14 life-saving instruments: Dr. Abramov’s story.

 In the period of extreme trials, society ultimately turns its attention to those whom it does not practically notice in times of illusory calm and prosperity. The epidemic threat, which currently dominates the whole world, as if a strange spotlight, highlighted the heroes of our time - doctors and medical workers who, without proper protection, despite the danger to their lives, save human health and fate. One of the exhibits at Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine” is a silent witness of how 75 years ago, real doctors honorably fulfilled their professional and human duty.

A special place in the exhibition of Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine” belongs to the set of surgical instruments of Abram Yakovych Abramov, a native of our city. This set was given to us by Olena Abramovna Mikhlichenko, a teacher who, with her students, created one of the first school “Museums of Military Glory” in Dnipro.

Abram Abramov was born in Katerynoslav in 1919. He studied at secondary school No. 23, and then entered the medical institute. In 1941, he came to the front as the so-called “mediocre doctor” [zauriad-doctor] - medical students who completed 4 or 5 courses at a medical institute and received ahead of schedule the right (and in reality - the obligation) in the form of military doctors to save lives, were called so.

In 1943, scouts of the 203rd Rifle Division, in which Abram Yakovych served, discovered surgical instruments in the enemy dugout. The trophy was immediately handed over to the surgeon Abramov. Thus, German instruments began to work miracles in the hands of the Jewish doctor.

In the inhuman conditions of the war, Abram had to do the incredible. At 24, the doctor, who now, most likely, would only be admitted to the operating table, had the authority of an experienced surgeon already. In only two years of the war, he had in his account more than a hundred operations, half of which were neurosurgical. The Museum’s exhibition contains letters of gratitude to Abram Abramov from his patients - in particular, Malvina Radoshavetska. During the battles near Zaporizhzhia, in 1943, she received a severe head injury. The doctor did not have the special equipment necessary for a complex operation, only the same set of trophy instruments… However, Dr. Abramov managed to save not only the life, but also the health of the young girl.

During the service, Abram Yakovych provided medical assistance to more than 1000 wounded soldiers and officers. In his work he made extensive use of new treatment methods, in particular, he reorganized work with states of shock, thanks to which he was able to significantly reduce mortality from shock. Much work has been done in the fight against gas gangrene, a treatment regimen for gas patients has been developed, which also reduced mortality among those infected. In the field (!), he managed to establish drip blood transfusion - a rather complicated procedure, which today is an integral part of emergency care protocols.

Abram Abramov is a Jewish doctor, captain of the medical service, awarded with the Orders of the Red Star, the Patriotic War (II degree), the Medal “For Battle Merit”; he will end the war in 1945, and at the end of it he will continue to serve people. In particular, he will work as a doctor in the famous Baikonur and will be an eyewitness to the start of the first man's flight into space; however, as they say in television classics: this is the history of a completely different exhibit