Marie Warschawsky manuscript

The Marie Warschawsky manuscript consists of one bound copy of handwritten testimony and copies of personal documents and photographs relating to the life of Marie Warschawsky (Maroussia, 1881-1964). It relates Warschawsky’s upbringing in Russia among the Jewish upper middle class close to the Tsar’s court, her travel in France and interest in fashion, and her creation of a workshop in Saint Petersbourg to make luxury dresses. The document outlines her nursing education and career, her conversion of the family dacha into a hospital during the Russo-Japanese War, her work at the hospital in Tsarskoié-Selo for children suffering from bone tuberculosis, and her organization of the Maternal and Child Protection Center of Vassiliewsky-Ostrov, the first milk dispensary in Russia to help mothers in difficulty. The manuscript explains that she was later a member of the Higher Council for Childhood and Maternity until 1918, escaped the Bolshevik revolution, reached France, and resumed her studies in childcare and social services. It describes her work as superintendent of social services at Maison Jean Patou, her entrance in the Ministry of Labor in July 1928 and work on foreign labor and immigrant protection, and her naming as Knight of Social Merit in 1939. The narrative explains how she was expelled from the civil service and the Ministry of Labor in 1940 following the anti-Semitic decrees of Pétain's government and recounts stories about her work with resistance groups. The manuscript particularly celebrates Warschawsky contributions to the launch of an Institute of Labor Social Sciences.