Joanna Muszkowska-Penson

Joanna Helena Muszkowska-Penson (1921– 2023) was a Polish doctor and academic teacher, professor of medical sciences, opposition activist during the Polish People's Republic and close associate of anti-communist leader and future Polish president Lech Wałęsa.

Biography Joanna Helena Muszkowska-Penson was born in 1921 in Warsaw, and Janina Muszkowska. In 1939, she graduated from Queen Jadwiga Secondary School No. 10 in Warsaw and in 1940 she became a soldier Union of Armed Struggle in Warsaw. In 1941 she was apprehended and placed in Pawiak Prison, in September of that year, she was imprisoned in the German concentration camp Ravensbrück, from which she was freed in April 1945.

In 1950, she graduated from Medical University of Łódż. In 1961, she obtained her doctorate, and in 1971, she obtained her postdoctoral degree. From 1950 to 1980 employed at the Kidney Disease Clinic of the Medical University of Gdańsk, then until 1991 at the provincial hospital, where she held the position of head of the internal medicine department. On the 14 April 1984 and she was buried on the 7 July 2023 at the Srebrzysko cemetery in Gdańsk.

Medals and Awards

Medal for Distinguished Service to the Medical Academy in Gdańsk (1980) Honorary citizen of Gdańsk (2018)

Legacy Joanna Helena Muszkowska-Penson's image appears on the 2019 ‘Women of Freedom’ mural at the PKM Strzyża station in Gdańsk.

In 2021, a commemorative plaque dedicated to Joanna Muszkowska-Penson was unveiled at her former home at 29 Tuwima Street in Gdańsk.