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[GERMAN GYNECOLOGICAL SCIENCE FOR THE NEW EMANCIPATED WOMAN OF UKRAINE] Normalni ta patolohichni krovotechi v zhinok. [Normal and pathological bleeding in women]

Frenkel L., Wagner G., Schmidt H., Hellebrand A.

Item #2622

Translated by I. Yevnin, Ukrainian text edited by M. Mironov. Kiyv: Vydavnytstvo “Naukova dumka”, 1930. 21.5 x 15 cm. 100 pp., ills. in text. Publisher’s typographical wrappers. Edition of 5,000. In Ukrainian. Very good. Spine reinforced. Minor spotting of the wrappers. Rear wrapper bears some pen inscriptions with addresses and rubber stamps of Ukrknyhotsentr, a bookstore existing in Dnipro region from 1931 to 1938 (but the bookstore name varied). Selected chapters are illustrated with photographic reproductions, schemes and drawings concerning the professional advice and methods mentioned. Owner’s rubber stamp to title & p. 100, stating that the book belonged to doctor Yevgeny Ivanovich Gorobets. Title verso bears another owner’s inscription dated 1933 and mentioning another book owner, J. O. Pokarevskiy (?).

The drive to emancipate women and eliminate any reproductive struggle led to remarkably open discussions on topics that were still considered taboo by many cultures. Sexuality, menstruation, childbirth and abortion became objects of mass enlightenment. Such novelties like monthly days off during the sensitive cycle days, legal abortions and regular health checkups cemented a completely new approach, never seen in the Russian or Ukrainian cultures before. Simultaneously, the Soviet state sought to equip the medical professionals with advanced and effective scientific methods, countering traditional midwives. On the contrary to privately-led expensive practice in the Western Europe, Soviet healthcare strived to reach any woman. And although the women's hygiene items were never abundant nor even available for the Soviet women en masse, the frontier methods to solve medical matters – including abortion – were. The book highlights the adoption of medical techniques and technologies previously never discussed outside the specialist circle.
The present handbook is one of numerous reactions to those professional discussions around the abortion question; however, it’s not a pamphlet or a sociological report, rather a medical guide. It collects four articles on advanced gynecology and helps the doctors to discern between the norm and pathology. The articles are lectures given by the German doctors and researchers during the 1920s on occasion of professional conferences in Czechoslovakia, as stated in the preface and the divisional titles. The four articles are: 1. Prof. L. Frenkel. Fiziolohiia y patolohiia menstruatsii [Physiology and pathology of menstruation]. Ludwig Frenkel (Germ. Fraenkel, 1870-1951) was a German gynaecologist and obstetrician hailed as progesterone hormone research “spiritus rector”.

The article is preceded by a note from Frenkel mentioning his interest in All-Union Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (by 1928, there were 6 congresses in the Soviet country and the VIth congress was held in Kyiv). Frenkel spent years in pioneering research on corpus luteum. He was interested in the medical statistics gathered by the Soviet medical system.
2. Prof. H. Vahner. Prychyny i likuvannia nepravylnykh] krovotech u zhinky [Causes and treatment of irregular bleeding in women].
3. Prof. H. Shmidt. Krovotechi naprykintsi vahitnosty pidchas ta pislia polohiv [Bleeding in late pregnancy and postpartum].
4. Prof A. Hellebrand. Diiahnoza i likuvannia krovotechi pidchas abortu [Diagnosis and treatment of bleeding during abortion].

The Soviet public health system strived to support each and everyone in a streamlined, efficient machine— like approach, thus putting an emphasis on the effort to provide the new way of life i.e. novy byt. As seen from the topical variety, the handbook is a fascinating artifact of the organized and self–developing public health system. Vydavnytstvo “Naukova dumka”, operating under guidance of Scientific Academy, saw its centenary anniversary in 2022 – but was liquidated shortly after in 2024.

Very rare. Not in WorldCat. Not in KVK. Not in the National Bibliography of Ukraine. We locate a single institutional copy, at the National Library of Belarus.

Price: $950.00