husref tahirović - dr. stanko sielski (1891-1958)

8/17/2019 Husref Tahirović - Dr. Stanko Sielski (1891-1958).

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169Copyright © 2015 by the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dr. Stanko Sielski (1891–1958): Physician, scientist, humanist

Husre ahirović*

Historical articleActa Medica Academica 2015;44(2):169-180

DOI: 10.5644/ama2006-124.143

Introduction

It will soon be 125 years since the birth oDr. Stanko Sielski, the physician, humanistand scientist, who is worthy o our interest,not only in the field o medicine, but also inthe fields o ethnology, ethnography, archae-ology and sociology. He was a man, led byhis eelings, who helped people in variousways, regardless o their social status, eth-

nic and religious affiliation, and sometimes

even regardless o the current moral valueso the environment he was working in.

Te majority o the working lie o Dr.Stanko Sielski was marked by the social andeconomic consequences o the First andSecond World Wars. At that time in Bosniaand Herzegovina (BH) the living conditionswere very bad, the level o education o thepeople poor, the hygiene o the population,

Department o Medical SciencesAcademy o Sciences and Artso Bosnia and Herzegovina

*Corresponding author:[email protected]./Fax.: + 387 35 303 740

Received: 23 November 2015Accepted: 27 November 2015

Key words: Stanko Sielski ■ History omedicine ■ Archaeology ■ Ethnology ■Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Tis work presents the results o research into the lie and work oDr. Stanko Sielski, related to his proessional, scientific and humani-tarian work. He was born in Gračanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina(BH) in1891, to a amily o Polish origins. He attended high school

in ravnik and completed his studies o medicine in Vienna in 1919.During the First World War he served on the rontlines with the Aus-tro-Hungarian army. He began his service as a doctor in Konjic, Pro-zor and Glamoč, and then worked in Varcar Vaku, Zenica, ravnik,Bihać, Banja Luka, Sarajevo and uzla. At that time in BH living con-ditions were very bad, the level o education o the people insufficient,there were many epidemics o inectious diseases, and the mortality othe population was high. Dr. Stanko Sielski made a significant contri-bution to treating the sick, preventing various diseases and the healtheducation o the people. In the realm o the history o medicine in BA,he researched the lie and work o doctors rom previous generations,the work o medical institutions, old medical manuscripts written inArabic, Persian and urkish, olk belies about the origins and treat-ment o a variety o illnesses, and the role o herbal medicine and amu-

lets in treating the sick. In addition, he undertook research in the fieldso archaeology, ethnology and sociology. He published the results ohis research in scholarly journals. In the Second World War he savedthe lives o many Jewish doctors and their amilies rom persecutionin concentration camps, and as a result in 2014 he was posthumouslydeclared “Righteous Among the Nations”. Conclusion. Dr. StankoSielski, alongside his work as a doctor, was also involved in a varietyo scientific research and publication work, which contributed to thepreservation and a better understanding o the material and spiritualheritage o BH.


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Acta Medica Academica 2015;44:169-180

especially in the villages, was at a low level,inectious diseases requently took on thecharacteristics o epidemics, and the re-

sulting mortality o the population, espe-cially children, was high. Te lie o society,in many aspects, was based on “customs”,which were deemed to be the best and onlyway to behave, and quackery (olk medi-cine) was deeply rooted.

Although he was a physician, who madea significant contribution to improving pub-lic health in BH in his time, a humanist anda ruitul cultural and scientific worker, noone has yet undertaken a thorough analysis,to research his lie and work systematically,and present it to the wider cultural public oBH, but also the public o the wider environ-ment. As a result his broad and varied opuso great importance or his own country, hasmainly remained unknown, or is only men-tioned in ragments.

Tis paper presents the results o re-search into the lie and work o Dr. StankoSielski, relating to his proessional, scientificand humanitarian work.

Childhood and education

Stanko Sielski was born in Gračanica, BH,in 1891, to a amily o Polish origin, whomoved to Bosnia rom arnopol (Galica) atthe end o the 19th century. His ather Stan-islav was a geometer in civil service, and hismother Marija, nee Waldher, was a home-maker. His ather was requently sent towork in different places in Bosnia, so Stankospent his childhood in Gračanica, Zenicaand ravnik. He attended high school inravnik, and afer graduating in 1910 he en-rolled to study medicine in Vienna, where atthe same time he studied painting and thehistory o art or two years (1). During hisstudies, he served as a soldier on the ront-line in the Austro-Hungarian army duringthe First World War, and later as a medic,working as a doctor. Afer the end o the war

in 1918 he was discharged rom the armywith the rank o Lieutenant. He then con-tinued his study o medicine in Vienna and

graduated on 16th

June 1919 (1).

Professional work

Afer graduating rom the Medical Faculty,Dr. Stanko Sielski remained in Vienna until1st April 1919, when he worked as a Lieuten-ant in the Military Mission Service in theKingdom o Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1).He began his state service as a doctor on 16 th November 1919 in the District Administra-

tion o Konjic, Prozor and Glamoč, wherehe worked until 30th November 1920, as ahonorary doctor, specialized in epidemiol-ogy combating typhoid and smallpox. Aferthat, until 19th February 1924, he worked asa district doctor in Varcar Vaku (MrkonjićGrad), then he was appointed to Zenica inthe same capacity until 12th November 1924,afer which he continued to work in ravnikas a district doctor, the local sanitary officerand health advisor, until 3rd November 1931.

By a decree o the Royal Ministry o Pub-lic Health o the Kingdom o Yugoslavia o3rd November 1931, Dr. Stanko Sielski wastranserred to Bihać, where up to 19th July1941 he worked as a health advisor, andsenior advisor and manager o the PublicHealth Centre (1).

In all these places, the sanitary and epi-demiological situation was very severe, in-ectious diseases usually took on the charac-teristics o epidemics, and the hygiene o the

population, especially in the villages, was ata very low level. As a physician Dr. StankoSielski made a very significant contributionin treating the sick, but also in the field ocombating inectious diseases, parasite andungal inections and pediculosis, and inproviding health education or the people.His special contribution was in treating andpreventing endemic syphilis in Bihać (2).


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Dr. Stanko Sielski worked in Banja Lukaduring the Second World War (19.7.1941-25.8.1944). He was the head o the Institute

or Combating Endemic Syphilis (the Insti-tute) (Pictures 1, 2), which was ounded bythe Independent State o Croatia, in orderto root out this disease once and or all, asquickly as possible rom Bosnian villages (3).

Picture 1 The building of the Institute for combating

endemic syphilis in Banja Luka 1941-1945.

Picture 2 Dr. Stanko Sielski at the time when he was

working at the Institute for combating endemic

syphilis in Banja Luka.

Te seat o the Institute was in BanjaLuka, but the actual work took place throughthe health institutes o that time, the publichealth centres, and other health institutionsin BH, sometimes also improvised in-fieldclinics in the remote Bosnian villages (Pic-ture 3) (4).

Picture 3 An improvised in-field clinic of the Institutefor combating endemic syphilis.

Doctors rom the Institute were mainlyJews rom Croatia and BH, who had alreadybeen, or should have been deported to la-bor camps or death camps. Since the doc-tors were mainly accommodated in smallBosnian towns where there were no perma-nent or occasional doctors, they treated thepopulation not only or syphilis but also or

other illnesses.Dr. Stanko Sielski worked in Banja Luka

in the relatively short, but extremely com-plex and difficult period o the war. He alsoheld the unction o a managing civil servantin a state which rom its very outset, ollow-ing the example o the Tird Reich, acceptedand made law the National Socialist inter-pretation o race, which was mainly aimedagainst Jews and Roma, but also all thosewho did not agree with Ustasha politics (5).

It was precisely in these circumstances thathis altruistic character reached its ull ex-pression. He supported the People’s Libera-tion Movement with hygienic and medicalmaterials, and he enabled some Home Guard(Domobran) soldiers to transer to Partisanunits. His role in saving Jewish doctors, theemployees o the Institute, rom persecutionin concentration camps was extremely im-

Husref Tahirović: Dr. Stanko Sielski (1891–1958): Physician, scientist, humanist


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portant. According to the oral and writtenstatements given to the writer o this textby the last living doctor rom the Institute,

Dr. eodor Grüner rom Zagreb, Dr. StankoSielski saved him and many other Jewishdoctors and their amilies, whereby he alsorisked his own lie (6). Tis testimony, alongwith the proposal (7) by the author o thistext, was a crucial document or the posthu-mous declaration o Stanko Sielski as Righ-teous among the Nations at the end o 2014.Tis prestigious award by the State o Israelis awarded to non-Jews who exposed theirown lives to danger during the Holocaustto save Jews rom persecution by the Nazisand their collaborators. However, when thisdecision was rendered an unorgivable errorwas made, since Dr. Stanko Sielski was des-ignated as Righteous o the State o Croatia,whereby BH was overlooked, that is the statein which he was born, where he was educat-ed and in which he worked productively tothe end o his lie.

On 31st July 1944, Dr. Stanko Sielskiwas transerred to service in the Ministry oPublic Education o the Independent Stateo Croatia, that is to the Faculty o Medicineo the Croatian University in Sarajevo (8).While he was still working in Banja Lukaat the beginning o 1944, he was elected tobe private assistant proessor o the Chair oHistory o Medicine o the Zagreb Facultyo Medicine, in the subject o Folk Medicine(9), and soon afer that he was also elected tobe regular proessor in the subject o Historyo Medicine at the Faculty o Medicine in Sa-rajevo (10) and the first dean o that aculty

(11). He worked as the dean o the Faculty oMedicine in Sarajevo rom 1st August 1944to 13th May 1945. Afer the liberation o Sa-rajevo in April 1945 and the hand over o theFaculty to the new authorities on 13th May1945, he was sent to work on the DistrictPeople’s Committee in Banja Luka (12). InJune o the same year, he was sent to Kozaraas part o a hygiene and epidemilogical team

o the First Army, in order to help combattyphus (13). He stayed in Banja Luka until2nd March 1946 when he was transerred to

uzla (14).In uzla he worked as the head o thehealth and epidemiology centre, later re-named the Institute o Hygiene, right upuntil his death on 31st October 1958. Tiswas the period immediately afer the Sec-ond World War, and the scope o work othat health institution covered the regiono north-east BH. Te social and economicsituation in the state was difficult, the popu-lation were impoverished and exhausted a-ter our years o war; hygiene, especially in village areas, was at a very low level, and epi-demics o various inectious diseases wererequent, which contributed to the act thatmortality, especially amongst children, washigh. Dr. Stanko Sielski, who was sometimesthe only physician at such an important andsignificant health institution, made an im-portant contribution to improving health inthat area together with his co-workers. Hedied at the age o 68 in Zagreb, where he wasburied in Mirogoj cemetery.

Te scientific and publication work

Dr. Stanko Sielski was involved in scientificresearch work throughout his working lie.Although he worked mainly in small townsand villages, this did not prevent him, arrom major institutions, rom taking a livelyinterest in the medical proession, and pre-cisely in those small Bosnian towns, and heound subjects to satisy his interest in re-search, subjects which were sometimes veryclose to him, and sometimes in completecontrast to his proession.

In the realm o the history o medicinein BH, he researched the lie and work odoctors rom previous generations, (15), thework o medical institutions, (16), old medi-cal manuscripts written in Arabic, Persianand urkish, (17), olk belies about the ori-


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gins and treatment o a variety o illnesses,(18-22) and the role o amulets and olkmedicine books in treating the sick (23, 24).

O particular benefit or archaeological,ethnological and ethnographic science inBH was the constant contact and collabo-ration between Dr. Stanko Sielski and themuseums in the places where he worked(25-28), his reerences to new archaeologicalfinds and his assistance to museum expertsduring their in-field work (29, 30), as wellas his research in the area around ravnikand Žepče (31) and Bihać (32, 33). Tere aremany written documents and other exhib-its in museums in BH and Croatia bearingtestimony to this (34-37). In the final yearso his lie, Dr. Stanko Sielski was an associ-ate o the Yugoslav Lexicographical Institutein Zagreb, in writing the first volume o theMedical Encyclopaedia, which was pub-lished in 1958 (38).

By careul research, I have ound evi-dence to establish that Dr. Stanko Sielskipublished 20 papers: 16 rom the realm omedicine, two rom archaeology, and oneeach rom the fields o ethnography and so-ciology (39). However, this does not meanthat there are not other works by him orwhich I have not yet been able to find docu-mentation. Te lectures are also not listedhere which Dr. Stanko Sielski presented at various proessional congresses, symposiaand other conerences, because I was notable to find documentation or them, al-though I learned about them rom a varietyo reports and the daily press.

Te paper: “Brill’s disease. IV. Study o 26

cases in Yugoslavia” o which he is one o theco-authors, was presented to the Epidemiol-ogy Section o the American Public HealthAssociation at the Seventy-ninth AnnualMeeting in San Francisco, Caliornia, on Oc-tober 30th, 1951 and published in Te Ameri-can Journal of Public Health (40). It is so in-teresting that it deserves to have a separatearticle written and published about it. Oth-

erwise, all his other articles, published in theBosnian language, are worthy o attention,however, the best insight into his entire work

in research is given by the articles “Dr. JustinKarlinski”, “Old urkish and Arabic Medi-cal Manuscripts in Bosnia and Herzegovina”,“Amulets”, “Archaeological Finds in the Areao ravnik and Žepče” and “Our VillageGolubić – a contribution to research intohealth in the village and lie there”, and theythereore deserve a special mention here.

Te article: “Dr. Justin Karlinski”, whichDr. Stanko Sielski published in 1953 in the journal, Higijena: časopis za higijenu, mikro-biologiju, epidemiologiju i sanitarnu tehniku (Hygiene, journal or hygiene, microbiology,epidemiology and sanitary technology) (15)was the result o the interest o Dr. StankoSielski in the lie and work o that physician.Tat interest was awakened in him by articleswritten by Dr. Justin Karlinski, which Dr.Stanko Sielski read whilst leafing througha copy o the journal Glasnik Zemaljskogmuzeja u Sarajevu (Te Herald o the Na-tional Museum in Sarajevo), much earlierthan the time when he decided to writeabout this amous doctor in BH. It is inter-esting how Dr. Stanko Sielski came upon thecareully preserved documentation o Dr.Justin Karlinski. Afer arriving in uzla, hemet Mrs. Marcela Karlinski, the widow o Dr.Justin Karlinski and their daughter, Zosja,then Mrs. Opitz. From them he learned thatDr. Justin Karlinski, alongside his practice asa doctor, during his work in Bosnia had alsobeen involved in scientific research work,and they had kept six hard covered volumes,

comprising copies o his articles written in various languages and printed in variousEuropean journals, which ormed both hisprivate and official documentation. At hisrequest, Mrs. Marcela Karlinski allowed Dr.Stanko Sielski to examine these documents,and he, afer he had studied them in detail,wrote the article about his lie and work. Dr.Justin Karlinski would have been completely



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orgotten in BH, i Dr. Stanko Sielski hadnot written that article, which comprises 14pages o densely typed text, with a picture

o Dr. Justin Karlinski, and a list o his 80publications written in the orm o reer-ences. Te text is a studious and well sum-marized analysis o the lie and work o theinteresting and unusual personality o Dr.Justin Karlinski. It is not necessary to go intomore detail about this article here becausethat would be a summary o something thathas already been summarized, but I warmlyrecommend it to those who are interested inhow a highly educated physician and scholarlived and worked in BH at the end o the 19 th and the beginning o the 20th century.

Te article: “Old urkish and ArabicMedical Manuscripts in Bosnia and Herze-govina”, which Dr. Stanko Sielski publishedin the book Iz Hrvatske medicinske prošlosti (From the Medical History o Croatia) in1954 (17), did not occur spontaneously, butwas the ruit o his many years o system-atically collecting and researching historicaldata, various documents, manuscripts, ar-ticles and books, which were used long agoin Bosnia as a written source o knowledgeor treating the sick. Te article comprises 16pages o dense, type-written text and has ourillustrations. At the end o the article there isa chapter that explains the oreign words usedand a list o literature. Although the article isnot systematized in the sense o having ti-tles and sub-titles, it is written in an orderlymanner with recognisable paragraphs, andthe text itsel orms a well connected whole,which is easy to read and interesting.

On the first page, in the first paragraph,Dr. Stanko Sielski indicates the motives andreasons or writing this piece. Tis is how hedescribes it: “Loyalty to this country, whereI was born, and have lived and worked, dic-tated these lines to me, where I will describebriefly the lives o some old eastern physi-cians and their work, which I have oundin Bosnia”. Later, also on the first page, he

writes about Bosnia: “Tere are ew placesin the world where contrasts have so obvi-ously come into conflict. Trough the ages

ortified cities and towers have stood likewreaths around the borders o our republic.On this heroic battlefield and country, inwhich at one time everyone carried arms tobe able to deend their golden reedom, ourpeople ought and ell through the ages, andthe innumerable memorial stones are thesilent witnesses to plague, amine and war.Te old memorials and walls are overgrownwith brush and creeping vines, and the windblows away the ew reminders o those whoworked, and as a result o historical events,ploughed hard urrows in the lives o theirblood brothers”.

At the end o the “introductory” part othe article, which comprises a text o morethan three pages, Dr. Stanko Sielski writesthat the purpose o the article was to pres-ent to our historians how oriental medicalbooks were studied, revealing many writers,previously unknown to us, and includingoriginal Bosnian ideas, since, as he writes,the Bosnian scribes, at the very least, whenthey were copying the oriental manuscripts,added their own personal comments tothem, their own experience, and their ownmethods o treatment.

Most o the remainder o the text relatesto extensive or brie analyses o individualmedical manuscripts ound in BH. Teseanalyses include brie or extensive biograph-ical data on the authors o individual pieces,and there is also a detailed description o thework itsel, in which he as a doctor empha-

sizes and comments on interesting chapters,and sometimes presents them verbatim inhis text and links them to medical practiceo his time.

Dr. Stanko Sielski pays particular at-tention to the text written in the margins,known as marginalia. Tis is to be expectedrom him, because the margins containednotes and comments by unknown local


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scribes, who were to Dr. Stanko Sielski in-teresting, modest and extremely importantcharacters. He requently points out their

Bosnian origins, which is also to be expectedo him, because at all times he was primarilyinterested in Bosnia. In this way Dr. StankoSielski dealt with 7 medical works. At the endo the article he thanks his riend, Pro. Ab-durahman Čokić rom uzla, and Pro. Dr.Šakir Sikirić rom Sarajevo, the well-knownBosnian Orientalist, or the assistance pro- vided in translating those manuscripts.

In the article “Amulets” published in1941, in the publication Etnografska istra-živanja i građa III (Ethnographic Researchand Materials, III) by the Croatian State Eth-nographic Museum in Zagreb in 1941 (23)Dr. Stanko Sielski, as a proficient researcher,and a thorough and widely educated intel-lectual, describes various aspects o “vari-ous items” - rom amulets and spells, toapotropaic scriptures, which helped peoplein various orms o trouble, or protectedthose who used them rom different ormso evil, objects which he collected while hewas working as a doctor, mainly rom theBosnian Frontier (Bosanska krajina), and hegave them or sold them to the EthnographicMuseum in Zagreb. One o those objects isshown in Picture 4.

Already at the beginning o this article,Dr. Stanko Sielski, with enviable interest, un-ravels and explains olk belies about objectswith “talisman powers”, telling how theseobjects had an important role in our olkmedicine and belies. He attempts, on thebasis o the knowledge he acquired during

his many years o research, to categorize anddefine the differences between true amulets,amulets against spells, talismans and similarobjects, stating thereby that it was difficultto differentiate them, or even impossible todefine clear boundaries between them. Hedescribes apotropaic scriptures, stating thatthey were adjusted to the religion o thosewearing them, and how previously the cus-

tom had been that a hodja wouldisto writethem or Christians or Christian priests orMuslims, but that had already become a rar-ity, because Catholic and Orthodox priestshad stopped writing apotropaic scriptureslong beore, whilst hodjas still did so.

With an enviable and undisputed eel-ing or research into these items with mys-terious power, Dr. Stanko Sielski describeswhat apotropaic scriptures were or, whatthey looked like, their size and the mate-rial they were written on, the writing imple-ments used and the way they were written,and the places on the body where they wereworn, which ofen reveals the essence o thewritten text. Tey requently included state-

ments by those who wrote them, or the peo-ple who wore them. In this way, through 49pictures, showing more than 100 items withaccompanying texts, he describes the vari-ous items used by the people o the BosnianFrontier or different types o problems, orwhich “deended” them rom spells.

Te article: “Archaeological Finds in theArea o ravnik and Žepče” was published

Picture 4 Enamluk, a container for texts from theQuran (enam) made from silver leaf, decorated with

filigree, amethysts and coral (against spells). Pen-

dants – more recent. Allegedly once the property

of a captain from Tuzla in Travnik. Ethnographic Mu-

seum in Zagreb, inv. no. 13698.



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by Dr. Stanko Sielski in the Glasnik Ze-maljskog muzeja u Bosni i Herzegovina (TeHerald o the National Museum o Bosnia

and Herzegovina) in 1931 (31). Te articlecovers six pages, organized into six chapters,afer which there is a summary in German.Tere is an Appendix to the article, consist-ing o 12 tables printed on a separate sheeto paper, marked in Roman numerals rom5 to 16, in which there are black and whitesketches o items ound, mainly lie-size,numbered rom 1 to 149, to which the au-thor reers in the textual description. Teseare rare examples o the artistic work o Dr.Stanko Sielski, because his works o art havemostly not been preserved.

Te first chapter: A Neolithic Settlementin the Valley of the River Bila, begins with abrie description o the site, its geographicalposition and a description o the research.Te author goes on to state that flint knives,scrapers, arrows, stone axes, wedges, grindersand hammers ragments o clay pots with orwithout ornamentation were ound there. Onthe basis o the items ound, the author pre-sumes: “our ancestors living on the banks othe River Bila easily met their everyday needs”.He then states that the research was not sys-tematic, that is that the dig was random, thatthe order o the layers was mainly doubled,and there ollows a systematized descriptiono the items ound. At the end o this chap-ter, the author points out that amongst thebronze items he also ound a brooch decorat-ed with some orm o flower and dots, whichis similar to a brooch or pendant describedby Kellner in his article “Remains o Roman

Settlements on Ilidža”, which was publishedin Te Herald o the National Museum oBosnia and Herzegovina, volume 5, 1897, onpage 149, and he concludes that this broochdates rom the Roman era.

Tere ollows a shorter chapter: BronzeFinds in the Valley of the River Bila, whichdescribes the location o the site, and thefindings o bronze jewellery, consisting o

twisted necklaces with no ornamentation,two spiral bracelets, a spiral ring and a dou-ble clasp. Te third chapter: Bronze Finds in

Brezovo Polje, begins with a brie history othe discovery and a description o the loca-tion o the site o a bronze store, comprising16 celts, 3 spears and one sickle, where allthe items except the sickle have been well-preserved and covered in beautiul green pa-tina. Te textual description o these items isgiven in a clear and systematized table.

In the ourth chapter: Bronze finds fromKoričani, there is a description o a well-pre-served, ornamented bronze celt (an imple-ment like a chisel or axe head), covered ingreen patina, which was ound by a shep-herd in the village o Koričani in the countyo Jajce. Tis is ollowed by chapter five: Te find of coins of King omaš , which describesthe location, the circumstances o the dis-covery, the appearance and details on thehead and tail sides o 13 coins, dating romthe period o the reign o King omaš (1444-1461). In the description o the appearanceo these coins, the description o a smallercircle is emphasized, which is ound on boththe head and tail sides, o which the authorwrites: “He has not noticed any earlier de-scription o these on coins o this type, sohe does not know whether the descriptionhad simply been omitted or other coins othis type do not have these circles, but thisunusual eature needs to be noted since thecircle was ormed with unusual delicacy.”

Te final, sixth chapter: Medieval finds from the Village of Zabilje in ravnik Coun-ty , gives a presentation o the discovery

and description o two iron spurs and oneiron knie in the “ort” above the village oZabilje. Te author points out that theseitems were ound by the arm labourer Ne-zir Karahodža, when he was clearing theorest, in a barrow with human bones, andthey were kept on the roo o a house. At theend o this short chapter, the author writes:“Knives like this have been ound requently


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in pre-historic pile dwellings (Radimsky piledwelling near Ripač, Journal, vol. V, page41) as well as amongst Roman remains, but

according to this find, it is probable thatthese are medieval items.”“Our Village Golubić – a contribution to

research into health in the village and liethere” is an article published in the journalSocijalno medicinski pregled (Social Medi-cal Review) in 1939, which was published inBelgrade (33). It covers 22 pages in Cyrillicscript, and is illustrated with black and whitesketches, with a summary in German andno literature listed. In it, Dr. Stanko Sielskidescribes the social conditions in the villageo Golubić, which is located near Bihać, andsometimes comments on their effect on thehealth o the population.

He writes o his choice o that village:“Tis village was chosen because it is onlysix kilometres rom the health centre, thatis rom the centre o our work, so it is eas-ily accessible. But it was also chosen becausethere are Orthodox and Catholic believersas well as Muslims living together there, soit is interesting not just rom a geographi-cal but also rom an anthropological andethnographic point o view”. Tere ollows ageographical and historical description o the village, then chapters on the population, theclimate, the way the land was worked, ruitgrowing, trades, olk costumes, the urnish-ings o the houses, how rooms are decorated,types o houses, yards, barns, amily lie andcustoms, the social status o men and women,customs and diet.

It is important to point out that in the

chapter entitled: Te Population, alongsidegeneral inormation, the author gives speci-ic results o anthropometric measurementsmade, the requency o blood groups, eyecolours, the shape o shoulder blades, andwhen menstruation begins and ends in thewomen. Te olk customs are described inmore detail in this chapter, as practised bythe inhabitants, and this description is ac-

companied by an explanation o their sig-nificance. Te last chapter: Diet, is the mostextensive and also the most detailed part o

the article. In the introductory part o thischapter the author gives a detailed descrip-tion o ood production in relation to the re-ligious affiliation o the population, the mostrequent vegetable and animal ood productsraised, how the ood produced was preservedand managed, and the diet o the populationin relation to the season, the compositionand number o daily meals, preparation owinter preserves, and preparation o themost requent meals, as well as the opinionso the inhabitants about their diet.

Te article is illustrated with black andwhite sketches - grouped in eight units, un-der each o which there is a brie descriptivetext. Te group sketches are located besidethe appropriate text, but are not mentionedin it. Tey show: various types o houses

Picture 5 Various types of houses.



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(Picture 5), ground plans o Muslim, Catho-lic and Orthodox homes, various householdobjects, sketches o tattoos on the ront and

back o Catholic women’s hands (Picture 6),graves (stone urns) with ornamental details,details o grave stones, and sketches o vari-ous amulets ound in the village o Golubić.Although it is not mentioned in the articlewho drew these sketches, it may be assumedwith great assurance that they were drawnby Dr. Stanko Sielski. Tere is also an origi-nal colour drawing o a apotropaic scrip-tures, ound in the village o Golubić, alleg-edly rom the time when the plague was riein that region (Picture 7).

Picture 6 Tattoos of Catholic women from the village

of Golubić.

Picture 7 Apotropaic scriptures from Golubić alleg-

edly from the time when the plague was rife in that

area.

Conclusion

Dr. Stanko Sielski spent his entire workinglie in BH, almost exclusively in the inte-

rior o the country and at a time burdenedby difficult and complex social and politi-cal circumstances. Tis did not prevent himrom devoting himsel not only to his pro-essional work, but also to scientific researchand publishing. He perormed his work as aphysician in a humane manner, contributingto the improvement o the health o the peo-ple o BH. His publication work was basedon the results o his own research work inthe fields o the history o medicine, archae-

ology, ethnology and sociology, which allin all contributed to better knowledge andunderstanding, and the preservation o thematerial and spritiual values o the historicaland cultural heritage o BH.

Conflict of interest: Te author declares that he hasno conflict o interest.

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husref tahirović - dr. stanko sielski (1891-1958)

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