How the Siamese twins of the Blažek sisters lived and gave birth

And why Siamese? .. In fact, “identical twins, not separated in the embryonic period of development, possessing common body parts and organs” (as Wikipedia defines them), could be called Chinese. It is not for nothing that the earliest handwritten mention of them is contained in the Hou Hanshu chronicle, dated at the beginning of the last millennium.

According to historians, such brothers and sisters were born at all times and all over the world – from ancient Armenia and Iran to medieval England and Renaissance Italy. In general, long before the birth in the 19th century in the kingdom of Siam of some Chang and Ang Bunkers, who assigned the name that we use today to this phenomenon. And all why? Because it was this couple that became the most, so to speak, untwisted in the world.

In the pre-TV and social media era, mass reach and public “likes” were earned by hard work in circuses, where Changi, the superstar of the legendary Barnum troupe, spent half of their lives.

Actually, almost all of their predecessors, with rare exceptions, became celebrities – and more often not of their own free will. The common people always loved to tickle their nerves and with much more enthusiasm they went not to galleries, theaters or nature, but to circuses – to look at “two-headed horses”, “bearded women”, “indivisible brothers”. Or sisters.

These girls were born in 1878 to a poor peasant family of Blazeks in a tiny village lost in the Bohemian forests. Of course, the birth of girls who have grown together in the region of the sacrum instantly became the talk of the town. They whispered that all this was the fault of the mother, who, being in the demolition, allegedly looked at the holy fools and cripples with unseemly curiosity. And it’s not recommended to do this to a pregnant woman …

The very unhappy 22-year-old woman (who two years earlier gave birth to an absolutely healthy daughter) was the most frightened of all. The girls seemed to be ordinary, but the lower part of their bodies was one piece – at least at first glance. The newborns were immediately taken to the local witch, who immediately suspected that she had to deal with the wiles of the devil.

Rose and Joseph – why not the names of fairy princesses? According to the laws of the genre, they were supposed to grow as complete opposites, both externally and in character. In life, everything was almost the same – except for the fact that all Siamese twins are like two drops of water similar to each other.

Otherwise, they had completely different temperaments. Rose was a ringleader and a fidget. But Joseph is always in the shadows, shy and melancholy. However, the girls had a complete understanding between themselves from birth. They did not offend each other, but adored each other.

Czech professors of medicine constantly examined them and dedicated medical works to them, in which, by the way, at that time Siamese twins were officially called “monsters” …

As a result of surveys, it was found that girls develop in full accordance with their age. The doctors also paid attention to the fact that while one was awake, the other could quite calmly doze. That each had their own eating habits. That hunger and thirst they experienced and quenched independently of each other. That their heart rate and pulse did not match. That they even took turns! That is, one could carry the other, from which only it was required – to touch slightly with her legs.

Local doctors urged parents to raise funds as soon as possible and show Rose and Joseph to serious professionals – for example, in Paris. The family went there in 1891. The sisters were 14 years old.

Having carefully examined Rosa and Joseph, the French luminaries decided that it was absolutely impossible to separate the girls. They had fused vertebrae from the chest to the coccyx and the pelvic area. Each had its own heart and lungs, but the stomach was one for two, and with it the external genitals. But the bladder and uterus, according to the surviving biographies of the twins, each had their own …

Rumors about unusual guests of the capital spread throughout Paris like a fire in a dry forest. Then it was decided that it was time to show the girls to the honorable public. There was already some preparation. From an early age, parents took Rosa and Joseph to rural fairs – the family needed funds, and compassionate peasants did not spare money for the little ones.

One skill that was enough for the big stage of the late 19th century, the Blazek sisters mastered in their homeland: they loved to dance. Moreover, pair dances were their crowning number. Girls easily waltzed with partners, could perform other popular dances at that time. Neither their physiological specifics, nor the fact that Joseph’s right leg was noticeably shorter than the left, did not interfere with this.

Where there is dancing, there is music. The sisters enjoyed learning to play instruments – not only the piano, but also the violin, harp and xylophone. Contemporaries noted that they had excellent hearing and clear abilities. In any case, they managed to charm the demanding Parisian audience.

In the capital of France, Rosa and Joseph had their own manager, as well as a permanent stage for performances – a small theater, where curious Parisians poured in crowds. This was facilitated not only by eyewitness accounts of visiting gray-eyed blondes, but also by a large-scale advertising campaign. Sisters Blazeks now and then arranged photo shoots, in which they posed in outfits of varying degrees of candor. Including in “naked” tights.

Two years later, they traveled from Paris to New York for the 1893 World’s Fair. There was also success, but much more moderate than in Europe, where they soon returned. A big tour was planned.

Without vacation and rest, the growing twins traveled across European countries, again and again demonstrating their dance and musical skills to the public. At some point, their shows became boring. And the girls themselves were already beginning to show character … Including, to each other.

It was in 1909, when the sisters were 31 years old. In the press, of course, they wrote that no matter how long the string could be twisted … However, the expectant mother herself first reacted to the speculation and stated that she was in an intimate relationship only once – and for great love.

“But what about Joseph ?!” – this question worried, perhaps, all of Europe. According to the newspapermen who possessed remarkable imagination, the second sister was deliberately put to sleep so as not to interfere with lovers, by the way, not bound by marriage, to carry out their sinful impulses.

Meanwhile, some people familiar with the situation, without trying to attract attention to themselves, confidently asserted that the sisters’ manager was the father of the child, who for some reason canceled all their performances for several years, paying the girls an impressive amount for silence and leaving the shadows.

Be that as it may, the birth took place in Prague in April 1910 in an atmosphere of increased secrecy. And they were taken, taking into account the specifics of the twins, not by qualified specialists, but by nurses. Whether it was the fact that everything happened at night and when the doctor arrived at the hospital from home, the baby had already been born.

Rosa named her son Franz – according to her, in honor of his father, a certain Franz Dvorak, a military man whom no one had ever seen. At the same time, both sisters got milk, which made it possible to feed the baby together, and later, three years later, to return to the stage with the performance “Two mothers of one son”. Little Franz, or Franzl, as his family called him, became the third participant in the show.

They managed to return to popularity quickly. After a pause, and even in the light of the events that had taken place, interest in the unusual sisters raising one child for two was again increased. Yes, and Joseph, previously so critical of her sister’s romantic impulses, seemed to soften and change herself. She had a boyfriend.

From the point of view of marriage, the sisters’ situation was absolutely hopeless. Marriages of “monsters”, as we recall, were called at that time the Siamese twins, from a legal point of view were considered bigamy. At the same time, until the end of her life, Rosa introduced herself by the name of Dvorak and called herself a widow, claiming that her husband died on the battlefield in 1917, fighting on the side of Germany.

As for Joseph, who was even engaged to her chosen one, heaven did not approve of their union. The groom died suddenly of appendicitis, when the lovers had not really begun planning the wedding.

A couple of months after arriving in the Land of Great Opportunities, Rosa fell ill with a severe flu. Surprisingly, the sisters rarely got sick at the same time and only one of them could endure the same colds. However, after a while, when Rosa was recovering, Joseph began to complain of severe abdominal pain, and both ended up in the hospital again. This time, the doctors could not diagnose and prescribe the necessary treatment. Joseph was getting worse, she fell into a coma.

Here the question of the separation of women arose, and on the stage, that is, in the hospital ward, a certain Frank appeared, calling himself the twin brother. It was he who stated that the sisters must be operated on in order to try to save at least Rose.

Frank’s reasons were obvious to many. In the event of the death of both sisters, all their fortune would be inherited by the “son of two mothers” Franz. If only one died – and even one who was not technically the boy’s mother, the “brother” would have a chance of her inheritance. It seemed to many that the sisters, who had performed for more than a decade, had fabulous it.

Frank did not give up for some time, demanding that an autopsy be performed on the women and the real mother of their son be identified. The bodies were carefully examined, during which the fact was confirmed that it was impossible to separate the twins, and Franz’s mother was indeed Rosa.

Another sensation, which became clear after the death of the sisters, was that instead of the hundreds of thousands of dollars that were attributed to them, for two they had about four hundred. The traces of little Franz were somehow quickly lost, and “Brother Frank” also disappeared. Rosa and Joseph were buried by people sympathetic to their fate in the Czech Bohemian cemetery in Chicago.