A noted psychiatrist and devout Roman Catholic, Półtawska was an indefatigable promoter of family values and anti-abortion activist.
During World War II, Półtawska endured the horrors of the Nazi German concentration camp in Ravensbrück, where she was subjected to cruel medical experiments. After the war, she married and had four children.
She is said to have experienced a medically inexplicable recovery from cancer after Wojtyła, a bishop in Kraków at the time, requested the prayers of Padre Pio, a stigmatized Italian priest who has since been canonized as a Catholic saint.
Until her 90s, Półtawska travelled around Poland giving lectures on John Paul II’s teachings on the family.
In 2008, she published a book containing her personal notes and reflections about her conversations with Wojtyła and a selection of letters to and from the Polish-born pope.
She authored almost 400 publications on psychiatry, the protection of unborn life, marriage and family.
Her honours included the Order of the White Eagle, the highest Polish state distinction, the Commander’s Cross of the Papal Order of St. Gregory the Great, as well as honorary citizenships of several Polish towns.
Półtawska’s extraordinary life was the subject of Duśka, a documentary by Polish director Wanda Różycka-Zborowska.
(mk/gs)