Her death was confirmed by her grandson Chris Dadak.
The pope’s friendship with Dr. Poltawska (pronounced pole-DUS-ka), a married Roman Catholic with four grown daughters, was largely unknown until 2009, four years after John Paul’s death, when she revealed details of it in a memoir.
They had exchanged letters and visits for almost a half-century, she wrote, starting in 1956 in Krakow, Poland, where she had begun a psychiatric practice and where the future pontiff was a dynamic young parish priest, the Rev.
There, Dr. Poltawska told Father Wojtyla of the burdens she had borne for years as a victim of gruesome medical experiments performed on her and other women in the concentration camp at Ravensbrück, Germany.
Their exchange led to further consultations and, over time, a bond that would extend from Poland to the Vatican.
Persons:
Wanda Poltawska, Pope John Paul II, Chris Dadak, Poltawska, John Paul’s, Karol Wojtyla, Father Wojtyla
Organizations:
Roman Catholic
Locations:
Polish, Krakow, Poland, Ravensbrück, Germany