Gisela Januszewska

Gisela Januszewska (also known by surnames Kuhn, Rosenfeld and Roda; 22 January 1867 – 2 March 1943) was an Austrian physician. Having earned her degree in Switzerland, she briefly worked in Germany before becoming the first female physician in the ethnically Serbian town of Banja Luka in Bosnia Herzegovina within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. She received the highest decorations for her service during the First World War and social activism in Austria afterwards, but was deported to a Nazi concentration camp, where she died, during the Second World War.

Early life and education

Gisela Januszewska was born on 22 January 1867 in the Moravian village of Drnovice, then part of Austria-Hungary and now in the Czech Republic.

Career Having gained her first experience in the obstetrics volunteering at the Women's Hospital in Zürich, Januszewska moved in June 1898 to Remscheid, German Empire, and became an insurance doctor for Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse.

During her career in Banja Luka, Januszewska was one of few physicians who strove to ensure that Bosnian Muslim women had proper access to healthcare.