Jewish Healthcare Professionals in Kosovo and Metohija from the end of 19th Century until the April War of 1941

Abstract

Due to the prevailing economic conditions and a generally underdeveloped and discouraging social environment, the indigenous Sephardim population in Kosovo and Metohija was slow to transition from its traditionally dominant engagement in trade and crafts to intellectual and liberal professions such as medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. Before the first local Jews entered these professions—which began to occur during the latter half of the interwar period of the Yugoslav state—numerous Jews from other parts of the country or from abroad successively arrived in the region to perform medical services. The first, sporadically present medical personnel appeared during the decline of Ottoman rule, and their number and duration of service gradually increased after the incorporation of Kosovo and Metohija into the Serbian and subsequently Yugoslav state. Since the practice of medicine required formal education—predicated on the favorable material circumstances of potential candidates and the accessibility of educational institutions—the pioneers of healthcare service among the Jewish population in Kosovo and Metohija were predominantly recruited from the Ashkenazim community. Originating mainly from Imperial Russia and motivated by humanitarian ideals, they initially served as volunteers on the Serbian side during wartime, accompanying and assisting Serbian armed forces, and later, following the end of World War I, the Russian revolutions, and the civil war, were employed by central authorities in Belgrade as contractual workers assigned to various localities throughout the region. Through their work, dedication, and selflessness in a community chronically lacking educated personnel, skeptical of official medicine, and inclined toward traditional folk healing practices rich in unscientific and magical elements, they significantly contributed to the improvement of public health conditions and to the growing trust of the local population in modern, empirical medical practices.