Muscovite Inna
By 1968, when this story began, only 4 gender reassignment operations had been performed worldwide, and they ended with the creation of hermaphrodites: for example, a woman who felt like a man, through the efforts of plastic surgeons, received a penis, but retained the female reproductive system and could theoretically get pregnant. A 30-year-old Muscovite named Inna was the first to undergo a complete transformation.
She was given both the forms of the Venus de Milo and the brain of a real man. After the third suicide attempt because of unhappy love for a girl, Inna decided to turn to the famous experimental biologist Professor Demikhov. The entire Soviet Union watched film magazines with dogs to which he successfully sewed second heads. The success of these experiments inspired the girl with hope that one day she could finally stop playing someone else's role.
But Demikhov was not a doctor and did not have the right to operate on people. He called the director of the Riga Research Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics, Viktor Kalnberz, and said: “A nice woman with a higher engineering education has come. She wants to change her gender, become a man. You are successfully practicing plastic surgery. If you can, help." Kalnberz actually created new phalluses for those who lost them after an accident or amputation, but Inna’s request plunged him into confusion.
After studying the literature, Kalnberz realized that the operation was technically possible. However, something unfinished is worse than something left unfinished – the uterus and vagina still need to be removed. In a healthy woman, this is possible only for health reasons. A psychiatric examination of the patient was ordered. Professor Grigory Rothstein came to the conclusion that hormones and hypnosis are powerless. If the patient does not become a man somatically (bodily), she will sooner or later commit suicide. In 1969, Rothstein died - his health was undermined during the “Doctors' Plot” - and did not see Inna’s complete transformation. Feeling that they could help her in Riga, the patient stated that she would not leave there alive.
Not in my body
The story began in 1968. The 30-year-old woman's name was Inna, she was very beautiful and attractive, with an elegant, sophisticated figure. The men turned around after her and could not look away. But the girl felt like she was in prison in this beautiful body. Inna's mentality was truly masculine, as was her character.
The life of a woman in a body alien to her was too difficult. Because of unrequited, unrequited love for a representative of the same sex, Inna tried to commit suicide three times. Her mother lived in constant stress and worry about her daughter.
The failure of the heartthrob doctor
And yet, when Inna was put on the operating table for the first time, the doctors did not raise a hand to her beautiful body. Assistant director Leopold Ozoliņš said: “You cannot turn such a woman into a man, because she can still bring so much joy.” And the operation was canceled, and Ozolins was instructed to conduct “psychotherapy.”
Ozolins was one of those irresistible heartthrob doctors, without whom there is no truly good clinic. For such a professional, any woman attacked is already conquered. Anyone, but not Inna. This failure convinced the medical staff: since the girl does not fall in love with Dr. Ozolins, it means that the operation is justified. And having noticed that the patient began to collect sleeping pills, they decided not to delay any longer.
The day everything changed
Hertsy's model did not show up for work, so the girl asked her husband to pose for her. She had to draw legs, so Einar only had to wear stockings and high heels. Not every man would agree to do this, but what can you do for the sake of art?
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Unexpectedly for himself, the man realized that he did not experience any discomfort in women's wardrobe items. Since then, he continued to pose for his wife, but now it was not limited to stockings. He wore luxurious outfits and posed as a woman, which his wife admitted in 1913, shocking the public.
Inna, who became a man
The first of 4 stages of the operation took place on September 17, 1970. Inna longed to get rid of everything feminine, but Kalnberz first created a penis with a urethra from the tissues of the anterior abdominal wall, and only then removed the mammary glands. An experienced female gynecologist was invited to perform hysterectomy, but she gave up: for removing genital organs without vital indications, you could lose your doctor’s diploma. Kalnberz had to finish everything himself. The uterus turned out to have multiple fibroids, which developed from the massive use of first female and then male hormones.
Since April 1972, Inna was finally able to take a man’s name and wear a man’s suit, and the doctors began to call her “he” and “patient” to themselves. “He” got into the habit of going to the hospital garage, where he became friends with the drivers. With them, “he” smoked, drank and cursed to his heart’s content, enjoying the opportunity to be in male company without male assault. He had great success with women, because he understood them and knew from himself what, for example, menstruation or high-heeled shoes were. Six months later he was already married. And he was married quite happily, except that his wife was often jealous of him.
Einar Wegener
Einar was 22 years old when he married 18-year-old Gerda Gottlieb. The spouses were united by profession - they were both artists. But unlike her husband, who specialized in landscape painting, Gerda drew illustrations for magazines and books. The couple lived prosperously, but one day Gerda’s model, the frivolous beauty Lili Elbe, did not come to her work.
It would seem, how can just one insignificant event change a person? But this is exactly what happened to Einar. Let's tell you in more detail what happened on that significant day, which divided Einar's life into before and after.
High commission
On August 8, a commission from the Union Ministry of Health arrived in Riga: the chief gynecologist of the USSR, the chief urologist of Moscow and other famous specialists. The psychiatrist from the Serbsky Institute was suspiciously younger and more modest than everyone else. Kalnberz showed the guests all 4 case histories, photographs of operations, filming and transparencies. The patient was present with his [then] fiancee, and told how happy he was. The members of the commission, true professionals, got carried away and wrote the most flattering conclusion.
Left alone with Kalnberz, the young psychiatrist Vladimir Melik-Mkrtychyan asked:
- Do you even understand why I'm here?
- Of course, transsexualism is a psychiatric pathology, and it was necessary to evaluate the correctness of my decision...
- You are very naive. I have to give you an assessment.
Most likely, the Minister of Health of the USSR - the outstanding surgeon Boris Vasilyevich Petrovsky - was terribly offended that the operation was performed without his knowledge. Like many proud professionals, he wanted to be not just the best, but the only one. If the operation had been documented as taking place under the leadership of B.V. Petrovsky, everything would have gone differently. And so, young Melik-Mkrtychyan was hinted that for a quick career advancement it was enough to write that Kalnberz was sick, and then he would not be the director of the RITO, but a patient of the Institute of Forensic Psychiatry.
Is it a woman or a man?
Having tried on a female image, Einar realized that he would never again be able to feel like a full-fledged man. The young artist was no longer a whole person - two people were fighting inside him. The landscape painter Einar was devoted to his wife, and Lili Elbe (as he began to call himself) was a woman whose only dream was to have a child.
After a long internal struggle, Einar gave way to Lili, who would later go down in history as the first transgender woman. It is still not known for certain what caused Einar’s craving for a female image. Some scientists suggest that he has hereditary diseases, but these are only hypotheses.
Lily subsequently admits that she enjoyed her disguise. She liked to wear women's clothes, in which she always felt comfortable.
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Conversation with the Minister
However, the psychiatrist agreed with the commission’s conclusions. In parting, Kalnberz asked Muscovites how they would now show themselves to the minister. “Well, minister? - was the answer, “He thinks one thing, says another, does a third...” Upon returning to the capital of the USSR, the commission was disbanded, and its members were scolded for all they were worth. Kalnberz was summoned to Moscow to see the minister. Now Petrovsky threatened not with a psychiatric hospital, but with a real trial:
P: By your actions you violated our laws, do you understand that?
K: I helped the patient. She was on the verge of suicide.
P: Just think! Let her kill herself. Why didn't you consult anyone [like me] and did everything in secret?
K: We didn’t make any secrets. Psychiatrists, endocrinologists, and sex therapists were involved. And then, what kind of surgeon calls in advance about a new operation that may not succeed? We first created everything masculine, and then, at the request of the patient, we removed the feminine...
P.: What barbarity! A healthy woman's mammary glands and uterus are removed!
K: The uterus turned out to be changed. The patient had fibromatosis and erosion.
P: I’m sick too! This is debauchery! Do you know that pederasty is prohibited in our country? This operation is not from our society! The capitalists would support you.
K: I don’t need their support. But it may happen that someone will really support you. And then I will unwittingly find myself in the role of Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
[A year earlier, a new novel by Solzhenitsyn, persecuted in the USSR, was published in Paris, and in 1970 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Here the minister backed down a little, because the surgeon who performed the first sex reassignment operation could have found a great job in the West].
P: What are you saying? Are you a communist?
K: Yes, a communist.
P: So, do you think such operations should be done?
K: I won’t do them. I'm not going to violate your order. But since the psychiatrists came to the conclusion that the operation was necessary for health reasons, my imperfect actions still pursued a humane goal.
[And then the minister let slip...]
P: Yes, it was not the psychiatrists who sent her to you, but Demikhov! All he is capable of is sewing dogs' heads to their asses, and nothing more!!
[Out of black envy, Demikhov was taken from the world. It so happened that during the minister’s stay in Germany, Demikhov gave a couple of lectures there, and the German media trumpeted about the pioneer of transplantation, completely not noticing Petrovsky. And now the enemy has surrounded the minister with the hands of the surgeon Kalnberz].
You should be put on trial, this is an experiment on people. You are sick. You remember some Solzhenitsyn. You need to stop shaving and washing, and you will really look like Solzhenitsyn. Take a vacation, get treatment, relax.
[Here Kalnberz pulled out his trump card].
K: I feel good. And instead of vacation, I’m now going to Munich.
[The Olympics had just begun in Munich, where Kalnbers was needed as a specialist in sports traumatology. Theoretically, the threat of a trial could prompt him to “choose freedom.” In addition, the leadership of Soviet Latvia was strongly behind Kalnbers].
P: You understand, I’m not your enemy, I just want to help you get out of this situation. Deciding to punish you would be the best option.
The first sex reassignment operation was performed in the USSR
Her name was Inna. And this is perhaps one of the few biographical facts that Professor Kalnberz agrees to tell about his patient.
“I don’t know whether you will believe me or not, but even I don’t know this person’s new data.” He was very afraid of publicity. Therefore, when he was given documents upon discharge, I asked not to tell me either his last name or address. I don't even know his phone number. If the fact of a gender change were ever revealed, the last thing I would like to think is that he suspects me of it. The only thing I asked was for you to call me sometimes and tell me about your condition. The last time I heard his voice was more than five years ago. He was nearly seventy then...
When Inna first crossed the threshold of the office of the director of the Latvian Research Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics, Viktor Kalnbers, she was just under thirty. A talented and promising engineer, the only and beloved daughter in the family, a rather beautiful woman. But Inna also had another life, which she did not tell anyone about except her mother and the capital’s doctors.
From Inna’s letter to Victor Kalnberz:
“...From early childhood I had a firm belief that I was a boy. Purely male attachments and aspirations developed in me, which gradually cut me off from people, deprived me of the opportunity to have friends, family... At the age of 12, I had to experience the feeling of first love, but for a female person. This feeling for the first time revealed to me with cruel clarity the futility of my situation. (...) I do not and cannot have any hope that someday someone will save me from the need to live forever in a mask, to wear clothes that disgust me, to be ashamed of myself even in the circle of close relatives. I am now 30 years old (...) And even if some miracle could make me feel attracted to a man, it is absolutely impossible for me, in my fourth decade, to begin to reshape my whole life anew, to learn purely feminine affairs and habits, about which I have a very distant idea . If you force yourself to do such things, it’s better to hang yourself...”
However, first, with a request to correct nature’s mistake, Inna turned to another surgeon - Professor Vladimir Demikhov, one of the founders of world transplantology.
“He was the first to transplant a second head into a dog, and the first to implant a second heart into a calf. At that time, his name sounded not only throughout the Soviet Union, but throughout the whole world. It is not surprising that Inna considered Vladimir Petrovich to be the person who could solve her problem. The girl didn’t understand one thing: Demikhov was a biologist; he simply had no right to operate on a person.
— And Vladimir Petrovich referred the patient to you?
— Yes, he knew about my work in the field of reconstructive surgery. At that time, I had already operated on several patients with hermaphroditism, and my program for helping men who had lost potency as a result of injuries was becoming increasingly famous. In principle, operations of this kind themselves were not new. The first one in the USSR was performed by surgeon Nikolai Alekseevich Bogoraz back in 1945. With the help of Filatov's stem, he created an organ that the patient was deprived of by a mine. To make the phallus hard, a graft from the patient's rib was implanted into it. But this technology had a serious disadvantage: the blood supply was restored slowly, without receiving replenishment, the bone tissue was resorbed, and there was a risk of fractures. Therefore, silicone implants began to be used abroad. But this technology was not known in the Union. I met her only in 1963 at the World Congress of Plastic Surgery. After which he proposed a more advanced version of the penile endoprosthesis, which would not injure the tissue so much.
- But let's return to Inna. How could she decide to take such a step?
— Inna was a deeply unhappy person. She made three suicide attempts, including because of unrequited love for a woman. When she realized that Inna’s friendship was of a sexual nature, she stopped communicating with her. Inna took a large dose of sleeping pills. The ambulance managed to save the patient, but not from mental anguish. Twice more Inna ended up in intensive care. At one of the receptions she said: “My life has long turned into a nightmare. If you don’t help me, I won’t leave Riga alive..."
- And you decided?
- No, a lot of time passed before Inna lay down on the operating table. When she came to see me for an examination for the first time, I suggested that she undergo hypnosis and try to lead a normal sex life. “You think I haven’t tried all this? - the girl answered sharply. — I saw many metropolitan psychotherapists, took a course of hormone therapy and hypnosis. I tried to spend time with men, but sex with them was disgusting.” I sympathized with Inna, but the decision of her fate depended not only on me. A consultation was convened with the participation of an endocrinologist, sex therapist, gynecologist, and psychiatrist. Everyone came to the conclusion that conservative methods will not help here. The last word was with the Minister of Health of the Latvian SSR.
From the book “My Time” by Victor Kalnberz:
“...He studied the documents for a long time and finally said:
“I have no objection to you operating on this patient.”
However, I was not prudent and did not ask V.V. Canep to sign the entry about the permission he gave in the medical history. Subsequently, the special commission did not take into account the minister’s verbal permission...”
With Patriarch Alexy II (right) during his visit to Riga in May 2006. Photo from personal archive.
“I’ll come to terms with the fact that I had a daughter, and will have a son...”
All this time, Viktor Konstantinovich, bit by bit, tried to collect information about similar operations in other countries. It turned out that there were four of them in total. Moreover, the latter is in fraternal Czechoslovakia. But from a medical point of view, none of them was complete. A person remained both a man and a woman.
— All those operated on retained the possibility of pregnancy and childbearing. I thought that if I was destined to undergo gender reassignment surgery, it had to be logical. But at that time, I myself was most afraid of this step - turning a woman into a man.
- Why, Viktor Konstantinovich? After all, you had all the permissions?
- You know, this sounds strange, but, being an atheist in the generally accepted sense, I was a fairly religious person. I simply believed that God is in the soul of each of us. To transform a woman created by nature into a man seemed to me something prohibited. It was so difficult to make a decision that I turned to the priests. But I never received a clear answer. One of the priests said that I have no right to interfere in the work of the Almighty. Another, on the contrary, advised to operate: “The Creator cannot keep track of everything. If nature has made a mistake, and you correct its mistake, you will help the Lord.”
- And then you decided?
- Not yet. It was very important for me to know Inna’s mother’s opinion.
From the book “My Time” by Victor Kalnberz:
“...Doctor,” said the woman, “I saved my daughter from death three times. And it seems to me that I won’t save her for the fourth time. I can come to terms with the fact that I had a daughter and will have a son. But I will never be able to calm down if I lose her..."
It took two years for approvals. On September 17, 1970, Inna lay down on the operating table for the first time.
Inna’s transformation into a man was carried out in several stages - all of them are described in detail in the book by Viktor Konstantinovich. To simplify it as much as possible, a skin tube was formed on the first tissue in the abdominal area - the same Filatov stem. At both ends it was connected to the patient’s tissues and resembled a suitcase handle. Only in this way could the organ being created be provided with vascular germination and tissue death prevented. At the second stage, the lower end of the stem was cut off and moved to the pubic area - previously it was located on the stomach. After a time interval, the upper end was also cut off from the abdominal wall. Then a phalloendoprosthesis was implanted inside the man-made “dignity”.
— When the wounds from each intervention healed, Inna returned to Moscow, took a break from the hospital, and even worked. After 2-3 months she came to us again,” recalls Viktor Konstantinovich.
— Are these operations now carried out using the same technology?
- No, these days patients strive for a faster effect, so everything is done in one step. The development of microsurgery allows this.
“Did other patients know that next to them was an unusual patient?”
— Oh yes, the most difficult thing was keeping the experiment a secret. Each time we placed her in a separate room, all fellow doctors were instructed not to spread the word. But there are also nurses and orderlies. Gradually, rumors spread throughout the hospital, and curious people kept popping into the isolation ward.
From the book “My Time” by Victor Kalnberz:
“...To look at her, many opened the doors of the isolation ward, apologized and pretended that they had made a mistake. Inna usually lay with the blanket pulled over her head. There was nothing I could do here; I had to endure it. Inna rushed the course of events. She asked me to first rid her of everything feminine. First of all, she wanted to get rid of the mammary glands and uterus - she could not come to terms with periods. I was carrying out my plan and was not going to follow her lead...”
— As long as Inna still had female internal organs, the process could be reversed. If we amputated the created sexual organ, only the scars on the stomach would remind us of the experiment. Therefore, until Inna appreciated the masculine principle and got used to the new physiology, I could not approach the last stage.
— How did Inna feel after completing all the stages of transformation?
“It’s great, from the very first days I got used to my new body.” But now the patient has become a man, and he should be called by a man's name. I came up with a pseudonym - Innocent.
From the book “My Time” by Victor Kalnberz:
“...He wanted to emphasize his masculine appearance, to be distinguished by masculine behavior, his voice became coarser from the hormonal therapy used. Innokenty wore trousers, got into the habit of going into the garage, and became friends with the hospital drivers. He liked to swear roughly, smoke and drink in the company of men...”
Victor Kalnberz with Fidel Castro’s bodyguard, to whom he restored “men’s health.” Photo from personal archive.
“The operation does not correspond to the ideology of the state...”
From Inna’s letter to Victor Kalnberz:
“Dear Victor Konstantinovich! Thank you for everything you have done for me. Thanks to you, what my whole life was aimed at turned from a fantastic dream into reality. But the main thing is that the duality that had oppressed me for years disappeared. You gave me a second life in a new look (...)"
However, starting a new life was not so easy, mainly because of the fear that the secret would sooner or later be revealed.
“Inna was a capable engineer; she was destined for a quick rise up the career ladder. Innocent wanted to be a small, inconspicuous man. If he had encroached on a high post, he would automatically have come under KGB surveillance. The authorities would begin to find out what he did before, who he was. Therefore, Innocent worked all his life as an engineer, albeit at a different enterprise. By the way, his diploma was changed along with the rest of his documents. He was married twice. After the death of his first wife from cancer, he remarried.
“Really, neither Innokenty’s spouses nor his friends guessed anything?”
- No, he told his wives that he had been in an accident, the doctors literally pieced him together - hence the many scars on his stomach and the strange property of his manhood. But, surprisingly, the capital’s doctors had no idea about anything, although Innocent was afraid of medical examinations like fire. At one, doctors became interested in the nature of the scars. “I was attacked by bandits and cut…” the patient got his bearings. They believed him: at that time, my colleagues could not even imagine that someone in our country had undergone a sex change.
— Sorry for the intimate question, but how did the organ function, could the patient experience pleasure from sex?
- Essentially, I created a “perpetual motion machine” for him. In sexual terms. As for pleasure, the patient said that it was possible. After all, for some people, satisfaction comes through erotic visions. In addition, we still retained one important point for the female body - it was “hidden” under the stem.
—What was your fate like?
— A few months later, a commission was sent to Riga, the purpose of which was to find incriminating evidence on me. The formal reason was the lack of written permission for the operation from the Minister of Health. The argument that it was received orally only made the commission members laugh. They were generally skeptical. But as soon as we watched videos of all stages of the operation, got acquainted with the medical history, talked with Innocent himself, and came over to my side. By the way, I learned quite by accident how my fate would have turned out otherwise, while talking with a psychiatrist who was part of the commission.
From the book “My Time” by Victor Kalnberz:
“Do you even understand why I ended up here? - he asked.
- Of course I understand. Transsexualism is a psychiatric pathology, and it is quite natural that it was necessary to evaluate whether I had made the right decision.
He smiled:
-You are very naive. I needed to evaluate you.
And only then did I understand everything. This young specialist from the Institute of Forensic Psychiatry named after. It was enough for V.P. Serbsky to write a short conclusion that V.K. Kalnberz is a good person, but he is sick. And there would be no need for any prison - everything would be taken away from me ... "
Upon returning to Moscow, all the specialists on the commission were given a dressing down, and the commission itself was disbanded. Viktor Konstantinovich was summoned for a conversation with the USSR Minister of Health.
“He said that the operation was criminal, alien to the socialist order, that my place was behind bars. Various arguments were put forward: that I wanted fame, and that I openly promoted debauchery.
Here are just a few quotes from this dialogue.
From the book “My Time” by Victor Kalnberz:
“Do you know what is happening in capitalist society now? In Japan, open sex is advertised. Some couple is performing an act in front of the crowd. This is what it has come to! Do you want it to be like this for us too?
V.K.: — But the surgical treatment I performed on a patient with transsexualism has nothing to do with advertising open sex. She did not want to continue a socially condemned relationship with a woman. But she couldn’t suppress her strong attraction. (...) The patient was on the verge of suicide.
- What nonsense! Let her kill herself!..”
On the second day after that meeting, Dr. Kalnberz was severely reprimanded. The justification read: “for carrying out a mutilating operation that does not correspond to the structure and ideology of the state.”
— By the way, the Union Minister ultimately did not sign this document, stating that, being a surgeon, he did not want to punish his colleague. He instructed his deputy to sign the order. I was strictly forbidden to talk about that operation. The “classification of secrecy” was removed only twenty years later.
“What kind of country is it that they can’t help an impotent man?”
Viktor Konstantinovich worked until he was eighty years old. During this time, he performed dozens of unique operations: he was the first to transplant a finger from a corpse to a patient who had injured his arm. He was one of the first to completely restore a woman’s nose. All these operations were written about in newspapers and scientific journals. Only one direction of his work remained in the shadows for a long time. “Impotence is not a problem in a socialist society,” they hinted to him. But seeing how many patients came for penile endoprosthetics, Viktor Konstantinovich was convinced of the opposite.
— I have already said that in 1963, at a congress on plastic surgery, I became acquainted with silicone implants and decided to create something similar in our country. But if a patient whom we literally rescued from the other world had not approached me with a delicate problem, more than one year would have passed from idea to implementation. That patient was a sailor and loved a woman, but due to long business trips he began to doubt her fidelity. Due to stress, he began to have problems with potency. Deciding that she definitely didn’t need him like that, the man shot himself in the temple with a flare gun. I won’t tell you how we saved him. In the end, they stayed together, but the wound caused local paralysis. The potency has faded completely. The patient agreed to any operation. And I decided to try. We successfully operated on the first patient in December 1963.
— Did other hospitals provide assistance to people with such an illness?
— Formally there was a program, but in reality most patients did not receive help. One day I received a letter from Brezhnev’s office from a participant in the Great Patriotic War. It ended with the phrase: “What kind of a state do we have in which no one can help a simple impotent person!”
— Did you help only patients suffering from sexual impotence?
— Not at all: I often operated on people who had lost an organ as a result of injuries. In fact, I created a new one for them - using the same technology as Inne. One of my patients, for example, had his dignity cut off by his own friend - he suspected his friend of having intimate relations with his wife. I also helped men who were unhappy with the size of their organs. The technology of the operation is such that when forming a member, I leave a certain reserve. And in subsequent stages I optimize the length. But some patients refused this. One such “maximalist” almost ended up in the police. He met a girl and brought her to a hotel. But, seeing the dignity of her lover, the lady chose to retreat. And what did the mother give birth in? The maid thought that someone wanted to commit rape in the room and called the police. My patient had to show his comrades in uniform the reason for her excitement.
— Is this the only inconvenience that the prosthesis could create?
— Some patients were embarrassed to be on the beach. You see why. The operation was not very suitable for men from the polar regions. The fact is that during penile replacement, the organ lost the ability to shrink, which is necessary in a harsh climate. But the patients came up with a way out - they sewed fur cases.
Our prosthetics were imported to Cuba
— How did medical circles feel about what you were doing?
— People familiar with my work supported me. But many considered work in this field of medicine unworthy.
From the book “My Time” by Victor Kalnberz:
“...They made it clear to me that it was time to stop solving problems related to impotence. Let them do this in other centers, but not at the Union-level Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics. My jokes about the fact that the phallus is also a musculoskeletal system only increased the negativism...”
— And then Andropov called you?
— Yes, he asked to provide medical assistance to his friend, the head of the state security service of one of the socialist countries. The operation went well, after which the clouds over my technique cleared.
— They say that many famous people were your patients?
- Yes, but without their consent I cannot disclose this information. I can only tell you about two patients. In 1977, I operated on People's Artist of the USSR Nikolai Gritsenko. Many people remember him for his roles in the films “His Excellency’s Adjutant,” “Anna Karenina,” and “Sannikov’s Land.” He led a bohemian lifestyle, which led to male impotence. The actor’s girlfriend was only eighteen at that time. After discharge, he even gave me his portrait.
From the book “My Time” by Victor Kalnberz:
“...After reading the dedicatory inscription, I noticed:
“You are donating your photograph for my portrait gallery, but everyone who reads the inscription you made will immediately understand what kind of operation I performed on you.”
To which N.O. Gritsenko replied:
- Let everyone know what operation you performed on me! This doesn't bother me at all. Women will love me even more because of this...”
— You promised to tell us about another famous patient...
“This was Fidel Castro’s personal bodyguard, who shielded the leader of the Cuban revolution during one of the assassination attempts. The young man's body was riddled with machine gun fire. His life was saved, but complications during the operation led to complete impotence. I helped him. In Cuba they were so amazed by the results of my work that they even invited me to conduct demonstration operations. Then an order was received from Liberty Island for the supply of our penile endoprostheses.
So-called intimate operations are just one of the areas in which Viktor Konstantinovich worked. He participated in restoring the health of astronauts, lengthening the patient’s leg by as much as 60 centimeters. But in all reference books, after listing his titles and awards, there is always a mention of that first unique operation. How does he feel about the fact that now, for example, in the USA, three people change their gender a day? And in Argentina, to transform from a man to a woman, you don’t even need a psychiatrist’s report. Patient statement only.
“This situation terrifies me - the lack of barriers, control, when a person, having barely felt attraction to a representative of the same sex, runs to the surgeon. And he is ready to remodel it for money. But some people cannot do without such an operation. I mean, for example, patients with “malignant” transsexualism. During my practice, I performed five such operations. And I’m sure: these people needed them vitally.
Five clandestine operations
On September 1, 1972, secret order A-130 was issued to severely reprimand Kalnberz for a “mutilating operation” that does not correspond to the structure and ideology of our society. Such operations were prohibited in the future, and doctors were not allowed to talk or write about them in the media.
But Petrovsky did not stop there. At every rally in the capitals of the union republics and regional centers of Russia, he started talking about a certain surgeon who made an artificial man out of a normal woman: “I craved fame, but received infamy!”
Pretty soon it became clear who was meant. It turned out to be an excellent advertisement, and now Kalnberz was in great demand. The secretary of the CPSU Central Committee became his patient, and the “miracle surgeon” became one of Galina Brezhneva’s circle of acquaintances. And when the phone number of KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov appeared in his notebook, Kalnberz began to think about underground operations regarding transsexualism. But he spent only five, while they were being worked out and put into production abroad.
The ban was in effect until 1989. By that time, Kalnberz had become an academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences for other achievements in science. Petrovsky has not been a minister for a long time. He now sought Kalnberz's friendship and from time to time asked him to vote for certain candidates in the Academy elections.
Mikhail Shifrin Based on materials from the book of memoirs by V.K. Kalnberza "My time".
Mikhail Shifrin
Unique doctor
However, the woman’s story touched Demikhov very much, and he decided to give hope to Inna. Demikhov introduced her to Viktor Kalnberz, director of the Research Institute of Orthopedics and Traumatology in Riga. At that time, a medical scientist could already create phalluses and help patients recover from amputations and accidents. The doctor simply worked miracles. The first operation in the world to restore the phallus was carried out back in 1945. Based on valuable data, Kalnberz improved the technology.
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In the Union, such operations were not supported and were not considered a priority, so they were carried out almost underground.
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Lily's only dream
Lily dreamed of having a child, so the purpose of the following operations was the implantation of a uterus, but their outcome was not successful. One can only guess what guided the doctors of that time when they risked performing such an operation. At the age of 48, Lily passed away.
Gerda, who remarried after the divorce, soon divorced. Returning to Denmark, she began to abuse alcohol. The once talented artist died in complete poverty in 1940.
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Model Carmen Carrera
Today's popular model Carmen Carrera was born in a male body and received the name Christopher.
After he took part in an American reality show, the guy decided to have surgery. Currently, Carmen is actively filming for famous fashion magazines and modeling agencies.
In a man's body
Singer April
In mid-January 2015, the Internet was shocked by the news - the popular Ukrainian singer Boris April changed his gender.
He himself announced his changes openly, publishing a detailed essay on the topic of gender reassignment on his personal VKontakte page. In it, the singer indicated that since childhood he felt like a girl. He also apologized to his parents for not being able to live up to their expectations. In the essay, he indicated his new name - April. It is noteworthy that the singer did not limit himself to external changes (breasts, lips), but went through the entire course of gender reassignment. This caused a huge scandal and became a real disappointment for thousands of his fans.
Now the blonde girl April lives in the USA.
In a man's body
Fashion model Andrea Pejic
Andrei came up with the idea of changing his gender at the age of 13; he naturally had an incredibly feminine appearance.
However, he decided to undergo gender reassignment surgery only in 2014, and before that he worked as a universal fashion model, presenting both women’s and men’s outfits on the catwalks. The gender change was followed by a new name - now he is Andrea. In February 2015, Pejic attended London Fashion Week for the first time in her new look. Now the model has already signed contracts with Milan and Paris fashion houses, and Andrea is not going to stop there.
In a man's body
Politician Anna Grodskaya
Anna Grodskaya is the first transsexual in Poland elected to the Sejm of the Republic.
She is also known as the founder and president of the Trans-Fuzja transgender rights foundation. The final gender change took place in 2010. A psychologist by training, she has been involved in social work and political activities for most of her life. In a man's body
