VIRUS Band 18, pp. 103-126, 2020/07/09
Konzepte sexueller Gesundheit vom Mittelalter bis zum 21. Jahrhundert
Based on numerous published gynaecological case histories, this paper investigates Ludwig Kleinwächter’s (1839–1906) diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to female and male sterility at the end of the 19th century. Set in the booming Eastern European metropolis of Chernovtsy/Bukovina at the fin de siècle, Kleinwächter’s thriving practice, established in the early 1880s, allows insight into the use of medical expertise in a multicultural environment. As Kleinwächter’s patients predominantly came from a Jewish background, they were often confronted with serious social and religious repercussions when failing to produce offspring. The prominent gynaecologist recorded around 15 per cent of his patients as being infertile. Besides locating Ludwig Kleinwächter in Bukovinian medical space and investigating doctor-patient-interaction, this paper also attempts to reconstruct patients’ strategies in coping with infertility.
Keywords: Infertility, Sterility, Gynaecology, Jewish Community, Doctor-Patient-Interaction, Patient History, Case Histories, Austrian Empire, Bukovina, 19th Century
