Vera Gedroits facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Princess Vera Gedroits
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| Вера Гедройц | |
Vera Gedroits with patients circa 1915
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Vera Ignatievna Gedroits
19 April 1870 Slobodishche, Oryol Governorate, Russian Empire
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| Died | March 1932 (aged 61) |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Other names | Vera Gedroyts, Vera Gedroitz, Vera Gedröitz, Vera Giedroyć, Vyera Ignat'yevna Gyedroycz |
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| Years active | 1900–1932 |
| Writing career | |
| Pen name | Sergei Gedroits |
Princess Vera Ignatievna Gedroits (literary pen name Sergei Gedroits; 7 April 1870 - March 1932) was a Russian doctor of medicine and author. She was the first female military surgeon in Russia, the first female professor of surgery, and the first woman to serve as a physician in the Imperial Palace of Russia.
Following her involvement in a student movement, Gedroits was unable to complete her studies in Russia, and despite being openly lesbian, entered into a marriage of convenience, which allowed her to obtain a passport in another name and leave the country. In Switzerland, she enrolled in the medical courses of César Roux and graduated in 1898, working as Roux’s assistant, but returned to Russia because of illnesses in her family.
As a young physician, Gedroits was concerned at the low standards of hygiene, nutrition and sanitation, and made recommendations to improve conditions. In the Russo-Japanese War, she performed abdominal surgeries against established policy, leading to a change in the way battlefield medicine was performed. Much decorated for her war service, she served as physician to the royal court until the outbreak of World War I, training the Tsarina Alexandra and her daughters as nurses.
At the beginning of the Revolution, Gedroits returned to the battle front. Wounded, she was evacuated to Kiev, where she resumed her work as a physician and academic. In 1921, she was hired to teach pediatric surgery at the Kiev Medical Institute and within two years was appointed a professor of medicine. Soviet purges at that time removed her from office in 1930 and denied her a pension. Gedroits turned her attention to writing autobiographical novels until her death from uterine cancer in 1932.
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Early life
Vera Ignatievna Gedroitz was born on 7 April 1870 in Slobodishche, in the Oryol Governorate of the Russian Empire to Daria Konstantinovna Mikhau (Russian: Дарья Константиновна Михау) and Prince Ignatiy Ignatievich Gedroitz (Russian: Игнатий Игнатьевич Гедройц). Her mother's family were Russified Germans and her maternal grandfather served as a captain in the military. Her father's family belonged to a Lithuanian princely clan which shared its origins with the more famous Radziwiłł family. After having taken part in the Polish uprising of 1863, Ignatiy Gedroitz fled to Russia when Lithuanian liberties were suspended by the autocracy. Establishing a tobacco plantation in the Non-Black Earth Region, he was later elected head of the Council of Magistrates in the Bryansk District and in 1878, received confirmation of the title of prince for himself and his heirs.
Gedroitz was the middle child among five siblings, which included Maria (1861), Ignatius (1864), Nadezhda (1876), and Alexander (1878) There was also a brother, Sergei, who died young and after whom she would later choose her literary pseudonym. The children, like their mother, were raised as Orthodox, but their father remained Catholic. The children grew up on the family estate and their early education was provided at home. Gedroitz developed an interest in medicine at an early age. After completing her studies at the Bryansk women's gymnasium, where she studied under Vasily Rozanov, she continued her education in St. Petersburg studying the courses of Peter Lesgaft. While she was in St. Petersburg, Gedroitz became involved in the revolutionary youth movement, participating in the circle of Victor Alexandrovich Veynshtok. She along with other members of the group were arrested and deported in 1892, being brought back to Slobodishche by the police.
Schooling abroad
Wanting to continue her studies, but unable to do so in Russia, Gedroitz arranged a marriage of convenience with a friend from St. Petersburg, Nikolai Belozerov. Though Gedroitz was openly lesbian, she and Belozerov actively corresponded, meeting often and traveling together, and according to her biographer Tatiana Khokhlova, the couple had real affection for each other. They took measures to hide their union, which was made on 5 September 1894 living separately. Belozerov's military career took him to Irkutsk, Siberia while Gedroitz uses her new name to obtain a passport and slip into Switzerland. She entered the University of Lausanne and trained to be a surgeon in the clinic of professor César Roux, graduating in 1898, with earning almost perfect marks and receiving her diploma as Doctor of Medicine and Surgery.
Upon receipt of her diploma, Gedroitz first worked as an intern in a therapy clinic, but was soon posted as a junior assistant to Roux. Carrying out scientific studies, she became Roux's senior assistant and then he offered her the post of Privatdozent. She also began an ardent lesbian affair, but was forced to return to Russia when she received a pleading letter from her father. He advised that her sister "Sasha" had died from tuberculosis and her mother was in failing health. Promising to help her secure work in a new factory hospital with 10 beds which was being, he urged her to return and help him. Roux released her from service and she returned to Slobodishche in 1900.
Return to Russia
Immediately Gedroitz was hired at the Maltsov Cement Factory in the Zhizdrinsky District of the Kaluga Oblast as the plant's physician. Though primarily responsible for the medical needs of the workers and their families, she tended to local villagers as well, as she was the only doctor in the district. By 1901, Gedroitz had performed 248 operations with minimal fatalities, including amputations, herniation repair, setting broken bones, many caused by the difficult working conditions of the laborers. Inadequate safety conditions meant that there was a high risk of industrial accidents and the cement dust caused many eye problems. Poor living conditions with little sanitation, lack of knowledge regarding hygiene and nutrition, and no care provisions for midwifery, contributed to other serious health issues for her patients. Concerned about the overall health of the workers, Gedroitz made a list of recommendations to the factory administrators, which they implemented, cleaning the wells, providing washing tubs, serving hot meals, among other things.
In addition to her hospital work, Gedroitz published scientific articles in Russian medical journals, which began to be noticed and reprinted in German and French journals. She was invited to participate in the Third Congress of Surgeons in 1902. At the conference, she presented a report on a surgery performed in 1901 on a male patient suffering from a deformation of the hip joints, which was so severe he could not stand or sit comfortably. Performing a complex surgery, within four months, the patient was able to walk without crutches. Wanting to leave the provincial life because of the difficult working conditions, poverty of the workers and family issues, Gedroitz was required to attain Russian credentials. In spite of her Swiss degree, she had to take tests to meet the requirements of the University of Moscow. In 1902, she asked permission to test for the Latin requirement at the Oryol Gubernatorial Gymnasium, and still under the watch of the police was required to get a statement of character before the testing was allowed. After successfully passing her testing, Gedroitz earned the title of female doctor and on 21 February 1903, received her diploma, allowing her to practice medicine in Russia.
Russo-Japanese War
In early 1904, with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Gedroitz volunteered to serve in the Red Cross convoy. In the first month of the war, she treated 1255 patients, including over 100 head wounds and 61 patients with abdominal wounds. Initially treatment was provided in tents covered in an insulating layer of clay, but by January 1905, Gedroitz was appointed as chief surgeon of the hospital train. The train was a specially equipped surgical unit, supplied by the Russian nobility to allow care to the wounded to be performed on the front lines. This put the medical personnel at grave risk, as unless there were wounded in an ambulance, tent, or surgical train, their neutrality was not recognized. Though many Russian surgeons had discarded the idea of treating abdominal wounds, Gedroitz was one of the first to perform laparotomies. Her procedure required that the patient undergo the operation within three hours of receiving a wound. Her success rate was high, leading to recommendations being made in medical journals to adopt mobile surgical units which allowed for rapid treatment.
In 1905, Gedroitz returned to the Maltsov Factory Hospital, where she was made chief surgeon, she was also assigned as the chief physician of the Lyudinovskaya Hospital. Compiling a 57-page report on her work during the war, which included illustrations, she presented her results on 27 July 1905 to the Society of Military Doctors. She was awarded the gold medal of diligence from the Order of Saint Anna by the army commander for her actions during the Battle of Mukden, the Ribbon of Saint George with the silver medal "For Bravery" by General N. Plinevich for her treatment of the wounded, the three highest distinctions from the Russian Red Cross and recognition by the Royal family in the form of the silver neck medal of the Order of Saint Vladimir.
Tsarskoye Selo
In 1909 Gedroitz was transferred to the court hospital in Tsarskoye Selo, where she worked as a surgeon to the imperial family. At that time she joined the Poets' Guild, publishing her poems under the pen name Sergei Gedroitz.
After the February Revolution she did not flee the Tsarskoye Selo as many of her relatives did. She went to work on the World War I front, but settled in Kiev.
Gedroitz actively worked and wrote scientific works on oncology, pediatric surgery, and endocrinology. In 1921 she started to teach at the Kiev medical institute. In 1923 she was selected for a post of the professor, in 1929 she headed chair of faculty surgery and was removed from the university in 1930.
She died of cancer and was buried in her native city.
Images for kids
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The Swiss University of Lausanne (c. 1899, Swiss National Library, EAD-7270) where Gedroits studied for her diploma as Doctor of Medicine and Surgery
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Gedroits' report on her medical work during the Russo-Japanese War, which she presented to the Society of Military Doctors in July 1905
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Boris Kustodiev's Portrait of Fyodor Chaliapin in beaver hat and sable coat, dressed in a style emulated by Gedroits
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Vera Gedroits (right) with Russian Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna Romanov
See also
In Spanish: Vera Gedroitz para niños
