With today’s doodle, Google honors the midwife Justine Siegemund, who dared to challenge the patriarchal attitudes of the 17th century. He was the first person in Germany to write a book on obstetrics from a woman’s point of view.
On March 28, 1690, the University of Frankfurt Oder certified her book “Die Chur-Brandenburgische Hoff-Wehe-Mutter” as an official medical textbook. At a time when few women had access to education, Justine Siegmund became the first woman to publish a major medical text in German.
Justine Sigemund (née Dietrich) was born on December 26, 1636 in Ronstock, Lower Silesia, an area that today belongs to Poland. As a young woman, she had a prolapsed uterus that the uninformed midwives of her day misdiagnosed as pregnancy. This disappointing experience led her to become a midwife in order to improve midwifery education.
After her apprenticeship, she started working as a midwife offering free services to underprivileged women. She soon became known for her ability to safely guide women through difficult births and her fame spread throughout the German world.
In 1683 she accepted the official position of Midwife of the City of Lignitz and later became Court Midwife in Berlin, where she gave birth to children of the royal family. It was then that she wrote and published the book “The Court Midwife” with which she not only left her mark on the history of medicine, but also significantly improved the health of the mother and the infant in Germany.
Until then, German midwives had largely passed on their knowledge through oral tradition. There was no standardized way of documenting safe birth practices. Her book was the first to offer a comprehensive guide to childbirth in Germany.
Justine Sigemund died in Berlin on November 10, 1705, aged 68.
