Mending the Human Motor 25its rich variety of fl ora and fauna, landscape, scenery, historical civilizations,
and ethnic groups. Before the revolution, this Crimean Eden was accessible
only to the rich, powerful, and well-born. Now thanks to the revolution, So-
viet guidebooks pointed out, the Crimean experience could be enjoyed by
any Soviet citizens, whether patients with serious diseases needing long re-
cuperations, resters seeking to recover their strength, or tourists planning
hiking trips from one outstanding Crimean attraction to another. “Even the
shortest stay in Crimea produces a special kind of elevation of activity, in-
creases strength, and fortifi es both the psychological and physical resiliency
of the organism,” said one 1924 edition.^36
Frequently compared to the French and Italian Rivieras, Crimea could ac-
commodate patients and visitors year-round, but the best time to visit was in
golden autumn. The peninsula qualifi ed as a climate resort, in which treat-
ment consisted of a physical relocation to a natural setting that was rich in
clean air, bright sunlight, and fresh water. In particular, Crimea’s southern
shore, with its coastline, dramatic promontories, sublime views of the azure
Black Sea, wild nature, and mountain backdrop, combined all the best factors
for climate therapy. Stretching from Yalta in the western end to Alushta to-
ward the east, the southern shore featured palaces, parks, and nature reserves
along with sanatoria, rest homes, hotels, and private dachas that took in pay-
ing customers. In addition to climate therapy offered by nature itself, patients
could also partake of balneological therapies—healing baths and mineral wa-
ter treatments. They could also benefi t from Crimea’s unique grape therapy.
The grape season ran from mid-August until early November; on doctors’
orders, patients could consume up to six to eight pounds of grapes a day: for
many diseases, kurort physicians believed grapes were just as effective as
mineral water.^37 On the western side of the peninsula, Evpatoria lacked the
traditional appeal of the southern shore, but it boasted broad sandy beaches,
unlike the rugged shore of the south.
The Soviet health commissariat decreed in 1921 that Crimea would be-
come the country’s premier health resort and set a target of 25,000 beds for
its expansion. The fi nancial diffi culties of the early Soviet regime made this
goal impossible to achieve, and a major earthquake in September 1927 fur-
ther hampered development: all the patients on the southern shore had to
be evacuated, and aftershocks continued into November. The government
allocated one million rubles for the reconstruction of this southern shore,
and by 1928, according to one source, the capacity of Crimean sanatoria
had returned to its previous level of 7,359 beds. As late as 1928, the all-union
health resort remained a showplace of the mixed public-private economy of
the New Economic Policy. Individual government trusts managed resorts on
- Andreas Schönle, “Garden of the Empire: Catherine’s Appropriation of the Crimea,”
Slavic Review 60, no. 1 (2001): 1–23; Kurorty Kryma. Spravochnik , ed. N. I. Teziakov and L. G.
Gol'dfail' (Moscow, 1924), 8–15; Krym. Putevoditel' (Simferopol', n.d. [late 1920s]), 7–31. - Kurorty SSSR (1923), 15–17; Kurorty Kryma , 61–63.