My great-aunt Anna, pictured here with her brother Karl (my great-grandpa), was probably one of the most ambitious members of my family.

She was born in 1884 in Estonia as the eldest of 3 siblings. She went on to become a pioneer in healthcare. She trained to become a nurse and then worked as a nurse in Moscow and in Finland, even gaining further professional experience in France, Germany and Switzerland. She also served in WWI as a medic.

She established and chaired the Estonian Nurses Association and was appointed the Head of the Estonian Nurses’ Academy (as a branch of the Tartu University) after she co-founded it in 1925.

She was forced into exile during WWII, like her two brothers. She worked for the International Refugee Organisation in Germany until 1948, after which she emigrated to Paraguay and later on to Brazil to join her brother Otto and his new family. She died in 1974 in Sao Paulo.

~shared by @womanthroughacentury