ânoc Group was Major , codenamed Skiba.
Malta Hospital was located between German facilities in the Saxon Garden, the Wehrmacht command on Theatre Square, and the insurgent Old Town. After the fighting began, the hospital initially admitted mainly wounded Germans, while in the following days the number of wounded insurgents increased. The opinion of the wounded Germans about the medical care they received probably influenced the fate of the Poles after the hospital was taken over by a company from the SS-Sonderregiment Dirlewanger.
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Subsequently, the hospital staff operated at 17 Zgoda Street (burned down on 4 September) and 17 .
After the capitulation of the uprising, the Malta Hospital was relocated to Piastów as a civilian hospital. It operated in the buildings of the Tudor battery factory. After the war ended, the hospital was under the Polish Red Cross.
It was supported, among others, by the city president , the garrison commander Lieutenant Colonel Kondratowicz, Father , and the Main Board and Branch Board of the Polish Red Cross. Dr. Jerzy Dreyza was the head of the Internal Medicine Department. The facility was closed in 1949.
On 7 September 1989, the 50th anniversary of the hospital's founding, a commemorative plaque was unveiled on the front wall of the Embassy of Belgium in Warsaw at 34 Senatorska Street. The ceremony was attended by the Belgian ambassador, Baron Thierry de Gruben, members of Prince Janusz Radziwià Âà Â's family, and former hospital staff.