Hélène Sosnowska

Sosnowska was born Helena Goldspiegel into a wealthy Jewish family in Warsaw, Congress Poland^[2] on 13 February 1864.^[a] Her parents were Hermann Goldspiegel and Natalie Berman.^[5]

After graduating with a gold medal from a high school in Warsaw, she moved to Paris at the end of 1881 to pursue medical studies. There she met Casimir Martin Sosnowski, who assisted her in expanding her understanding of chemistry, physics, and mathematics. Sharing his social interests, she joined the newly established Society of Mutual Aid for Workers.^[2]

Sosnowska pursued her studies at the University of Paris Faculty of Medicine, obtaining a baccalaureate equivalency in 1882 and enrolling 16 times between 1882 and 1887.^[4] In 1887, she worked with Jean-Martin Charcot at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital.^[8] On 31 October 1888 she was awarded her doctoral degree, after successfully defending her thesis on hysteria in children at the Faculty of Medicine under the supervision of Charcot.^[2][9] It was one of the first medical theses defended by a woman.^[10] She spent the following year in Stockholm with Major Thure Brandt.^[1]

Sosnowska specialized in gynaecology.^[11] She quickly established her medical practice in Paris, where she played a key role in popularizing the Thure-Brandt method, a therapeutic approach using gymnastics and gynecological massage to treat chronic female diseases and infertility. Her research extended to the effects of vegetarianism and fasting on the human body, and she began publishing her findings in professional journals in 1889. After her marriage, she published under the name Goldspiegel-Sosnowska, and later as Sosnowska.^[2]

Sosnowska authored a number of medical texts on gynaecology, including those on uterine disorders.^[4][11][12] In 1893, she published Traitement des maladies des femmes par la méthode de Thure Brandt ("Treatment of women's diseases by the Thure Brandt method"). At the 1902 International Congress of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Rome, she presented "Quelques cas de stérilité guéris par le traitement de Brandt" ("Some cases of sterility cured by Brandt's treatment"). She continued participating in medical congresses in London and Paris.^[2]

During World War I, Sosnowska cared for the wounded in Paris hospitals. She helped Polish students who, after completing their medical studies in Paris, took up work in hospitals there. After the war, she published a paper entitled "Les Hémorragies utérines soignées par la méthode de Thure-Brandt" ("Uterine hemorrhages treated by the Thure-Brandt method") delivered on 19 February 1934 at the French Society of Gynecology.^[2]

Sosnowska also wrote about household nutrition and childcare, as well as works advocating for women, such as for the Society of Breastfeeding.^[11] Additionally, she was a founding member of the Society of Kinesitherapy.^[1]

Sosnowska campaigned for temperance and vegetarianism, specializing in the practical aspects of the latter. In 1897, she contributed an article titled "Autointoxication par défaut d'assimilation et d'élimination; phénomènes neurasthéniques et arthritiques; guérison par le régime végétarien absolu, suivi pendant 16 mois" ("Self-intoxication due to lack of assimilation and elimination; neurasthenic and arthritic phenomena; cure by absolute vegetarian diet, followed for 16 months") to Revue théorique et pratique des maladies de la nutrition.^[2]

In 1904, she joined the committee of the French Vegetarian Society and became its vice-president in 1907.^[11] The Society published several of her works, including Comment on doit nourrir les enfants ("How should children be fed?"; Paris, 1906), Le Jeûne ("Fasting"; Paris, before 1912), and Le végétarisme en thérapeutique ("Vegetarianism in therapy"), which she presented in Paris on 4 December 1912 (published after 1912).^[2]

Sosnowska attended the International Vegetarian Union 1926 Congress in London, where she stated:^[13]

[the vegetarianism] movement was not the result of the clash of material forces, but was part of an intelligent evolutionary process. They had to recognise the close relation that existed between the physical, the emotional and the intellectual kingdoms, and that vegetarianism would not only help to quicken the intellect, but would also help them to transmute their egoism into altruism.

Following former president's Jules Grand's death in 1933, she became president of the Society.^[14]

Sosnowska married Casimir Martin Sosnowski (Polish: Kazimierz Marcin Sosnowski; 1857–1942) on 21 August 1890 in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.^[5][15] He was a Polish engineer, socialist activist, and technologist who played a key role in the early Polish socialist movement, later becoming a pioneer in steam turbine technology in France, where he contributed significantly to industrial advancements and international economic relations. They had two children, a son and a daughter.^[2][15]

Sosnowska died at her home in the 8th arrondissement of Paris on 31 January 1942, aged 77.^[6][7] Her funeral was held at the Saint-Pierre-de-Chaillot church.^[16] She was buried alongside her husband at the Père Lachaise Cemetery.^[2] Her death brought an end to the activities of the French Vegetarian Society.^[11]

• Contribution à l'étude de l'hystérie chez l'enfants. Paris: Thesis. 1889.
• Du traitement manuel des maladies des femmes selon la méthode de Thure Brandt. 1889.
• Traitement des maladies des femmes par la méthode de Thure Brandt (observations personnelles de 1889 à 1893). 1893.
• Comment on doit nourrir les enfants. 1906.
• Le végétarisme en thérapeutique. 1912.
• Traitement non sanglant des rétro-déviations utérines, indications et contre-indications au traitement de Brandt. 1916.
• Thérapeutique gynécologique. Indications et technique de la méthode de Brandt: Contribution personnelle. 1922.
• Traitement de Thure-Brandt au point de vue analgésique. 1933.
• Les hémorragies utérines soignées par la méthode de Thure-Brandt (gymnastique décongestionnante et massage vibratoire). 1934.