Mikhail Stern
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Mikhail Shaevich Stern (, 1918 – 17 June 2005) was a Soviet
endocrinologist Endocrinology (from ''endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental events ...
,
sexologist Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism. Sexologists app ...
and dissident.


Biography

Stern was born in a Jewish family in a small Ukrainian town of
Zhmerynka Zhmerynka (, ) is a city in Vinnytsia Oblast, central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Zhmerynka Raion within the oblast. Population: It is located in the historic region of Podolia. Name There are many propositions as far as ...
. In 1944 he received his doctor degree, and in 1947 organized in
Chernovtsy Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also #Names, other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivt ...
the first endocrinological center in Ukraine. In 1952 he moved to
Vinnitsa Vinnytsia ( ; , ) is a city in west-central Ukraine, located on the banks of the Southern Bug. It serves as the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast. It is the largest city in the historic region of Podillia. It also serves as the administr ...
. The same year he was discharged because of the
Doctors' plot The "doctors' plot" () was a Soviet state-sponsored anti-intellectual and anti-cosmopolitan campaign based on a conspiracy theory that alleged an anti-Soviet cabal of prominent medical specialists, including some of Jewish ethnicity, intend ...
, an imaginary conspiracy of Jewish doctors to poison Soviet leaders. He was reinstated in 1954, a year after Stalin's death. In 1963, Stern became a section head in a newly established endocrinological center in Vinnitsa. In 1974, after his sons, Viktor (born 1941) and August (born 1945), applied for asylum in Israel, Stern was questioned at the Vinnitsa visa office and his flat was searched. Two weeks later he was arrested for swindling and bribery, and in December sentenced to eight years of hard labor in
Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.
. Meanwhile, his sons left the Soviet Union and campaigned for the release of their father. In 1976, August published a transcript of his father's trial, which was the first time the transcript of a dissident trial was leaked to the public. The transcript revealed various inconsistencies between witness accounts recorded behind closed doors and in the open trial, implying that the case was fabricated. The trial transcript was published in English translation by Urizen Books in 1978. In 1977, an international tribunal was organized in Stern's defense in Amsterdam, which was attended by
Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...
and
Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...
. Stern was released a week before the opening of the tribunal. He immigrated to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where in 1979 he wrote a book describing taboos, sexual ignorance, and suppression of sexual freedoms in the Soviet Union. The book documents Stern's professional communications with patients. Stern's medical files were confiscated during his trial, and therefore the book is mostly written from memory, supported by photographs and personal letters. Stern died in 2005 in Amsterdam, two months after being beaten by the man who lived in his home.


In popular culture

In the Indian
Hindi-language Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of the Government of India, alongside English, and is the ''lin ...
film '' Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!'' (1994), a comical domestic helper named Lallu Prasad (
Laxmikant Berde Laxmikant Berde (26 October 1954 – 16 December 2004) was an Indian actor known for his work in Marathi and Hindi cinema. He began his career as an employee at the production company Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh and later appeared in supportin ...
) is briefly seen holding a copy of ''The USSR Versus Dr Mikhail Stern'' upside down and rambling from it.


References

7. https://proza.ru/2020/12/15/1882 {{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Mikhail 1918 births 2005 deaths Soviet dissidents