Obstetric expertise in the Austrian periphery: Ludwig Kleinwächter’s private practice in Czernowitz, Bukovina (1884–1906)

Abstract

ABSTRACT After several failed attempts to remain in Austrian academia, the Bohemian gynaecologist Ludwig Kleinwächter (1839–1906) moved to Bukovina and opened a private practice in the capital Czernowitz in 1884. In the easternmost province of the Austrian Empire he quickly established himself as a specialist. In applying a praxeological perspective, this paper aims not only to determine the reasons for his immediate success, but also to identify why he attracted an almost exclusively Jewish clientele. Drawing on his published case histories and archival sources, the paper investigates Kleinwächter’s role in the small Bukovinian obstetrical market in the late nineteenth century. By focusing on birth-related emergency calls and domiciliary visits across and beyond Bukovina, it will explore the availability of obstetric provision in this peripheral region of the Austrian Empire. The case study thereby contributes a novel perspective to the social and medical history of this Eastern European region.