William Ganz: from Refugee to World Fame

William Ganz: From refugee to world fame

Dr. William Ganz died in November work, and restricted all Jewish expressions 2009 at the age of 90 in Los Angeles, of this community. In 1966, life took a for- California. I had the privilege of know- tunate turn, as the Ganz family got permis- ing Willy personally and could even call sion to go on a vacation to Italy, the whole him “my friend”. While I can describe his family together, a true rarity in those days, professional activities objectively, his giving them the chance to leave Czecho- life-story evokes my deepest emotions, slovakia. They arrived in Vienna as refu- because we, at a certain period in our gees with only the clothes they were wear- lives, shared a common fate. ing, waiting for visas to emigrate to the William Ganz was born in Kosice (Kassa) at United States. a time when this small formerly Austro-Hungarian Once in the US, Willy joined relatives in Los town was part of the newly-born state of Czecho- Angeles and looked for a position at the Cedars Si- slovakia. Willy’s childhood dream of becoming nai Medical Centre. His meeting there with chief a doctor started to become a reality when he enrolled of cardiology Dr. Jeremy Swan was “love at first in 1937 at the school of medicine at Charles Univer- sight”. Willy, at the age of 47, was accepted imme- sity in the capital city of Prague. However, when in diately and started a most successful scientific ca- 1938 Kosice became again part of Hungary (by Hit- reer and co-operation, not only with Swan, but with ler’s infamous Vienna Award), not only had Willy to his superiors, his peers, and later with his pupils as halt his studies, but, as he was Jewish, he was soon well. enlisted in the obligatory labor force, working under Ganz became a ‘household’ name when he, to- the brutal command of the Hungarian Army. gether with Jeremy Swan, and based on concepts In 1944, the situation of the Jews in Hungary previously developed in Prague, introduced a cathe- became tragic. At the time when the Jews of Ko- ter with an inflatable balloon at its end which en- sice started to be sent to Auschwitz, Willy miracu- abled it to ‘float’ into the pulmonary artery at the lously managed to escape to Budapest. Here start- bedside, without using X-ray. This Swan-Ganz cathe- ed the period when the author of these words was ter enabled measurement of the intracardiac and living under similar circumstances as Willy, who in pulmonary artery pressures, thus contributing Budapest used forged identity papers to be listed enormously to our knowledge of human circulation. as non-Jewish, was hiding and escaping under life- No less important was Dr. Ganz’s pioneering role -threatening situations and was waiting for libera- in introducing in 1982 the concept of reperfusion in tion, which came in January 1945 when the Russian the acute stage of myocardial infarction, by using army took over Budapest. During those under- intracoronary thrombolysis, which started a new era ground years, Willy met young Magda Weisz from in the treatment of heart attacks. Budapest, who hid there by pretending to be a Catho- Dr. Ganz became a highly respected cardiolo- lic refugee. gist of international stature, a sought after lecturer The liberation of Budapest meant Willy was and a brilliant investigator. Despite all the fame and able to marry his love Magda in 1945. As Kosice worldwide appreciation, and having received many became again part of Czechoslovakia (these days important awards, he remained modest in his per- Slovakia) Willy and Magda rushed back to Kosice sonal life and in his relations with his colleagues and and from there on to Prague and to Charles Uni- friends. He had a charming sense of humor and versity, from where Willy graduated in 1947. Their I remember his mischievous look when telling a joke, two sons, Peter and Tomas, were born in Prague. frequently in Hungarian, mother tongue for both of Life in Prague was not easy for Dr. Ganz. The us. I cannot remember him without Magda at his communist regime put limits on Willy's scientific side, usually arm in arm and smiling at each other.

650 www.cardiologyjournal.org Shlomo Stern, William Ganz: From refugee to world fame

Sixty years of happy marriage, achieving the Let us remember Willy Ganz as one who had most possible in his scientific career and seeing two a fairy tale life, and let us cherish his memory fondly. sons becoming very successful doctors, made Wil- ly’s life a joyful one. But after Magda’s death in 2005, Acknowledgements Willy was no longer the same. Without her he became understandably depressed, and his joie de The author expresses his gratitude to Drs. vivre was gone. Peter and Tomas Ganz for their help in preparing this manuscript.

Shlomo Stern, MD Professor Emeritus of Medicine The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel e-mail: [email protected]