Books recommended by feminists. Scalpel in the hands of the princess

poet, doctor, first Russian woman surgeon, head. doctor at Tsarskoye Selo Palace Hospital

Vera Ignatievna Gedroits born in 1870 in the village of Slobodishche, Bryansk district Oryol province - family estate father. She came from the ancient Lithuanian princely family of Gedroits, who gave a lot to the culture of Russia, Poland and Lithuania. Studied in Bryansk women's gymnasium, where, it turns out, it was in those years that what later became famous philosopher Vasily Rozanov. And Doctor of Medicine Vera Gedroits carried his passion for his ideas throughout her life.

Having become interested in medicine early, the future famous surgeon entered the courses of the St. Petersburg anatomist P. Lesgaft. However, she was soon exiled to her family estate for participating in Narodnaya Volya activities. And then the princess, having entered into a fictitious marriage and changed her last name, managed to escape to Switzerland, where she entered the University of Lausanne. (It is interesting that the guarantor was the professor of this educational institution P.A. Herzen, grandson of the revolutionary democrat, founder of the once popular publications “ North Star" and "Bell".) She had the opportunity to learn the art of surgery from the famous professor Caesar Roux, who later invited her to work in his clinic. However, fate would have Vera Ignatievna return to Russia for family reasons.

Returning to Russia, she takes an exam at Moscow University - she needs to confirm a foreign diploma. Somewhat earlier, she received a position as a surgeon at the hospital of the Maltsevsky Portland Cement Plants in the Kaluga province. Vera Ignatievna's talent finds its deepest resonance here. practical application and turns into full force. Gedroits literally bites into her work, she literally works tirelessly, and in addition, she publishes serious articles in scientific journals. The fame of Russia's first and only female surgeon from the provinces instantly reaches imperial palace.

She is invited to the 3rd Congress of Surgeons, held in 1902. Here is what V.I. Razumovsky, an outstanding professor of medicine, wrote about her:

“... V.I. Gedroits, the first female surgeon to speak at the congress and with such seriousness and interesting report accompanied by a demonstration. The woman stood up the man who, before her operation, was crawling on his belly like a worm. I also remember the noisy ovation given to her by the Russian surgeons.”

“At the beginning of 1904, the news of the war with Japan reached all corners of Russia. V.I.Gedroyts submits a report on enlistment in the advance detachment formed from volunteer medical workers by the Russian Red Cross, and is sent to active army. She provides medical assistance in the hottest battlefields. For her work and courage, she was awarded the gold medal “For Diligence” on the Annensky Ribbon, and after the battles at Mukden, for her heroic actions in rescuing the wounded, the army commander, Infantry General N.P. Linevich personally presents the female doctor, Princess Gedroits, with the St. George Silver Medal “For Bravery.” Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, taking care of the wounded in Manchuria, also notes the merits of Vera Ignatievna, and “for assistance in alleviating the lot of sick and wounded military officials and for the labors incurred by the Russian society in the Red Cross” notes her with three insignia, including a silver neck medal on the Vladimir ribbon, and the united All-Russian nobility - a personalized token. A year later, Vera Ignatievna returns to her native place to her favorite job.”

(V. G. Khokhlov. “Vera Ignatievna Gedroits – chief surgeon of the Maltsov factories”).

“Princess Vera operated in a specially equipped railway carriage and in tents lined with clay to protect from the cold. In the first 6 days of operation of the ambulance train alone, she performed 56 complex operations. An outstanding practicing surgeon, she successfully operated on the legendary General Gurko and a Japanese prisoner crown prince, who subsequently sent gifts to the Russian monarchs and called her “the princess of mercy with hands that give life.” Newspapers wrote about the extraordinary courage of the operations that the princess performed literally under enemy fire, but the talk in these reports was not about scientific courage, but about the human valor of the surgeon - truly extraordinary. But it was precisely during Russo-Japanese War She was the first in the history of medicine to perform abdominal operations, which she developed independently, without outside help - and not in the quiet of hospital operating rooms, but right at the theater of war. At that time in Europe, people wounded in the stomach were simply left without any help” (Jonathan Moldavanov. “Princess Vera Gedroits: scalpel and pen”).

The name Giedroyc is becoming more and more famous, and in 1909, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna summoned Vera Ignatievna to Tsarskoe Selo, where she receives a position as a resident at the Tsarskoye Selo Palace Hospital. Since then, Princess Vera Ignatievna has become a close person in the family of the last Romanovs and the children’s family doctor royal family.

In addition to medicine, Vera Ignatievna wrote poems, stories and memoirs and published them under the pseudonym Sergei Gedroits, chosen in memory of her early deceased brother.

Finding herself in Tsarskoe Selo, she meets N.S. Gumilyov, R.V. Ivanov-Razumnik, A.M. Remizov, renews her acquaintance with V. Rozanov, and later meets S. Yesenin. Her works are published in magazines; in 1910, Vera Gedroits published her first collection “Poems and Fairy Tales” (St. Petersburg). At the end of 1911 or 1912, she was accepted into the “Workshop of Poets” and provided him with an invaluable service, contributing half of the required amount for the founding of the magazine “Hyperborea”, in which she also published poetry (No. 1, 6, 9-10). She attended meetings of the “Workshop of Poets” in Tsarskoye Selo, held in the house of Nikolai Gumilyov and Anna Akhmatova, and under his publishing label she published her second book of poems, “Veg” (St. Petersburg, 1913).

“I talked with Vera Ignatievna about the past. How at the beginning of the war the empress was close to her. In the city it was said that she had completely fallen under her influence. Evil tongues did not fail [to convey] even a vile connotation. As I consulted with her, I sought a frank, cordial conversation. Afterwards One of the lectures she said: “I would like to introduce you, princess, to Grigory Efimovich Rasputin, both the sovereign and I value him very much.” Grigory shouted: “Trust her, she is your honest knight.” And now Vera Ignatievna sometimes thinks that this is not the phrase. - the key to the riddle that, despite Anya (Vyrubova), despite the naked and bitter truth that she sometimes presents, the princess is tolerated and is not exposed like other faithful but unpleasant servants - Prince Orlov, Drenteln."

Princess Vera treated the “great old man” Grigory Rasputin negatively and without respect. In 1915, she examined Her Majesty’s beloved maid of honor Anna Vyrubova, who was seriously injured in a train accident traveling from Tsarskoye Selo to St. Petersburg. At this time, Grigory Rasputin was in the ward visiting Anna. “Seeing that Rasputin was not going to come out, Princess Vera took him by the shoulders and pushed him into the corridor, slamming the door in his face.”
(J. Bennett. Princess Vera Gedroits: military surgeon, poet, writer)

The year 1914 is thundering, and the hospital in Tsarskoe Selo under the leadership of V. Gedroyts soon becomes one of the decisive surgical bases in the conditions of hostilities, with more and more suffering soldiers. But how do the empress and her daughters perceive the difficulties sent down? Alexandra Feodorovna and the Grand Duchesses, Olga and Tatiana, under the leadership of Vera Gedroits, become surgical nurses, working for hours without a break in the dressing room and operating rooms.

“Standing with the surgeon, the empress, like every operating nurse, handed over sterilized instruments, cotton wool and bandages, carried away amputated arms and legs, bandaged gangrenous wounds, not disdaining anything and steadfastly enduring the smell and terrible pictures of a military hospital during the war,” recalled the maid of honor Anna Vyrubova.

Having received diplomas of nurses, the empress and her daughters worked without any discounts on the august blood, assisted Vera Ignatievna during operations, and helped with dressings. According to the memoirs of the artist I.D. Avdieva, “Vera Ignatievna, during complex surgical operations, shouted at the Russian Empress, and she endured it; she could have been, according to Vera Ignatievna, a good surgical nurse - cold-blooded and accurate.

To train her assistants - both the august ones and all others - Dr. Gedroits organized special courses and wrote a short but very informative textbook, “Conversations on Surgery for Sisters and Doctors.” Published in 1914, it has not lost its significance and is read with great interest.

Vera Gedroits also has to go to the front, and her age for such service is, one might say, prohibitive - she is forty-four years old. And then the princess, with her characteristic determination, replaces “0” in the passport with “6”, i.e. 1870 to 1876, decreasing age. Then a version appears that she was born in Kyiv. Operations in Tsarskoe Selo and on various sectors of the fronts... And again a snowstorm over the Fatherland, February 1917, the abdication of the Tsar. Perhaps, like Dr. S. Botkin, V. Gedroits could end up in Yekaterinburg, in Ipatiev House, to share the mortal fate of her high-ranking students and wards. But fate plays a different card. In 1917 Vera Gedroits is appointed chief physician of the dressing detachment of the 6th Siberian Division, and then corps surgeon. Obviously, this is surgical work in the army medical units created new government. The purpose of Vera Gedroits in this period seems to correspond to the words: “The doctor does not fight, but participates in the war.”

After being wounded, she was evacuated to Kyiv (January 1918), where after recovery she worked in a children's clinic, and from 1921 - in the faculty surgical clinic of the Kyiv Medical Institute.

Vera Ignatievna continues to work as a practical surgeon: in the field of endocrine surgery, for congenital heart defects, in cases of oncological lesions. Now she is widely known in the city. For example, this episode is memorable. Nadezhda Khazina, the wife of the poet Osip Mandelstam, was admitted to the clinic for complicated appendicitis. The poet spent days and nights in the doorman's closet, in the clinic at 17 Shevchenko Boulevard. Vera Ignatievna saved the patient, and, perhaps, thanks to this, “Memoirs” about the disgraced poet appeared.

At the same time, he begins to work on fictionalized memoirs - a cycle of stories under common name"Life". The Leningrad Writers' Publishing House published three stories: "Kaftanchik" (1930), "Lyakh" (1931), "Separation" (1931).
In 1929, Professor Chernyakhovsky was forced to leave the leadership of the faculty surgery clinic: he named V.I. Gedroyts as his successor. Vera Ignatyevna became the first woman professor of surgery in our country - and for two years she successfully headed this leading clinic of the Kyiv University. medical institute.
In 1932, Vera Ignatievna suffered from cancer. She managed to save many, many people in this situation, but now medicine is powerless. She's sixty-two years old...

Vera Gedroits is buried at the Korchevat cemetery in Kyiv. On her grave there is a simple iron cross, on which a simple iron plate is nailed. Inside the fence there is another grave - that of Archbishop Hermogenes. Once, as a young priest, he fell mortally ill; a second life was given to him by the hands of a wonderful woman surgeon, Vera Ignatievna Gedroits. After her death, he devotedly looked after her grave and bequeathed to bury himself next to her.

Used

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Vera Gedroits, a Lithuanian princely family, was born in 1876 in Kyiv, grew up in the village of Slobodishche, Bryansk district, Oryol province, studied at the Bryansk women's gymnasium (where V.V. Rozanov taught), later on the courses of P.F. Lesgafta in St. Petersburg (she was 15 years old). There she became friends with the revolutionary circle of V.A. Weinstock, and in 1892 (she was 16 years old) she was sent to her father’s estate under police supervision.

In 1894 (the princess was 18 years old) she entered into a fictitious marriage with a certain N.A. Belozerov and with a new passport, changing her last name, fled abroad.

After some time, Giedroyc arrived in Lausanne and entered the university at the Faculty of Medicine, from which she graduated in 1898 (she was 22 years old) with a doctorate in medicine and surgery. She performed her first operations under the guidance of Cesar Roux, a widely known physician and scientist in Europe. Cesar Roux takes her to his clinic, where after some time she becomes a senior assistant and teaches a special course as a private assistant professor. Here, in Lausanne, she meets a woman with whom she falls in love with all the power of her soul. The love turns out to be mutual.

A brilliant career awaits her in Europe, but family circumstances interrupt her. She receives a letter from her father in which he reports that her sister has died of pneumonia and her mother is in critical condition. nervous state; her father begs her to return home as soon as possible (“... come! I never called you, but it’s necessary<…>I can’t write – it’s hard!”).

Leaving her beloved, Vera returns to Russia, where in 1902 (she is 26 years old) she takes the exam at Moscow University - she needs to confirm a foreign diploma. Somewhat earlier, she received a position as a surgeon at the hospital of the Maltsevsky Portland cement plants in the Kaluga province. Vera Ignatievna’s talent finds deepest practical application here and unfolds in full force. Gedroits literally bites into her work, she literally works tirelessly, and in addition, she publishes serious articles in scientific journals. The fame of Russia's first and only female surgeon from the provinces instantly reaches the imperial palace.

She is invited to the 3rd Congress of Surgeons, held in 1902. Here is what V.I. Razumovsky, an outstanding professor of medicine, wrote about her:

“...V.I. Gedroits, the first woman surgeon to speak at the congress and give such a serious and interesting report, accompanied by a demonstration. The woman brought the man to his feet, who before her operation was crawling on his belly like a worm.
I also remember the noisy ovation given to her by the Russian surgeons. In the history of surgery, it seems to me, such moments
must be celebrated."

We are talking about the son of a craftsman, Anton, 26 years old, who for 12 years suffered seriously from a disease of the hip joints and could neither stand nor lie down. On October 10, 1901, Vera Gedroits performed a complex operation, as a result of which Anton forgot about crutches within three months. This case was discussed in Gedroits’ report, bringing her long-lasting applause from the luminaries of Russian surgery.

All this time she works hard and waits painfully for her beloved to come to her from Lausanne to Russia. But instead of his beloved, a letter arrives from Lausanne (at a time when Gedroits was approximately 26-28 years old):

“Don’t wait, I’m eager to come to you, but I can’t leave
children and business. Breaking yours, and perhaps
and your life, I fulfill my duty, easy
a burden on our shoulders. Vera, I’m suffering so much!”

The blow is too strong. Tired nerves can't stand it. Arriving on duty at the hospital, Gedroits takes a Browning gun from his desk and, without hesitation, shoots himself in the heart. And only chance saves her - her colleagues, who were inadvertently delayed in the hospital, come running to the shot and urgently operate on Gedroits.

In 1905, she was appointed chief surgeon of the Maltsevsky factories hospitals and chief physician of the Lyudinovo hospital - Vera Ignatievna was only 29 years old (!), and she would remain in these positions until 1909. In the same 1905, her secret and fictitious marriage with N.A. Belozerov, at the request of Gedroits, was dissolved (in 1907, she would be returned to the princely title and allowed to return to her maiden name).

“At the beginning of 1904, the news of the war with Japan reached all corners of Russia. V.I.Gedroyts submits a report on enlistment in the advanced detachment, formed from volunteer doctors by the Russian Red Cross, and is sent to the active army. She provides medical assistance in the hottest battlefields. For her work and courage, she was awarded the gold medal “For Diligence” on the Annensky Ribbon, and after the battles at Mukden, for her heroic actions in rescuing the wounded, the army commander, Infantry General N.P. Linevich personally presents the female doctor, Princess Gedroits, with the St. George Silver Medal “For Bravery.” Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, taking care of the wounded in Manchuria, also notes the merits of Vera Ignatievna, and “for assistance in alleviating the lot of sick and wounded military officials and for the labors incurred by the Russian society in the Red Cross” notes her with three insignia, including a silver neck medal on the Vladimir ribbon, and the united All-Russian nobility - a personalized token. A year later, Vera Ignatievna returns to her native place to her favorite job.”
(V. G. Khokhlov. “Vera Ignatievna Gedroits – chief surgeon of the Maltsov factories”).

“Princess Vera operated in a specially equipped railway carriage and in tents lined with clay to protect from the cold. In the first 6 days of operation of the ambulance train alone, she performed 56 complex operations. An outstanding practicing surgeon, she successfully operated on the legendary General Gurko and the captive Japanese crown prince, who subsequently sent gifts to the Russian monarchs and called her “the princess of mercy with hands that give life.” Newspapers wrote about the extraordinary courage of the operations that the princess performed literally under enemy fire, but the talk in these reports was not about scientific courage, but about the human valor of the surgeon - truly extraordinary. But it was during the Russian-Japanese War that she was the first in the history of medicine to perform abdominal operations, which she developed independently, without outside help - and not in the quiet of hospital operating rooms, but right at the theater of war. At that time in Europe, people wounded in the stomach were simply left without any help.”
(Jonathan Moldavanov. “Princess Vera Gedroits: scalpel and pen”).

In 1909, she was invited to the position of resident at the Tsarskoye Selo Palace Hospital. Vera Ignatievna becomes the house doctor of the august family.

“The appointment of an “upstart” from the province, especially a woman, to the position of senior resident was met with hostility by the senior doctor of the hospital M. N. Schrader. References to various instructions and regulations were used, and letters were sent to the court office. They noted, firstly, that this position was intended for another doctor, and secondly, that a female doctor, who became the deputy senior doctor, would be the boss of all personnel during his absence, and this was the first such case in the Ministry of the Imperial Household , thirdly, that appointment to the position of senior resident is equivalent to VII class and requires the permission of the minister, and in order to obtain it, you need to serve in the Tsarskoye Selo hospital for several years, etc. But the will of Alexandra Feodorovna was adamant, and already on July 31, 1909, the inspector of the court unit received a letter with the following content: “The Minister of the Imperial Court, according to the teachings Her Majesty the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Instructions, ordered the appointment of Princess Gedroits as Senior Ordinator at the Tsarskoe Selo Hospital of the Palace Department.”
(V.G. Khokhlov. Gedroits V.I. – senior resident at the Tsarskoye Selo Palace Hospital.).

Vera Gedroits was no stranger to literary experiments; she wrote poetry, prose, and published under the pseudonym Sergei Gedroits. She absolutely did not receive literary recognition in the poetic community. In 1910, Nikolai Gumilev in the Apollo magazine called Gedroits “not a poet.” Literary studies, frankly unsuccessful, were the weakness of the brilliant surgeon. Vera Ignatievna, like a child, really wanted at least some kind of artistic recognition. And a little later she was nevertheless accepted into the “Workshop of Poets”. Perhaps this was helped by the fact that Vera Ignatievna promised to pay half of the considerable amount that was necessary to create the magazine “Hyperborea”, in which her poems began to be periodically published.

In 1912, Vera Ignatievna became a doctor of medicine, in 1914 she published the book “Conversations on Surgery for Sisters and Doctors”, and personally taught the empress and her daughters the skills of a nurse.

Maid of honor Anna Vyrubova recalls:

“In order to better manage the activities of the infirmaries, the Empress personally decided to take a course in wartime nurses with the two senior Grand Duchesses and me. The Empress chose Princess Gedroits, a female surgeon and head of the palace hospital, as her teacher. They worked with her for two hours a day and, for practice, entered the infirmary at the Palace Hospital as ordinary surgical nurses, and immediately began work - bandaging, often seriously wounded. Standing with the surgeon, the empress, like every operating nurse, handed over sterilized instruments, cotton wool and bandages, carried away amputated arms and legs, bandaged gangrenous wounds, not disdaining anything and steadfastly enduring the smell and terrible pictures of a military hospital during the war.”

Vera Gedroits had a tough character. Was extremely noticeable - tall, overweight, and also dressed exclusively like a man: hat, jacket, tie. No women's hairstyles - the haircut was also in a man's style. Her voice was low. She was a heavy smoker.

In 1915, Anna Vyrubova as a result train accident(they were talking about a terrorist attack) was seriously injured and was hospitalized in an unconscious state. Gedroits was summoned to her. Entering the room, she saw Grigory Rasputin there on a visit. Judging by his appearance, he clearly had no intention of leaving. Vera Ignatievna, without talking, took him by the shoulders and put him out into the corridor.

Princess Vera, once an active participant in the revolutionary circle, accepted the February Revolution with great sympathy. In 1917, as a corps surgeon of the 6th Siberian Rifle Division, she went to the front, in 1918 she was wounded and was evacuated to Kyiv. There she remains, having received a place first in the children's clinic, and then in the faculty surgical clinic of the Kyiv Medical Institute. In 1930, already a professor, he left the service. He publishes a lot in scientific journals and takes part in surgical congresses. She has published three stories based on autobiographical material.

She lives with Countess Maria Dmitrievna Nirod and her children (Fedor and Marina) - she lives as husband and wife. In addition to love, they are united by work: Maria Dmitrievna serves as a nurse for Gedroits. Perhaps the poems of Princess Vera, written by her on July 23, 1925, are dedicated to her:

Don't - no - don't unclench your arms
Don't let me out - no words needed.
Your kiss is so burningly fragrant,
And like a tent, our alcove is starless.
Another - again - centuries to be eliminated in an instant,
Let me die - die with me.
The silent night casts a spell of frenzy,
The heat brings down the sound of dew to the ground.
Now the star chambers have opened,
In a kiss, merging into one life,
Don't - no - don't unclench your embrace,
Let me die! Die with me!

The children of Maria Dmitrievna almost openly dislike Princess Vera Ignatyevna - a large woman dressed in a man’s suit and talking about herself in the masculine gender (“I went”, “I operated”) caused them to be rejected, and their mother’s undisguised love for her only reinforced the negativity.

In 1931 (Gedroyts turned 55 years old) she met the artist Irina Dmitrievna Avdieva and her husband Leonid Semenovich Povolotsky. A friendship develops between them. From the memoirs of I.D. Avdieva:

“I myself know that, loving Vera Ignatievna Gedroits, I learned from her to love everything that raises life above the level of philistinism, that brightens everyday life into holidays. Her whole life was a fascinating novel, and my long friendship with her changed me in many ways. She lived in the same house as my husband and I, and was the senior surgeon of the city.<…>She lived in a large apartment with Maria Dmitrievna Nirod and her children<…>Their relationship was marital. Both were very close to royal family and fled from Tsarskoye Selo to Kyiv, where they hid for a long time in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra among the monks. Then they settled in our house, were arrested many times, but each time were released at the request of the powerful Leningrad security officer, on whom Vera Ignatievna performed a complex operation in the Tsarskoe Selo hospital during the 1914 war.<…>Very often my husband and I went upstairs to Gedroits and, to Vera Ignatievna’s delight, created an atmosphere of literary bohemia. They read poetry, wrote burime, Gedroits played the violin, I accompanied her on the piano. Sometimes we differed by three or four bars, but this did not bother us. We played without noticing that the listeners had huddled in the farthest room so as not to hear the cacophony. Together with Vera Ignatievna, we wrote the script: “Cancer Prevention.” It was accepted for production, they even gave us an advance, but for some reason the script never went into production. Giedroyc wrote many scientific articles about cancer and rejected the theory of the viral origin of cancer. She believed that this was an abnormal growth of residual germ cells. The cancer she fought with a surgical knife took brutal revenge on her. In 1932, she died from peritoneal cancer with metastases to the liver, a year after undergoing surgery (removal of the uterus).”

Vera Gedroits is buried at the Korchevat cemetery in Kyiv. On her grave is a simple iron cross, onto which is nailed a simple iron tablet. Inside the fence there is another grave - that of Archbishop Hermogenes. Once, as a young priest, he fell mortally ill; a second life was given to him by the hands of a wonderful woman surgeon, Vera Ignatievna Gedroits. After her death, he devotedly looked after her grave and bequeathed to bury himself next to her.

Vera Gedroits: http://kfinkelshteyn.narod.ru/Tzarskoye_Selo/Gedr_stoya.jpg

Grave of Vera Gedroits: http://kfinkelshteyn.narod.ru/Tzarskoye_Selo/Mogila1.jpg

Gedroits, Vera Ignatyevna

Vera Ignatievna Gedroyts (April 7, 1870, the village of Slobodishche, Oryol province - March 1932, Kyiv, USSR) - one of the first female surgeons in Russia, one of the first women in the world to receive the title of professor of surgery and head the surgical department, participant of the Russian- Japanese war, prose writer and poetess of the Silver Age.

As a graduate of the surgical school of Professor Cesar Roux (University of Lausanne), Vera Gedroits became the author of a number of original scientific works in the field of military, general and pediatric surgery. She also contributed to the formation of the Kyiv surgical school.

Considering the revolution inevitable and necessary, Vera Gedroits, however, was one of the closest people to the royal family. She personally taught nursing Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with the Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana, after which they worked in the infirmary under her leadership.

Family and early years

Coat of arms of the Gedroits "Hypocentaur"

Vera Ignatievna belonged to the ancient and noble Lithuanian princely family of Gedroits, who actively participated in liberation movement against Russian rule. Vera Ignatievna's grandfather was executed during the suppression of the uprising, and father Ignatius (Ignas) Ignatievich Gedroits and his brother, deprived of their noble title, were forced to flee to the Samara province, to their grandfather's friends. There, Ignatius received his education and worked in local government, then married the daughter of a Russified German landowner, Daria Konstantinovna Mihau, a student of the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens. Immediately after the wedding, Ignatius Ignatievich, on duty, moved to the Bryansk district of the Oryol province, where he acquired an estate in the village of Slobodishche, was engaged in agriculture and worked in the Council of Justices of the Peace.

Vera Gedroits was born on April 7 (19), 1870. In addition to her, the family had three more sisters and two brothers. Mother, busy household, didn’t have time to take care of children, and was little Vera’s first teacher

became her grandmother Natalya Tikhonovna Mihau, who in her improvised boarding house taught local children literacy, French, music, singing and dancing. Already as a child, Vera wore boyish clothes, was distinguished by lively behavior and was the leader of all the local children.

The desire to become a doctor appeared in Vera Gedroits after a series of illnesses and deaths of loved ones, including the death of her beloved brother Sergei, with whose name she later began to sign all her literary works.

In 1877, all the property of the family burned down in a fire, which after that began to live extremely poorly. However, a determination from the Senate came from St. Petersburg, according to which the princely title was returned to Ignatius Gedroits with all his descendants.

In 1883, Vera met a teacher from the neighboring village of Lyubohna, populist L.K. Lyubohna, who impressed her with her independence and determination. Gedroyts first read the novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky “What is to be done?”. In the same year, Vera was sent to study at the Bryansk women's gymnasium, where she was immediately accepted into the second grade. Among her teachers was the later famous V.V. Rozanov, who had a great influence on her. But soon Vera Ignatievna was expelled from the gymnasium for writing epigrams, publishing a handwritten satirical leaflet, and conflicting with the teacher. After this, her father, in agreement with his friend, industrialist S.I. Maltsev, sent her to Lyubohna to a factory paramedic to study medicine. Later, under the patronage of Maltsev, Vera returned to the gymnasium, which she graduated with honors in 1885.

Training in St. Petersburg and Lausanne

After graduating from high school, her father sent Vera Ignatievna to study in St. Petersburg. It was not without difficulty that she entered the medical courses Professor P.F. Lesgaft, which he organized in his apartment on Fontanka, building 18. After successful completion exams, Lesgaft advised Vera Ignatievna to go abroad and enter university, since at that time in Russia a woman did not have the right to receive higher education.

During her stay in St. Petersburg, Vera Gedroits began to compose her first poems. During the course, she met St. Petersburg students and began attending revolutionary circles, where, together with everyone else, she read the works of the Social Democrat Lassalle, drew up proclamations and went to demonstrations. In 1891, the popular democratic ideologist N.V. Shelgunov died, his funeral turned into a rally with calls for revolution. The crowd was dispersed by the gendarmerie, and the next day mass arrests were made. Vera Gedroits was among those detained. After a search and interrogation, without finding any serious evidence, she was sent to her father’s estate under police supervision.

In 1894, Vera Ignatievna was able to receive the title of home teacher at the Oryol gymnasium. Being a lesbian, on September 5, 1894, Vera Gedroits entered into a fictitious marriage with her St. Petersburg friend, Captain Nikolai Afanasyevich Belozerov [approx. 4]. She practically never saw her husband in the future, and carefully concealed the fact of her marriage. With the help of friends, having manipulated false passports, Vera Gedroits escaped from police surveillance and went abroad to Switzerland, where she intended to obtain a higher medical education.

View of the old building of the University of Lausanne

Upon arrival in Lausanne, she met the girl Riki Gudy, later they fell in love with each other and decided to go to Russia together, but fate decreed otherwise. Vera Gedroits, with her false passport, was initially denied admission to the university. However, she met through the People's Will member S. M. Zhemanov (an associate of G. V. Plekhanov) with professor-physiologist A. A. Herzen (son of A. I. Herzen), and at his request she was admitted to the medical faculty of the University of Lausanne. Since Vera Gedroyts's family had difficulty making ends meet and could not help to earn a living, she had to give lessons and work as an assistant to Professor A. I. Skrebitsky.

There were only three women studying at the faculty. In her junior year, Vera Gedroits became especially interested in anatomy. In her senior years, she was interested in surgery taught by famous professor Caesar Roux, a student of E. Kocher. Psychiatry, a course taught by Professor Siegfried Rabov, also attracted the attention of Vera Gedroits. She actively worked in both departments, wrote reports, and was on duty in clinics.

On December 14, 1898, Vera Gedroits graduated from the university with honors. In winter, anxious letters from her mother came from Russia, in which she asked her daughter to return, but on the advice of Professor Caesar Ru, Vera Gedroits applied for the competition and became an assistant at the Department of Surgical Diseases. She was present at the clinic every day for rounds and dressings, took part in six to ten operations a day, and was on duty at night. At the same time I was studying scientific literature. Under the guidance of Professor Roux, she wrote and defended her dissertation for the title of Doctor of Medicine. After this, she received an invitation to become a private assistant professor of the department. But soon a letter came from Russia from his father, in which he reported the death of his sister and the illness of his mother, and begged him to return. At the same time, Rika’s mother died, leaving her daughter in the care of her minor brother and sister. In the spring of 1899, Vera Ignatievna was forced to return to Russia alone.

Return to Russia

"IN. I. Gedroits, the first woman surgeon to speak at the congress and give such a serious and interesting report, accompanied by a demonstration. The woman brought the man to his feet, who before her operation was crawling on his belly like a worm. I also remember the noisy ovation given to her by the Russian surgeons. In the history of surgery, it seems to me that such moments should be celebrated.”

V. I. Razumovsky, III All-Russian Congress of Surgeons.

Returning to Russia, Vera Gedroyts got a job as a factory doctor at the Maltsovsky Portland cement plants in the Kaluga province. In May 1900, a factory hospital with fifteen beds opened in Fokino, but it was unsuitable for treatment, and Vera Ignatievna, who was the only doctor, organized a complete re-equipment of the entrusted institution. In addition to serving the factory workers and their families, she soon also had to treat residents of the entire county. Vera Gedroits conducted outpatient visits, went to the homes of seriously ill patients, performed a lot of surgeries, organized the sanitary and hygienic regime of factories, and trained doctors from neighboring hospitals. At the same time, she was preparing scientific material and preparing to take exams to get Russian diploma doctor A lot of effort was spent on constant conflicts in the factory commission to determine the severity of injuries, where Vera Ignatievna defended the rights of workers to a pension.

On February 27, 1903, Vera Gedroits, having successfully passed the gymnasium and university exams at Moscow University, received a diploma with a record of conferring the title “woman doctor.” In the same year, Vera Gedroits made a presentation at III All-Russian Congress of Surgeons, published a report on the work of the factory in the journal "Surgery" medical service.

Difficult working conditions, dirt and poverty, the hopeless situation of the factory workers, hard work in the hospital and villages, difficulties in the family, a letter from Rika from Switzerland, in which she said that she would not be able to come to Russia, plunged Vera Gedroits into severe depression and before attempting suicide. However, nearby doctors who came to the factory commission saved her life.

Russo-Japanese War

Nobles' advanced hospital in Tawangose. In the foreground on the right is the surgeon V. I. Gedroits

In the spring of 1904, Vera Gedroits volunteered for the front of the Russian-Japanese War as a surgeon on an ambulance train. Russian society Red Cross. At the end of September, a medical service detachment led by Vera Ignatievna founded a hospital near the village of Xiaochintizi in Manchuria, and began receiving the wounded.

Soon she was elected chairman of the society of doctors of the Advanced Noble Detachments. During the war, Vera Ignatievna not only developed new methods of treatment in the new conditions of war, but also organized medical work in the changing conditions of the combat situation. On January 11, 1905, the camp was moved to the village of Gujiaozi. Later, a specially designed operating car was placed at the disposal of the detachment, and Vera Gedroyts came to lead it. On February 16, during the Battle of Mukden, the carriage was redeployed to the Fushinsky mines area. Soon the first patients began to arrive, the hospital worked around the clock, and Vera Gedroits personally performed more than a hundred operations.

On February 22, at the end of the Mukden battle, there was a threat of encirclement of the hospitals; the medical council decided not to leave the wounded and try to evacuate them. The retreat was successful; the last to leave under enemy fire was the train led by Vera Ignatyevna.

In March 1905, Vera Gedroits was assigned to treat Colonel V.I. Gurko. In the spring, her train went to the rear, and she took two awards from the war: the gold medal “For Diligence” on the Annen Ribbon, received on January 18, 1905 for activities during the battles of the Shah, and the silver medal “For Bravery” on St. George's ribbon, awarded personally by General N.P. Linevich on March 11, 1905 for heroic actions to save the wounded during the Battle of Mukden. On May 16, 1905 she was also awarded silver medal Red Cross.

After the war

In May 1905, Vera Gedroits returned to her native land to her former place of work. On July 27, she presented the results of her work to the Bryansk Society of Doctors, summarizing the experience gained and making a number of important conclusions in military medicine. Her name as a female surgeon and as a war hero became known throughout the country.

In 1905, as throughout Russia, unrest and unrest arose in factories due to difficult working conditions and low wages. Vera Giedroyc helped labor leaders. She met the local Constitutional Democrats and then joined the leadership of the local party branch.

On December 22, 1905, her marriage with N.A. Belozerov, which she hid from others, was dissolved at the request of Gedroits (in 1907 she would be returned the title of princess and allowed to return her maiden name).

In 1906, the police compiled a list of cadets, the first place in which was taken by Vera Ignatievna. However, unlike other people on the list, she was not subjected to repression, but was given work and transferred to the management of the Lyudinovo hospital, which it was decided to make central in the Maltsovsky district. She decided to achieve European level providing medical care: new equipment, instruments, an X-ray machine were purchased, ether anesthesia and bacteriological diagnostics were introduced into practice, a separate obstetric department was opened, and a pathological museum was created.

Soon Vera Ignatievna was appointed chief surgeon of the Zhizdra district, and then chief surgeon of the factories of the Maltsov joint-stock company. In addition to practical surgery and organizational activities, she did not give up her studies in science, collected material for her dissertation, and thought about writing a textbook. Gedroits worked on issues of industrial injuries, abdominal wall hernias, thyroid surgery, tumors of various organs, bone tuberculosis, and obstetrics. Vera Ignatievna published articles in medical journals and held discussions with zemstvo doctors about the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases.

Soon Vera Gedroits met the family of the St. Petersburg professor Imperial Academy Art by Yu. Yu. Clever. Communication with creative people revived her craving for literary activity, she began to write poetry, ballads, plays, stories, and fairy tales.

In the winter of 1909, Vera Gedroits received an invitation to St. Petersburg to open a children's clinic. Arriving in the capital, she met with a front-line friend E. S. Botkin, who by that time was a private assistant professor at the Military Medical Academy and personal doctor royal family. He invited Vera Ignatievna to be his assistant, because in imperial family out of seven people, five were women, and he knew her as a first-class specialist, including in women’s diseases.

Tsarskoye Selo period

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (left) and Princess Vera Gedroits in the dressing room of the Tsarskoye Selo hospital

In 1909, thanks to the recommendation of E. S. Botkin, as well as military glory Gedroits, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna invited her to take the position of senior resident at the Tsarskoye Selo Palace Hospital. Vera Ignatievna and her mother came to Tsarskoe Selo, where they received an invitation to stay with the family of Yu. Yu. Clover.

The appointment of a woman to such a high position (VII rank) was extremely negatively perceived by the senior doctor of the hospital N.M. Schrader, but he was forced to submit to the will of the empress. Vera Ignatievna began to head the surgical and obstetrics-gynecology departments, being the second person in the hospital. She also treated the royal children and had a private practice in the city. However, the conflict with the senior doctor caused tense relationships with colleagues and a lot of friction with management. N.M. Schrader even submitted a request to the police about Gedroits’ trustworthiness, but for some reason the check did not reveal her connections with revolutionary circles.

To support Vera Ignatievna, the daughter of Yu. Yu. Klever, Maria, invited her to publish her literary works and undertook to design the publication herself. Maria was entirely involved in preparing the book, so when Gedroits saw the already printed edition of “Poems and Fairy Tales,” she was upset because of the unsuccessful selection of material. But in the process of preparing the book for publication, Vera Ignatievna met R.V. Ivanov-Razumnik, who later became her close friend.

She also renewed her acquaintance with V.V. Rozanov; she was the first to diagnose his wife with multiple sclerosis and began her further treatment. Vera Ignatievna also got to know N.S. Gumilyov closely, since she treated him for malaria, which he contracted during his first trip to Abyssinia. Subsequently, she provided him with financial support for the publication of the Hyperborea magazine. Thanks to these connections, Vera Ignatievna took part in various poetry clubs and creative salons, where she met almost everyone famous figures Silver Age.

Soon Gedroits became part of the “Workshop of Poets” proclaimed by Gumilyov, which also included Akhmatova, Gorodetsky, Mandelstam, Zenkevich, Narbut, Kuzmina-Karavaeva, Lozinsky, Kuzmin, Piast, Alexey Tolstoy, Victor Tretyakov and others. Through R.V. Ivanov-Razumnik, Vera Ignatievna met N.A. Klyuev and S.A Yesenin. In 1913, under the auspices of the Workshop, her second book of poems, “Veg,” was published. Vera Ignatievna also published in the magazines “Hyperborea”, “Testaments”, “New Journal for Everyone”, “Bulletin of Theosophy” (in a number of poems Gedroits was guided by the esoteric revelations of E. Blavatsky), “Northern Notes”, “Contemporary” and others.

At the same time, Vera Gedroits was also engaged in scientific research. She made presentations at the X and XI All-Russian Congresses of Surgeons. In 1912, she defended her second doctoral dissertation at Moscow University, “Long-term results of operations of inguinal hernias using the Roux method based on 268 operations,” written under the guidance of Professor P. I. Dyakonov. Professor N.I. Spizharsky greeted her after her defense as the first woman in Russia to receive academic degree Doctor of Medicine in Surgery.

In the summer of 1914, World War I began. Vera Ignatievna, being an assistant to the Commissioner of the Russian Red Cross Society, proposed organizing an evacuation point for the wounded in Tsarskoye Selo. This idea received the support of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. The deployment of several dozen infirmaries began. Vera Ignatievna was appointed senior physician and leading surgeon of the infirmary that had just been organized in the building of the Palace Hospital, which received serial number three. Thus, she ceased to be a subordinate of N.M. Schrader. The total capacity of the infirmary was 30 officers and 200 soldiers. The imperial couple personally supervised the preparation of the hospital, which was equipped in accordance with advanced achievements medicine. Vera Ignatievna performed a lot of operations, organized the treatment process, and collected scientific material.

Vera Gedroits, among other works, created training courses for sisters of mercy. For them, she wrote a textbook, “Conversations on Surgery for Sisters and Doctors,” where she summarized her experience gained during the Russo-Japanese War. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with the Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana asked Vera Ignatievna to teach them the same course. After completing their studies, they began working in the hospital headed by Princess Giedroyc. The Empress and her daughters, like ordinary sisters of mercy, personally cared for the sick, made dressings, and assisted during operations.

Vera Gedroits became a close person in the royal family and a friend of Alexandra Feodorovna. According to V.I. Chebotareva, Emperor Nicholas II, by placing his wife to work in the infirmary, hoped to reduce Rasputin’s influence on her.

On January 2, 1915, a train traveling from St. Petersburg to Tsarskoe Selo crashed. Among the victims was a close friend of the Empress, Anna Vyrubova. She was taken to the infirmary in extremely serious condition, Vera Ignatievna made an unfavorable diagnosis. Having learned about what had happened, Grigory Rasputin, of whom Vyrubova was a passionate admirer, urgently came to her infirmary and burst into a clean room straight from the street in dirty boots and a fur coat. Seeing this, Vera Gedroits lost her temper, grabbed the “old man” by the collar and threw him out of the hospital. The royal couple, who were present during the conflict, did not utter a word. Contrary to the forecast, the patient recovered, but even more tense relations developed between Vera Ignatievna and the imperial favorites Rasputin and Vyrubova. Despite this, Alexandra Fedorovna retained her favor towards Gedroits and even awarded her a gold watch with the state coat of arms.

In 1917 there was February Revolution. Although the princess sympathized with the revolution, considering it inevitable and necessary, she greeted the news of the emperor’s abdication with tears. Soon royal family arrested, the Red Cross was reorganized, hospital No. 3, which was headed by Vera Ignatievna, was abolished. The senior doctor of the Palace Hospital, N.M. Schrader, took advantage of the moment and stopped paying Princess Gedroits a salary, citing the fact that she had formally left the hospital to work, and he refused to return her. It became dangerous for Vera Ignatievna to remain in Petrograd, as a close member of the imperial family. Princess Gedroits decided to volunteer for the front again.

On the Southwestern Front

In April 1917, Vera Ignatievna arrived at Southwestern Front. She was assigned as a junior doctor to the dressing detachment of the 6th Siberian Rifle Division. However, thanks to her high qualifications, great ability to work and her fame in medical circles, she quickly got promoted. A month later, Gedroits became a senior doctor and head of the division’s disinfection service, and soon she was elected to the Sanitary Council and appointed corps surgeon, which was an extremely high position for a woman (the level of lieutenant colonel). In January 1918, Vera Ignatievna was wounded and was evacuated to Kyiv. The “Galician Stories”, published in the spring of 1918 in the newspaper “Znamya Truda” in St. Petersburg, are based on the impressions of this period.

Kyiv period

Some biographers suggest that Princess Gedroits, being wounded, survived 1918 in one of the monastery hospitals (possibly at the Intercession Monastery), where she became close friends with nurse Maria Dmitrievna Nirod (1879-1965), the widow of Count F. M. Nirod, with whom I knew her back in Tsarskoye Selo. Together with her and her two children, she moved into an apartment in apartment building No. 7 on Kruglouniversitetskaya Street, living as one family and being in a “de facto marriage.” In the new place, Vera Ignatievna struck up friendships with the artists I. D. Avdieva and L. S. Povolotsky, who lived on the floor below, with whom they created an impromptu “creative salon.” In this apartment, fragments of the St. Petersburg aristocracy and intelligentsia gathered for modest dinners.

After recovery, Gedroits worked in a children's clinic. Since 1919, she actively took part in the activities of Kyiv surgical services, organizing, in particular, a clinic maxillofacial surgery. In 1921, at the invitation of Professor E. G. Chernyakhovsky, Vera Ignatievna began working at the faculty surgical clinic of the Kyiv Medical Institute, where, as a private assistant professor of the department, she taught a course in pediatric surgery for the first time.

Gedroits also published articles in medical journals on general and pediatric surgery, cardiac surgery, oncology, endocrinology, took part in surgical congresses, wrote a textbook on pediatric surgery, developed teaching methods for students, and gave lectures. In 1923 she was elected professor of medicine. Professor V.A. Oppel described her as “a real surgeon, good with a knife.”

During the Kiev period, Vera Ignatyevna worked on a series of stories based on autobiographical material under the general code name"Life". Five stories are known: “Kaftanchik”, “Lyakh”, “Separation”, “Shaman” and “Twister”; three of them were published in 1930-1931.

In 1929, Vera Gedroits was elected head of the department of faculty surgery to replace E. G. Chernyakhovsky, who was dismissed during the repressions against the Ukrainian scientific intelligentsia (the famous Case of the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine). However, in 1930 she was also dismissed from the university without the right to a pension. Using savings and royalties from publications, Vera Ignatievna bought a house in the suburbs of Kyiv. She almost left surgical activity, but continued to operate in the hospital of the Intercession Monastery.

In 1931, Vera Ignatievna fell ill with cancer, she was operated on, and her uterus was removed. In 1932 the tumor recurred and she died in March. Shortly before her death, Gedroits gave her archives to I. D. Avdieva and L. S. Povolotsky. Among them was a letter from Professor Caesar Roux, in which he bequeathed his chair of surgery to her. In the 1930s, L. S. Povolotsky was arrested on charges of espionage, and the letter itself, seized as “evidence,” was lost. After the death of Gedroits, M.D. Nirod moved to live in a monastery. Vera Ignatievna was buried in Kyiv at Spaso-Preobrazhensky (now Korchevatsky cemetery). In the same fence with the modest grave of Gedroits are the graves of Archbishop Hermogenes and his relative: saved by Vera Ignatievna, he looked after her grave and bequeathed to be buried next to her.

Scientific activities

While working at the Maltsov factories, Vera Ignatievna encountered a “professional epidemic”: many workers had hernias. This made it possible to collect extensive material not only for practical, but also for scientific activities, especially since the problem of hernias was actively developed by her teacher, Professor Cesar Roux. She wrote several scientific papers and articles, and then defended her doctoral dissertation at Moscow University on the topic of isolated results of inguinal hernia repair. Positive reviews of the dissertation were given by V. A. Oppel, P. I. Tikhov, Tsezar Ru, N. N. Petrov, and it was translated into several languages.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Vera Ignatyevna developed a technique for a number of abdominal operations, being the first in the world to use such treatment methods in the theater of operations; she also expressed the opinion that any penetrating wound should be subject to surgical treatment. These ideas were a serious innovation not only in domestic but also in world science. This contributed to a subsequent change in views on the standards of medical care for abdominal wounds. Vera Ignatievna also developed the teachings of N.P. Pirogov about “evacuation in stages” and the separation of flows of the wounded, supplementing it with the position that the closer the hospital is to the battlefield, the more productive its activities.

Vera Gedroits also dealt with the problem of surgical treatment of cancer. She denied the viral theory of its origin, leaning towards the embryonic one, and declared an ablastic approach to operations. Vera Ignatievna also dealt with issues of military field surgery, traumatology, orthopedics, surgery for extrapulmonary tuberculosis, cardiac surgery, surgery of endocrine organs (thyroid and pancreas), maxillofacial surgery, and so on. In total, Vera Gedroits wrote more than 60 scientific papers.

The security officer again mumbled on the questions “who is he,” “place of residence,” “occupation,” and other biographical fluff.

Since he crossed the threshold of the damp room, Povolotsky has already answered a hundred times that his name is Leonid Povolotsky, that he lives with his wife in Kyiv, that he considers himself an artist.

With each new approach to the old circle of questions, with each cigarette smoked by the security officer, and with each hour (how long has he been here?) Povolotsky’s answers became more and more chaotic. He forgot names and faces, confused dates and events. Perhaps this was the first time in Povolotsky’s life when he regretted that he had such wide circle dating

Gedroits Sergey? Familiar name? Who is he to you?

Povolotsky bowed his head to the right and felt his neck become stiff.

This is the pseudonym of Vera Ignatievna Gedroits. Her brother Sergei died when they were young, and she often used his name when publishing her works.

Lesbian or what?

ABOUT personal life“I’m not aware of Vera Ignatievna,” Povolotsky answered dryly. He has no desire to share with this comrade what he and his wife did not even discuss. Although, of course, both knew that their neighbors were actually married.

I understand, people of subtle matters... - the security officer continued to rummage through the papers. - Yeah, she died five years ago. Why didn’t your Gedroits cure herself? It is written here - the famous surgeon, the royal favorite, probably treated the entire royal family. By the way, I didn’t even have to try - they still killed me.

Povolotsky felt that nausea was added to his dizziness.

Okay, comrade artist, tell me what you know about Princess Gedroits.

Povolotsky needed a few seconds to collect his thoughts.

Vera Ignatievna was an honest man and a brilliant surgeon. She did her job excellently. By definition, she could not be the tsar’s favorite: her grandfather was executed by the tsarist authorities, her father was deprived of his title for the anti-imperial movement. She didn't care about politics. What she wanted most was not to be disturbed in doing her work.

There was a knock on the door. The security officer left and returned a minute later.

Come to the table, comrade artist.

Povolotsky stood up with difficulty (the room began to spin before his eyes), and walked to the table on weak legs. All the previous pieces of paper had disappeared somewhere; on the table lay only a sheet of faded paper, covered with small hasty handwriting.

We know that Gedroits gave this leaflet to you before her death. Decipher it yourself or add more work to our specialists?

Even despite the horror of his situation, Povolotsky could not help but smile.

This is not a code. It's French.

Stop it! - the security officer’s cry shattered across the room. Povolotsky turned pale.

You're kidding, you bastard! Now it's our turn to joke! Yes, we need people like you for a long time...

And the letter was indeed in French. It was written in 1926 by the famous Swiss surgeon Cesar Roux.

In the letter, Professor Roux formulated his last will: he wants, after his resignation, the department of surgery in Lausanne - one of the best in the world - to be headed by his favorite student Vera Giedroyc.

Childhood, adolescence, escape

Already as a child, Vera preferred the company of boys. You could be direct, frank, even rude with them. You could also use them to pick at a pond with a stick or climb trees - girls were not allowed such pleasures.

When little Vera was especially playful, her parents called her over and reprimanded her in a stern whisper: “How are you behaving, you’re a princess!” They did not speak loudly about the lost title.

Princely coat of arms of the Gedroits familyPhoto: State Public historical library Russia

It was a grim story for the Gedroits family. Representatives of the ancient Lithuanian family fought against Russian rule for years. After the suppression of another uprising, Vera’s grandfather was deprived of his princely title and executed, and his father fled to the Samara province. There he turned from Ignace into Ignatius and met Vera's mother - the daughter of a local landowner, a sophisticated graduate of the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens Daria Mihau.

The former princes barely made ends meet. The situation worsened after a fire, during which their house in the Oryol province burned down with all its property. The news that the princely title had been returned to the Gedroians looked like a mockery against the background of their poverty.

When Vera turned 13, she was expelled from the gymnasium for writing epigrams - this was the unfortunate way in which her literary talent. Others educational institutions there was none in the area, and Ignatius Gedroyts agreed to have the girl trained by a local paramedic. So unexpectedly medicine entered Vera’s life.

After several years of studying with a paramedic, Vera began to independently prepare for admission to Lesgaft medical courses in St. Petersburg. The young princess left her home.

Even her loving parents could not call her beautiful: too tall and too heavy, Vera was completely devoid of grace and elegance. But she had regular facial features and, surprisingly, beautiful hands. Vera was hardworking, courageous, and straightforward. It was easy to believe that she would succeed even in such an unfeminine matter as medicine.

On a sunny September day in 1894, the Gedroits couple received a letter from their daughter with amazing news. Firstly, Vera got married. Did this mysterious captain Nikolai Belozerov manage to tame Vera?

The second news was even more incredible: the daughter wrote that she was going to study in Switzerland at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lausanne.

Like all children at all times, Vera did not tell her parents the whole truth.

Her marriage to the dear captain Belozerov was fictitious. Immediately after signing the documents, the newlyweds parted ways so as not to meet again. In parallel with Lesgaft’s courses, Vera attended revolutionary circles and came under police surveillance. New surname gave her the opportunity to prepare documents to travel abroad. Freedom is a great reason to get married.

What was the benefit of this marriage for Belozerov is unknown. She and Vera corresponded for several more years and remained good friends. When later, in 1905, Vera asked her “husband” to dissolve the union - she wanted to return her maiden name - he agreed without talking.

Female doctor

Professor Caesar RouxPhoto: State Public Historical Library of Russia

Life can change in one day - Vera became convinced of this in 1898. The girl graduated from the Faculty of Medicine with the most high marks. Professor Roux himself singled her out among his students and persuaded her to stay at the university. Actually, this is what she herself wanted. And not only her, but also her close friend Ricky Gudy, with whom she had lived together for several years.

But ambitious plans and personal idyll were destroyed by one letter from his father.

"Sasha ( Vera's sister - approx. TD) died of pneumonia, mother is nervous, come! I never called you, but it is necessary. Finish your service and go home. A new plant is being built seven miles from us, a surgeon is needed, I gave my word for you. I can’t write - it’s hard!”

Selfless Vera hastily began to get ready. She said goodbye to Riki, making her promise that they would soon meet in Russia.

In her homeland, Gedroits faced the usual poverty, a tired father, a mother with a broken heart. mental health. The only way work seemed to change something, and Vera disappeared from morning to night at the Maltsov cement plant.

Due to the nature of hard work in the factory main problem the workers had a hernia - Vera quickly established this. And since her teacher Professor Roux’s specialty was hernias, her treatment methods turned out to be very effective.

The rumor about the new talented doctor quickly spread throughout the surrounding area, and Vera’s work increased. Well, after she put the son of a craftsman on his feet, who, due to a disease of the hip joint, had spent his entire life in a semi-sitting position, Gedroits became a local celebrity.

V.I.Gedroyts lived in one of these factory housesPhoto: State Public Historical Library of Russia

32-year-old Vera Ignatievna was invited to take part in the Third All-Russian Congress of Surgeons. “The first woman surgeon to speak at the congress with such a serious and interesting report, accompanied by a demonstration... I also remember the noisy ovation given to her by Russian surgeons. In the history of surgery, it seems to me, such moments should be celebrated,” wrote Gedroits’s colleague, surgeon Razumovsky.

It is at this moment - recognition and triumph - that Vera picks up the Browning.

The bullet pierced the heart sac. Vera was saved solely thanks to the skill of her colleagues, who tactfully did not ask questions. And even if they did, what could she tell them?

Vera trusted her experiences only to paper. So, indignant at the social injustice reigning in Russia, she wrote in her diary: “There seem to be two lives going on in parallel: some are having fun carefree, staging amateur performances, not hearing the groans of others, oppressed by need and hunger.” But it wasn’t just social injustice that brought Vera down. She received a letter from Ricky from Switzerland. “Don’t wait, I’m eager to come to you, but I can’t leave the children and the matter...”

It took Giedroyc a long time to come to her senses after her suicide attempt. It was, oddly enough, the war that finally brought her back to life.

From the battlefield to Tsarskoye Selo

“Among those who went to the front as a Red Cross surgeon was Princess Gedroits, the chief surgeon of the ambulance train,” said the report on the Russian-Japanese War

For the first time in history, serious operations were carried out directly on the battlefield, under enemy fire - European powers would not begin to use operational carriages until ten years later. And the innovator in this dangerous matter was a woman - surgeon Gedroits.

The doctors had no more than three to four hours a day to rest - in the first week of operation of the operating room car alone, Gedroits performed 56 operations.

She even operated on a Japanese prince. Years later, the prince sent Vera Ignatievna thank you letter, in which he called her “the giver of life and the owner of healing hands.” And also precious souvenirs - hand-embroidered silk panels and several ivory netsuke figurines.

The fame of the first female surgeon reached the empress, and Alexandra Feodorovna expressed a desire to get the wonder into her hospital at Tsarskoe Selo.

Left: Medical staff of the Palace Infirmary. V.I.Gedroyts in the center. Right: Giedroyc appointment reportPhoto: State Public Historical Library of Russia

Gedroits made a shocking impression on the royal family. The princess had her hair cut short, preferred a men's suit and tie, smoked constantly, and spoke of herself in a man's face: “I operated,” “I examined.”

Nevertheless, the Empress insisted on Gedroits' appointment to the hospital. In addition, Vera Ignatievna became the doctor of the grand duchesses, who were more comfortable seeing a woman.

The lull between the wars was a fruitful time - Gedroits, who was entitled to an unheard-of salary of 900 rubles, almost for the first time in her life could not worry about money. And also devote your free time to literature.

In the ward of the officer's department of hospital No. 3. 1914Photo: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, Romanov Family Album

Vera Ignatievna's close friend, the artist Clover, introduced her to the literary circles of St. Petersburg. The extraordinary princess charmed the motley bohemian society: she even became a member of the “Workshop of Poets” of the first convocation. Moreover, she helped out Nikolai Gumilyov, giving him half of the required amount for the publication of the “monthly poetry and criticism” of the Acmeists “Hyperboreas”.

The poems of Sergei Gedroits (pseudonym of Vera) were published along with the works of Akhmatova, Mandelstam, and Mayakovsky. True, contemporaries found the personality of the princess much more fascinating than poetry.

The First World War suspended Vera Ignatievna’s literary activity, but strengthened her medical authority among the Romanovs.

But the authority royal power in his eyes Gedroits kept falling. She understood that even if there was confusion going on in Tsarskoe Selo, then what kind of hell was happening in other hospitals: “The hospital is always overcrowded, and considering that the lower basement floor is occupied by the awaited, unfortunate old men and women, then you simply need to say that the people in it stuffed like sardines in a barrel.”

Tsarskoye Selo. A soldier with a shrapnel wound (before surgery) in a military hospital. Vera Gedroyts doing a bandage Photo: TASS

Sometimes Vera Ignatievna expressed her impressions in poetic form.

The square is cold and sad

Among the sprawling alleys,

Where is the far east and north

Sent pieces of people from the battlefield.

Under the leadership of Gedroits, Alexandra Fedorovna and her daughters mastered the work of nurses. The Empress, Olga and Tatiana Romanov did not disdain dirty work and obediently assisted during operations. Carried away by her work, Vera Ignatievna could have shouted at Alexandra Fedorovna, but she did not pay attention.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna presents instruments during an operation. Behind are the Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana. Operated by V.I.GedroytsPhoto: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Romanov Family Album

One episode nevertheless cooled the relationship between the empress and the princess - Vera Ignatievna kicked Rasputin out of the ward, where he went to visit an acquaintance. He walked in with a sweeping step from the street in dirty boots. Rasputin is used to having all the doors of the empire open to him, and Gedroits is used to the fact that her chambers are clean and there are no strangers. The sisters of mercy giggled for a long time, remembering how their surgeon almost threw the almighty old man out of the room by the scruff of the neck.

Outcast

Gedroits came to the idea of ​​the need for revolution while still a student at Lesgaft. The princely title did not separate her from the people, because Gedroits lived in simplicity, bordering on poverty. It was all the more surprising for Vera Ignatievna hostility to her a new world.

In 1918, while a surgeon in the Sixth Siberian Rifle Division, Gedroits was wounded at the front and was evacuated to Kyiv. I got to my feet, got stronger, got ready for work and... didn’t get it.

Rejection after rejection awaited one of the country's most talented surgeons as she tried to get a job. The princely mark was for Soviet power more important than services to medicine. I couldn’t wrap my head around this: how can those who compose songs about the welfare of the people deprive the same people of decent treatment? And in general, what does medicine have to do with politics? The doctor does not look at who he treats - he fulfills his duty.

But the worst thing about this new world were the arrests - there were several of them. Unexpected, often in the middle of the night, they usually lasted less than a day. Gedroits was always released without consequences: an order came from Moscow, from a certain prominent official, on whom Vera Ignatievna had undergone a complex knee operation back in 1914.

Finally, a job was found for a first-class, world-class surgeon - in a children's clinic.

One thing pleased Gedroits during this period - rapprochement with the widow of Count Nirod Maria. In Kyiv, the princess and countess settled together in an apartment in a house on Kruglouniversitetskaya Street. We made acquaintance with our bohemian neighbors: a married couple of artists, Irina Avdieva and Leonid Povolotsky.

V.I.Gedroyts lived in this house in KyivPhoto: State Public Historical Library of Russia

The couples regularly organized literary and musical evenings together. “Gedroyts played the violin, I accompanied her on the piano,” Avdieva recalled. “Sometimes we separated by three or four bars, but this did not bother us. We played without noticing that the listeners had huddled in the farthest room so as not to hear the cacophony.”

In 1921, when Vera Ignatievna had already given up hope, she received a job offer from the Kyiv Medical Institute. Gradually, the prejudice against Giedroyc - at least in medical circles - dissipated.

Articles by Vera Ignatievna began to appear in the press on oncology, endocrinology and, of course, surgery. In 1923, Gedroits received the title of professor of medicine, and six years later she was offered to head the department of surgery.

Even her autobiographical stories under the pseudonym “Sergei Gedroits” were published in St. Petersburg. Life seemed to be getting better.

Kyiv, 1931

Povolotsky opened the door. Vera Ignatyevna stood on the threshold - incredibly thin, haggard, almost unrecognizable.

Your wife and I, Leonid, have a date under a pear tree,” and smiled.

It was amazing how a smile instantly made her stern features softer and more feminine.

Books by V.I.GedroytsPhoto: State Public Historical Library of Russia

Povolotsky gestured to his neighbor into the apartment. She already said:

There is, Leonid, such a pungent herb - it grows almost everywhere, dogs and cats eat it. I have come up with a plan so that Irina will infuse this herb in alcohol all week, and then the day of rest will come, and we will celebrate this culinary success. As you can see, the day has come.

Avdieva came out of the kitchen - in her hands she was holding a bottle with a suspicious bright green liquid. There were pieces of weed floating at the bottom of the bottle. Povolotsky winced.

Dear ones, forgive me for minding my own business, but are you sure you want to drink this stuff?

Irochka, let’s go quickly, your husband has coveted our exquisite liqueur.

“Under the pear” means under an old spreading pear tree in the yard of the house. Vera Ignatyevna, like a master, poured the poisonous green liqueur into glasses and, clinking glasses with Avdieva, drank in one gulp. The taste was disgusting.

“What horror,” Irina muttered, wincing.

“Nothing, this is an experiment,” Vera Ignatievna stated, also wincing, and poured another one.

After the third drink the conversation became freer. Gedroyts read her poems, reciting “The Tsarskoye Selo Palace” especially heartfeltly:

Deserted, white, lonely,

With the beauty of the outstretched porches,

In the midst of the darkness of the cruel winter night,

As before, the palace rises.

As of old, a lattice along the fence

The peace of the past guards,

Frost is a generous reward,

There is snow all around like a snowdrift.

Avdieva and Gedroits often got drunk together (they just said “let’s get drunk”), but Irina knew for sure that this time would be the last.

The disease was advancing more and more decisively. A year ago, Vera had her uterus removed, but the cancer had already metastasized to her liver. The same cancer that Gedroits dedicated to fighting recent years medical practice in Kyiv.

Yes, they are getting drunk for the last time - that’s why Avdieva asked what she didn’t dare ask before. For example, about the relationship between Gedroits and Gumilyov - usually Vera Ignatievna did not touch on this topic, but here she opened up.

Dream! - exclaimed a fairly tipsy Avdieva.

How to say - in essence, he accused me of rejecting the entire male gender. He called the poem “Cruel.” I remember these lines: “You want on your lunar body / To follow the touch of only women’s hands.” What's it like? But last quatrain absolutely amazing. Here, listen, Irochka.

Eagle Sappho at the White Cliff

Solemnly soared, and beauty

Shadeless vineyards of Lesvos

She closed her blasphemous lips.

So, while talking, they drank all the green liquid under the spreading pear tree. When it became really bad, Vera Ignatievna confessed, and in her voice one could hear a complaint and even resentment:

I thought I could kill the cancer in myself with this green grass; cutting it is useless - it’s everywhere. But I'm afraid it won't work...

Vera Ignatievna died in March 1932. Before her death, she gave her neighbor and friend, the artist Povolotsky, a letter written by Professor Roux. “Lenya, save this letter. This is an honor for Russian surgery, you know? The time will come, and you will give it to whoever needs it.”

Awards V.I.Gedroyts

Photo: State Public Historical Library of Russia

The letter ended up in the wrong place and served as the main evidence in the case against Povolotsky, accused of espionage. The artist was repressed.

Vera Ignatievna’s last words concerned work: “When they operate on cancer, you must avoid needles - but they don’t understand this. You can’t pierce a sick cell!”

Gedroits remained a doctor not only under all regimes, but also in the face of death.

Thank you for reading to the end!

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As a graduate of the surgical school of Professor Cesar Roux (University of Lausanne), Vera Gedroits became the author of a number of original scientific works in the field of military, general and pediatric surgery. She also contributed to the formation of the Kyiv surgical school.

Considering the revolution inevitable and necessary, Vera Gedroits, however, was one of the closest people to the royal family. She personally taught nursing to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and the Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana, after which they worked in the infirmary under her leadership.

Biography

Family and early years

Vera Ignatievna belonged to the ancient and noble Lithuanian princely family of Gedroits, which actively participated in the liberation movement against Russian rule. Vera Ignatievna's grandfather was executed during the suppression of the uprising, and father Ignatius (Ignas) Ignatievich Gedroits and his brother, deprived of their noble title, were forced to flee to the Samara province, to their grandfather's friends. There, Ignatius received his education and worked in local government, then married the daughter of a Russified German landowner, Daria Konstantinovna Mihau, a student of the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens. Immediately after the wedding, Ignatius Ignatievich, on duty, moved to the Bryansk district of the Oryol province, where he acquired an estate in the village of Slobodishche, was engaged in agriculture and worked in the Council of Justices of the Peace.

Vera Gedroits was born on April 7 (19), 1870. In addition to her, the family had three more sisters and two brothers. The mother, busy with the housework, did not have time to take care of the children, and little Vera’s first teacher was her grandmother Natalya Tikhonovna Mihau, who in her improvised boarding house taught local children literacy, French, music, singing and dancing. Already as a child, Vera wore boyish clothes, was distinguished by lively behavior and was the leader of all the local children.

The desire to become a doctor appeared in Vera Gedroits after a series of illnesses and deaths of loved ones, including the death of her beloved brother Sergei, with whose name she later began to sign all her literary works.

In 1877, all the property of the family burned down in a fire, which after that began to live extremely poorly. However, a determination from the Senate came from St. Petersburg, according to which the princely title was returned to Ignatius Gedroits with all his descendants.

In 1883, Vera met a teacher from the neighboring village of Lyubohna, populist L.K. Lyubohna, who impressed her with her independence and determination. Gedroyts first read the novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky “What is to be done?”. In the same year, Vera was sent to study at the Bryansk women's gymnasium, where she was immediately accepted into the second grade. Among her teachers was the later famous V.V. Rozanov, who had a great influence on her. But soon Vera Ignatievna was expelled from the gymnasium for writing epigrams, publishing a handwritten satirical leaflet, and conflicting with the teacher. After this, her father, in agreement with his friend, industrialist S.I. Maltsev, sent her to Lyubohna to a factory paramedic to study medicine. Later, under the patronage of Maltsev, Vera returned to the gymnasium, which she graduated with honors in 1885.

Training in St. Petersburg and Lausanne

After graduating from high school, her father sent Vera Ignatievna to study in St. Petersburg. It was not without difficulty that she entered the medical courses of Professor P. F. Lesgaft, which he organized in his apartment on Fontanka, building 18. After successfully passing the exams, Lesgaft advised Vera Ignatievna to go abroad and enter university, since at that time in Russia a woman did not have the right to receive higher education.

During her stay in St. Petersburg, Vera Gedroits began to compose her first poems. During the course, she met St. Petersburg students and began attending revolutionary circles, where, together with everyone else, she read the works of the Social Democrat Lassalle, drew up proclamations and went to demonstrations. In 1891, the popular democratic ideologist N.V. Shelgunov died, his funeral turned into a rally with calls for revolution. The crowd was dispersed by the gendarmerie, and the next day mass arrests were made. Vera Gedroits was among those detained. After a search and interrogation, without finding any serious evidence, she was sent to her father’s estate under police supervision.

In 1894, Vera Ignatievna was able to receive the title of home teacher at the Oryol gymnasium. Being a lesbian, on September 5, 1894, Vera Gedroits entered into a fictitious marriage with her St. Petersburg friend, Captain Nikolai Afanasyevich Belozerov. She practically never saw her husband in the future, and carefully concealed the fact of her marriage. With the help of friends, having manipulated false passports, Vera Gedroits escaped from police surveillance and went abroad to Switzerland, where she intended to obtain a higher medical education.

Upon arrival in Lausanne, she met the girl Riki Gudy, later they fell in love with each other and decided to go to Russia together, but fate decreed otherwise. Vera Gedroits, with her false passport, was initially denied admission to the university. However, she met through the People's Will member S. M. Zhemanov (an associate of G. V. Plekhanov) with professor-physiologist A. A. Herzen (son of A. I. Herzen), and at his request she was admitted to the medical faculty of the University of Lausanne. Since Vera Gedroyts's family had difficulty making ends meet and could not help to earn a living, she had to give lessons and work as an assistant to Professor A. I. Skrebitsky.

There were only three women studying at the faculty. In her junior year, Vera Gedroits became especially interested in anatomy. In her senior years, she studied surgery with interest, taught by the famous professor Caesar Roux, a student of E. Kocher. Psychiatry, a course taught by Professor Siegfried Rabov, also attracted the attention of Vera Gedroits. She actively worked in both departments, wrote reports, and was on duty in clinics.

On December 14, 1898, Vera Gedroits graduated from the university with honors. In winter, anxious letters from her mother came from Russia, in which she asked her daughter to return, but on the advice of Professor Caesar Ru, Vera Gedroits applied for the competition and became an assistant at the Department of Surgical Diseases. She was present at the clinic every day for rounds and dressings, took part in six to ten operations a day, and was on duty at night. At the same time, she studied scientific literature. Under the guidance of Professor Roux, she wrote and defended her dissertation for the title of Doctor of Medicine. After this, she received an invitation to become a private assistant professor of the department. But soon a letter came from Russia from his father, in which he reported the death of his sister and the illness of his mother, and begged him to return. At the same time, Rika’s mother died, leaving her daughter in the care of her minor brother and sister. In the spring of 1899, Vera Ignatievna was forced to return to Russia alone.

Return to Russia

"IN. I. Gedroits, the first woman surgeon to speak at the congress and give such a serious and interesting report, accompanied by a demonstration. The woman brought the man to his feet, who before her operation was crawling on his belly like a worm. I also remember the noisy ovation given to her by the Russian surgeons. In the history of surgery, it seems to me that such moments should be celebrated.”

V. I. Razumovsky

Returning to Russia, Vera Gedroyts got a job as a factory doctor at the Maltsovsky Portland cement plants in the Kaluga province. In May 1900, a factory hospital with fifteen beds opened in Fokino, but it was unsuitable for treatment, and Vera Ignatievna, who was the only doctor, organized a complete re-equipment of the entrusted institution. In addition to serving the factory workers and their families, she soon also had to treat residents of the entire county. Vera Gedroits conducted outpatient visits, went to the homes of seriously ill patients, performed a lot of surgeries, organized the sanitary and hygienic regime of factories, and trained doctors from neighboring hospitals. At the same time, she was preparing scientific material and preparing to pass exams to obtain a Russian medical diploma. A lot of effort was spent on constant conflicts in the factory commission to determine the severity of injuries, where Vera Ignatievna defended the rights of workers to a pension.

On February 27, 1903, Vera Gedroits, having successfully passed the gymnasium and university exams at Moscow University, received a diploma with a record of conferring the title “woman doctor.” In the same year, Vera Gedroyts made a report at the III All-Russian Congress of Surgeons and published a report on the work of the factory medical service in the journal Surgery.

Difficult working conditions, dirt and poverty, the hopeless situation of the factory workers, hard work in the hospital and villages, difficulties in the family, a letter from Rika from Switzerland, in which she said that she would not be able to come to Russia, plunged Vera Gedroits into severe depression and before attempting suicide. However, nearby doctors who came to the factory commission saved her life.

Russo-Japanese War

In the spring of 1904, Vera Gedroits volunteered to go to the front of the Russo-Japanese War as a surgeon on an ambulance train for the Russian Red Cross Society. At the end of September, a medical service detachment led by Vera Ignatievna founded a hospital near the village of Xiaochintizi in Manchuria, and began receiving the wounded.

Soon she was elected chairman of the society of doctors of the Advanced Noble Detachments. During the war, Vera Ignatievna not only developed new methods of treatment in the new conditions of war, but also organized medical work in the changing conditions of the combat situation. On January 11, 1905, the camp was moved to the village of Gujiaozi. Later, a specially designed operating car was placed at the disposal of the detachment, and Vera Gedroyts came to lead it. On February 16, during the Battle of Mukden, the carriage was redeployed to the Fushinsky mines area. Soon the first patients began to arrive, the hospital worked around the clock, and Vera Gedroits personally performed more than a hundred operations.

On February 22, at the end of the Mukden battle, there was a threat of encirclement of the hospitals; the medical council decided not to leave the wounded and try to evacuate them. The retreat was successful; the last to leave under enemy fire was the train led by Vera Ignatyevna.

In March 1905, Vera Gedroits was assigned to treat Colonel V.I. Gurko. In the spring, her train went to the rear, and she took two awards from the war: the gold medal “For Diligence” on the Annensky Ribbon, received on January 18, 1905 for activities during the battles under the Shah, and the silver medal “For Bravery” on the St. George Ribbon, awarded personally General N.P. Linevich on March 11, 1905 for heroic actions in rescuing the wounded during the Battle of Mukden. On May 16, 1905, she was also awarded a silver medal of the Red Cross.

After the war

In May 1905, Vera Gedroits returned to her native land to her former place of work. On July 27, she presented the results of her work to the Bryansk Society of Doctors, summarizing the experience gained and making a number of important conclusions on military medicine. Her name as a female surgeon and as a war hero became known throughout the country.

In 1905, as throughout Russia, unrest and unrest arose in factories due to difficult working conditions and low wages. Vera Giedroyc helped labor leaders. She met the local Constitutional Democrats and then joined the leadership of the local party branch.

On December 22, 1905, her marriage with N.A. Belozerov, which she hid from others, was dissolved at the request of Gedroits (in 1907 she would be returned the title of princess and allowed to return her maiden name).

In 1906, the police compiled a list of cadets, the first place in which was taken by Vera Ignatievna. However, unlike other people on the list, she was not subjected to repression, but was given work and transferred to the management of the Lyudinovo hospital, which it was decided to make central in the Maltsovsky district. She decided to achieve the European level of medical care: new equipment, instruments, an X-ray machine were purchased, ether anesthesia and bacteriological diagnostics were introduced into practice, a separate obstetric department was opened, and a pathological museum was created.

Soon Vera Ignatievna was appointed chief surgeon of the Zhizdra district, and then chief surgeon of the factories of the Maltsov joint-stock company. In addition to practical surgery and organizational activities, she did not give up her studies in science, collected material for her dissertation, and thought about writing a textbook. Gedroits worked on issues of industrial injuries, abdominal wall hernias, thyroid surgery, tumors of various organs, bone tuberculosis, and obstetrics. Vera Ignatievna published articles in medical journals and held discussions with zemstvo doctors about the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases.

Soon Vera Gedroits met the family of the professor of the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts Yu. Yu. Klever. Communication with creative people revived her craving for literary activity, she began to write poetry, ballads, plays, short stories, and fairy tales.

In the winter of 1909, Vera Gedroits received an invitation to St. Petersburg to open a children's clinic. Arriving in the capital, she met with a front-line friend E. S. Botkin, who by that time was a private assistant professor at the Military Medical Academy and the personal physician of the royal family. He invited Vera Ignatievna to be his assistant, since in the imperial family of seven people, five were women, and he knew her as a first-class specialist, including in women’s diseases.

Tsarskoye Selo period

In 1909, thanks to the recommendation of E. S. Botkin, as well as Gedroits’ military glory, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna invited her to take the position of senior resident at the Tsarskoye Selo Palace Hospital. Vera Ignatievna and her mother came to Tsarskoe Selo, where they received an invitation to stay with the family of Yu. Yu. Clever.

The appointment of a woman to such a high position (VII rank) was extremely negatively perceived by the senior doctor of the hospital N.M. Schrader, but he was forced to submit to the will of the empress. Vera Ignatievna began to head the surgical and obstetric department