Jan Biziel

Jan Biziel (1858–1934) was a German and Polish physician, social activist, city councilor of Bydgoszcz. He was designated "Honorary Citizen of Bydgoszcz" in 1930.

Biography Jan Łukasz Biziel was born on 12 October 1858 in Osieczna, Leszno County. He was the son of Rozalia née Pajkert and Franciszek Biziel, a farmer. He was the younger son of a very large family, having 4 brothers and 6 sisters. He attended the gymnasium in Leszno from 1872 to 1879, then he studied medicine at Leipzig's and Greifswald's universities.

He started his medical practice in Chełmno: there he gained experience in the field of medical knowledge and perfected his practice. In particular he worked under the attention of Ludwik Rydygier, the famous Polish surgeon who later became professor at the Jagiellonian University of Kraków. Leaving Chełmno, he spent the next five years in Krzywiń, hometown of his wife Maria.

In 1902, they moved to Wrocław where Jan worked for four years at the hospital: their third daughter was born there. Finally, on 28 March 1906, the Biziel family moved to Bromberg, living at 3 Cieszkowskiego street. The Biziel's later purchased a house at May 3 street (Nr.8), which Pelagia, one of their daughter, kept till after WWII. As such, he had been representing the Polish residents of Bydgoszcz to the discussion with partitioning authorities.

During the fights following the Greater Poland uprising, while working at the garrison hospital at 11 Jagiellońska street, Dr. Biziel treated and operated the wounded insurgents, in hospitals but also in private homes. He succeeded in having secretly transferred out of hospital Polish soldiers facing death penalty for desertion from the Prussian army, by issuing false documents to allow them to reach safe houses. At the ceremony of transfer of authority from German to Polish rule which took place on the Old Market square on 19 January 1920, Jan Biziel was one of the Polish representatives,

Family Jan Biziel was married to Maria Ludwika née Badeltów, a teacher from Krzywin. Maria was the daughter of Paweł Badelt, very active in his city. He founded the first pharmacy of Krzywin (on 11 March 1870), co-founded the "People's Bank" in Krzywin and chaired the "Strzelce's Fowler Brotherhood" of the town. He died in 1901.

They had three daughters: the "Craftsmen Association" ; the "Society of Polish-Catholic Workers" as an honorary member. He was also active at the parish of the St. Martin and Nicholas cathedral. His own house at 3 Cieszkowskiego street became a center of social welfare and patriotism. On his initiative, a bookshop promoting Polish language was established in Bromberg at the end of 1911, at the crossing of today's Mostowa and Jagiellońska streets.

Honors He was awarded Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta on 2 May 1922; In January 1930, the Bydgoszcz municipality adopted a resolution nominating Jan Biziel as an Honorary Citizen of Bydgoszcz, for outstanding social services to the benefit of Polish citizens of the city. The ceremony was held on 19 January 1930, the 10th anniversary Bydgoszcz re-joining the motherland. The city commendation mentioned: "For several dozen years he devoted himself tirelessly to social work in various organizations in our city." A street on Bydgoszcz, in "Wzgórze Wolności" district has been named after him. Since 1992, Dr. Jan Biziel is the patron the Provincial Hospital of Bydgoszcz ("Szpital Uniwersytecki nr 2 im. dr. Jana Biziela"). In 1999, a commemorative plaque has been unveiled at 3 Cieszkowskiego street, Biziel's house in Bygoszcz. In June 2014, another commemorative plaque has been placed on the wall of the tenement at 12 Długa Street, to remember that during the Greater Poland uprising, the premises (then owned by Stanislaw Stryszyk) housed an infirmary for the wounded insurgents tended with the heroic help of Dr. Jan Biziel.

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