1919
349A
Berlin-Grünewald, Schleinitzstrasse 6
20 January 1919
Dear Professor,
First my congratulations on the good news you have had of your son Martin! Eitingon told me about it yesterday. We are deeply happy for all of you that this great worry has been lifted from you.
In your letter you notified me of the 4th volume of the Kleine Schriften. I waited to write so as to be able to confirm that the book had arrived, but it did not come until yesterday. I cannot but admire the sheer quantity that you have achieved in such times. I have begun at once to read the so far unpublished analysis,1 in the meantime thank you for the enjoyable hours you gave me yesterday evening, and I shall come back to it in the next letter.
Meanwhile I heard from Rank that the foundation of the Verlag has taken place. I heard a few more details from Reik this very day. You must excuse the fact that I have not yet got into touch with Hitschmann, nor have I sent in my Budapest paper.2 It is not usually my way to be careless about these things. I have not been well recently because of the stubborn bronchial and nasal catarrh that I brought back from East Prussia. I have now been treated for a week by Fliess, with very good results. Until a few days ago I had bad nights and was glad when I had finished my practice. I had to use the free time for resting. But I have now done the greater part of the paper and hope to complete it in two days. I should be grateful, dear Herr Professor, if you would inform Rank of it; I shall be writing to him in detail as soon as I am no longer so tired in the evenings.
Fräulein Haas is leaving tomorrow with her nephew. She was a pillar of my practice for a long time. Her obsessional symptom has not disappeared, but in other respects she is better. The nephew has been to a large extent a success.
In Berlin we are apparently over the worst of the riots, and we are approaching the final external peace.—In our furnished flat, in the middle of the most beautiful part of the garden city, we can bear it for the present, but are longing for a permanent home. The food situation here is naturally less favourable than in East Prussia, but has at any rate not deteriorated any more in the last few months. What does it look like where you are?
Liebermann too is now discharged from the army. Dr Böhm,3 who was in Munich up to now, is probably also settling in Berlin.
Most cordial greetings, also from my wife, for you and all your family!
Yours,
Karl Abraham
1. Freud, 1918b [1914].
2. Abraham, 1918[57].
3. Felix Böhm [1881–1958], member of the IPA since 1913. He worked at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute from 1920 to 1936 and became secretary of the German Psychoanalytical Society in 1931. His was instrumental in the “aryanization” of psychoanalysis during the Nazi regime.
350F
Vienna IX, Berggasse 19
51 February 1919
Dear Friend,
First, let me state that it is bitterly cold here in this room, and then let me add that I have heard with pleasure from various sources about your improved state of health and the arrival of your review. But I have nothing yet from E. Simmel2; I have had no word from him, and you do not mention him in your letter either.
The preparations to set up the Verlag are progressing very well. Rank is really outstandingly competent and keen. The second issue of the Zeitschrift is almost completely in type, the first is on the way from Czechia, and paper has been bought. There is talk of Rank's going to Switzerland to meet Jones there and perhaps build up the organization a little further.3 We are delighted to be able to work in our jardin secret4 while the storm lays waste to everything outside.
Activity in the societies here, in Budapest and in Holland, is lively. We hope the same will soon be true of yours in Berlin.
The last few weeks have brought me several new editions and translations, of which the most recent is the Leonardo.5 The first half of the Dutch translation of the Lectures6 has appeared, and a Danish translation of the American lectures is assured.
I have been lingering not unintentionally on the bright side of things. Depicting the other side would take us too far afield. I am very busy, but———. Of Martin, who is in Genoa, we have since had no news. In any case, he would not be missing any work here. I was recently visited by an American from Wilson's staff.7 He came accompanied by two baskets of food and exchanged them for copies of the Lectures and the Everyday Life.8 He gave us confidence in the President.
I send my cordial greetings to you and your dear wife.
Yours,
Freud
1. Reading uncertain; could also be a 4.
2. Simmel, 1919a.
3. On 10 February, in a circular letter, Pfister and Mira and Emil Oberholzer proposed the founding of a Swiss Society for Psychoanalysis. The organizational meeting took place on 21 March, the first meeting three days afterwards, with guest lectures by Jones, Rank, and Sachs on “Psychoanalysis as an Intellectual Movement”; affiliation with the IPA was also decided upon there.
The First Chair was Emil Oberholzer [1883–1958], who remained president until 1927; in that year he founded his own purely medical psychoanalytic group, which dissolved after his emigration in 1938. With his wife, the child-analyst Mira Gincburg [1887–1949], he went to New York, where he became a member of the Society there.
4. Literally, hidden garden; French expression for one's most intimate feelings and thoughts.
5. Freud, 1910c (second edition 1919).
6. Freud, 1916–17, vol. 1, transl. A. W. van Renterghem (Antwerp: Maatsch, 1918).
7. Thomas Woodrow Wilson [1856–1924], twenty-eighth president of the United States [1913–1921]. William Christian Bullitt [1891–1967], then working in the State Department as an administrative adviser to Wilson. He met Freud through his wife, who was in analysis with Freud; Bullitt himself would also become an analysand of Freud's. Bullitt and Freud collaborated on a book on the president (Freud & Bullitt, 1966), the extent of Freud's contribution to which is controversial.
8. Freud, 1901b.
351A
Berlin-Grünewald, Schleinitzstrasse 6
23 February 1919
Dear Professor,
In spite of the unquiet times, there seems to be much scientific activity in Vienna. I was glad to hear about the development of the Verlag, the new editions, and the activity of the societies. There is naturally only a very modest amount of scientific life to report on from here. Our group now has three meetings a month, two of them on medical subjects and one on an Imago topic. Last time Liebermann gave a lecture on certain bisexual phenomena in obsessional neurosis,1 with which I was rather pleased. Simmel must first become. He is not yet far beyond the cathartic stage and seems to me to be in need of analysis himself. Eitingon is unfortunately too unproductive. Frau Horney is very keen, the others are scientifically scarcely worth considering. Böhm from Munich, who is probably moving here in April, will apparently be a good acquisition.
I am writing a short paper about patients who persistently avoid free association and hope to send the manuscript to Rank in a week or two. It is a paper I read in our first meeting.2 This week I shall speak about animal totemism in dreams.3 My health is fairly good now so that I am able to cope well with my work. My practice is growing. It has recently provided me with various new findings, which I hope to make use of soon; among others, some contributions to the theory of the erotogenic zones, with special reference to the eye.4 A most instructive case of writer's cramp gave me some nice material about the hand as an erotogenic zone.
Rank sent me the table of contents for the 2nd issue of the Zeitschrift. I find in it, among others, a heading “Putnam +”.5 Do you know any details about this?
The first two months of my practice have proved that it is possible to live as well as to practise away from the centre of town. I would not like to return to the centre, but it is very difficult to find suitable accommodation out here. Our current one is only a temporary solution, and after three years of Bohemian existence we should like to live comfortably again.
Have you any news from Genoa? And how are you all? It is quite like spring here already. If the weather is the same in Vienna, at least you need not suffer so much from the shortage of coal any more. In this respect we are well off, but in others living conditions are still pretty difficult here. You are right that it is as well for the time being to bury oneself in science. It is good that our science gives us such hopeful prospects for the future!
With the most cordial greetings from house to house,
Yours,
Karl Abraham
1 “Obsessional Neurosis and Bisexuality”, 20 February 1919 (Zeitschrift, 1919, 5: 230).
2 Abraham, 1919[58], read on 6 February 1919 (Zeitschrift, 1919, 5: 230); cf. the case of Frau Haas, letter 340A, 21 June 1918.
3 Abraham, 1919[59], read on 16 March 1919 (ibid.).
4 Cf. Abraham, 1920[67]: pp. 352–353.
5 Freud's obituary (1919b) of Putnam (signed “The editor”), who had died in November 1918.
352A
Berlin-Grünewald
1 April 1919
Dear Professor,
I too was very sorry that the publication of the Congress volume was so badly delayed through Simmel's fault. I have urged him many times, but all in vain. In the middle of February I wrote a letter to Rank, in which I made clear to him my opinion of S. This letter came back after four weeks! My proof of the Pötzl review1 also came back to me, and I sent it off for the second time. I hope that I too have not gained a reputation for slovenliness. You, dear Herr Professor, and Reik as well, make unclear references to Simmel. But I am interested to know what has happened. I even have a special interest in it, because S. wants to be analysed by me.* He should be here for the first session at this very moment but did not turn up. His resistances are very great. You obviously did not see them in Budapest and let yourself be deeply influenced by the one very sympathetic letter. Later I had occasion to have my view of him, which was divergent from the beginning, confirmed many times. The resistances, however, are balanced by a strong positive interest and an intelligence that grasps things rapidly. I shall tell you more later. I should like to take this opportunity to say that in my opinion yet another adept is being overestimated, namely Pötzl. I altered the review only reluctantly at the time. I have the impression that all of you in Vienna still greet every influx from the academic side with too great an optimism. In P., the resistances seem to me to outweigh the few positive elements in his work. He may be more positive in the sessions there; in any case, in his writings he has not risked anything up to now.
I heard from Sachs and Rank directly from Switzerland, and I am pleased that Sachs has had a good convalescence.2 I myself am in quite good health. The practice is satisfactory as far as finances are concerned, and recently has been particularly pleasing from a scientific point of view.
We are still living in our temporary lodgings. It is very difficult to find anything definite, but I hope we shall have some success soon.
I am sending off a very short manuscript in the course of the week. It is a supplement to Ferenczi's Sunday Neuroses.3 No. 1 of the Zeitschrift satisfied me very much. Tausk4 is good, Ferenczi5 as always. It was only in retrospect that I discovered in vol. 4 of your Schriften the new work on virginity.6 Perhaps sometime I shall get around telling you about a few observations I made that prove your point of view very well.
I hope that you and your family are all well, and that you also have good news of Martin. Please let me have an answer to my question above about S.!
With cordial greetings from house to house,
Yours,
Karl Abraham
* Especially because of his work inhibitions.
P.S.: As Simmel himself telegraphed yesterday that the manuscript has been sent off, I did not send an additional telegram.
1. Abraham, 1919[63b].
2. At the Budapest Congress, Sachs had been stricken with a severe pulmonary hemorrhage. He subsequently went to Davos, Switzerland, where he was able to cure his tuberculosis.
3. Abraham, 1919[61].
4. Tausk, 1919; today considered a classic.
5. Ferenczi, 1919[210].
6. Freud, 1918a.
353F
Vienna IX, Berggasse 19
13 April 1919
Dear Friend,
It still is no postal service if a letter arrives on the 11th day.
In the case of Simmel, I can easily put you in the picture. We had decided to strike out his name from the notifications and bring out the booklet without him if he kept us waiting yet again. It was also a suspicious phenomenon that he did not manage to write a word in reply to the awarding of the prize. I gave the prize to the publication, not the person, and as far as that goes I am not sorry. I feel, too, that S., like Breuer at the time, can personally not endure his own findings.
With regard to an over-estimation of Pötzl, it is not as bad as that here. We rather enjoy the piquancy of the situation that the first aid of the [psychiatric] clinic associates himself with Ψα, but we made him spend years courting us and are very well informed about his ambiguous character. His very notable intelligence and scientific training are in his favour; if he does nothing for us, we shall put up with the situation very well. We just did not wish to let him be rejected for so long, as he was enthusiastic. Optimism regarding academic circles has no place with us.
Rank is back; in view of the uncertainties of the recent situation in Hungary,1 he did not commit himself in any way, but he made many contacts. He found Jones as devoted to us as ever. He wants a congress, or at any rate a meeting of the committee, in Holland in the autumn. I hope it will be possible.
Your two parcels have been received with many thanks. The technical paper2 is particularly good and topical. What is perhaps missing is that the whole attitude derives from the father complex. Printing is going ahead.
The state of our affairs is in conformity with the troubled times. Ernst is cut off from us in Munich, and from the prisoner we have rare, not unsatisfactory news.
With cordial greetings to you and your dear family,
Yours,
Freud
1. The Károlyi government had collapsed under the pressure of foreign and domestic policy crises. On 20 March the government had announced its resignation, and on 21 March the “Revolutionary Governing Council” under Béla Kun [1866–1939] and Sándor Garbai had assumed power and proclaimed the short-lived [until 1 August] “Hungarian Council Republic”. Under these circumstances, access to von Freund's fund was threatened.
2. Abraham, 1919[58].
354A
Berlin-Grünewald
5 May 1919
Dear Professor,
This letter was meant to reach you on 7 May,1 but it will arrive some days later after all. My good wishes are nonetheless sincere! I had hoped to be able to send you a scientific contribution in honour of the day, as I have done several times previously. The paper in question will, however, be more extensive than I had anticipated and, because of my limited leisure, will not be ready for some weeks. It uses your recent publication on the taboo of virginity as a point of departure and deals with the castration complex in women; I think it contributes something new. Some days ago I spoke in our Society about this topic.2 We have had regular meetings since the end of the war, and they are far more productive than they used to be. I now have our colleague S.[immel] under treatment! His resistances are not, as you thought, of the Breuer type, at least not principally so, but mainly narcissistic. As long as he was alone and could feel himself a discoverer, it was all right; but he cannot bear to be a part of the organization in which he is not the first. His resistances to treatment are enormous, and I do not know whether I shall master them.
For myself, I can report that my health is now fairly satisfactory. The practice is lively and will become more lucrative in due course. I have the impression from my analyses that I have made progress in technique in spite of the long interval. My handling of neuroses and psychoses at the military hospital was certainly less intensive in each single case but gave me much insight and extended my experience.—You may be interested to hear that I have recently begun the analysis of a case of paranoia querulans—most instructive and fully confirming your views.
Eitingon will write to you very soon. He was in Leipzig for quite a time, as his brother died.3 Earlier he reviewed your work on the infantile neurosis4 for us on one evening. At the penultimate session Frau Dr Horney made an excellent analysis of a remarkable infantile female neurotic (perhaps hebephrenic).5 Liebermann is very enthusiastic, and so is our new member Böhm.
We are still without a permanent home, as our circumstances are very difficult altogether. My family are well, and I hope you and your family are likewise.
We shall soon have to decide whether there is to be a congress and where it should take place. Holland seems to be the most suitable country, although the exchange rate makes this journey very difficult, particularly for the Austrians. I would be in favour of writing round to the societies immediately in order to find out whether there would be enough participants for Holland.
Is there no hope, dear Herr Professor, of you coming to Germany (Hamburg)?
With cordial greetings from house to house,
Yours,
Karl Abraham
1. Actually, Freud's birthday was on 6 May.
2. Abraham, 1920[67], presented before the Berlin Society on 17 April (Zeitschrift, 1919, 5: 231).
3. Vladimir or Valdemar Eitingon, Max Eitingon's elder brother, who had run the American branch of the family fur business (Mary-Kay Wilmers, personal communication). A year earlier, one of his legs had had to be amputated because of a cryptogenetic sepsis, which finally also caused his death around Easter, 1919 (Eitingon to Freud, 19 June 1919, SFC).
4. The “Wolf Man” analysis.
5. Sessions on 20 March and 8 April (Zeitschrift, 1919, 5: p. 230).
355F
Vienna IX, Berggasse 19
18 May 1919
Dear Friend,
The period of my birthday brought me a great many congratulations, dotted about all over the place from the 1st to the 7th; my own brother settled for 3 May, though he should have known better. These uncertainties contain a perfectly accurate criticism of this practice, which, like so many other things, should now be ripe for abolition. I read with much satisfaction in your letter the news about your health and your practice. What you say about S.[immel] sounds very strange. The man must at least have read Breuer when he began his work, and could not fail for a moment to recognize that he is practising the catharsis taught by Breuer. Perhaps it would be more economical to let him go; then he will never complete anything more. I have, moreover, made the acquaintance of that P. Cassian who was concerned in the business with him and Schnee. According to this witness, absolutely nothing would be left of S.'s originality.
The first book published by the Verlag now lies ready before me, that on the war neuroses. I do not regard it as an outstanding achievement, but perhaps for that very reason it will make an impression on our honoured contemporaries. Number 2, Ferenczi,1 is soon to follow. We are completely cut off from Budapest; we know only that Ferenczi has become an official teacher of Ψα.2 The embassy here has paid us out 1/5 of the fund; the remainder does not seem to be endangered. A congress this year seems to be still out of the question, as Emden also agrees, it might perhaps be possible to organize a meeting of the members of the committee or of presidents of the societies, but that too is still doubtful. Just as the war deprived us of the activity of the Berlin headquarters, so is the revolution now depriving us of the activity of the Budapest headquarters. Actually a change in organization seems to be indicated.
Kraus and Brugsch have again reminded me of my promise to produce an article on the ψα theory of the neuroses for their handbook by 20 April. The recognition of Ψα in the syzygiology3 of the former is very meagre. Friedländer,4 a real medical “subject” in Heinrich Mann's sense of the word,5 has sent us his character-study of Wilhelm II from the Umschau! I conclude from this symptom that the Hohenzollerns are finally done for. Of all the rats, this Fr. is the most loathsome.
My wife is now in bed with true influenzal pneumonia,6 but it seems to be going well; we are told not to worry.
With cordial greetings to you and your family,
Yours,
Freud
1. Ferenczi, 1919[223].
2. Supported by two petitions by medical students [autumn 1918 and 28 January 1919], Ferenczi had, despite strong opposition, been appointed Professor of Psychoanalysis by the new Minister of Education Zsigmond Kunfi during the Council Republic on 25 April 1919—the first professorship for psychoanalysis ever.
3. Greek: “compilation”.
4. See letter 21A, 23 February 1908, n. 7.
5. Heinrich Mann [1871–1950], Der Untertan [The Subject] (1914), first novel of the trilogy Das Kaiserreich, a trenchant critique of German submissiveness to the authorities.
6. Martha Freud had fallen ill with a severe influenza, from which she would not recover for several months (Jones, 1957: p. 10). In 1918/19, the so-called Spanish influenza was raging in all of Europe; more people died from it than had died during the war, among them Freud's daughter Sophie [25 January 1920].
356A
Berlin-Grünewald
3 June 1919
Dear Professor,
Transport between Berlin and Vienna is still very slow and irregular. A direct train runs only twice a week. We have almost gone back to the time of the mail-coach. I hope with all my heart that in the time since you sent me your last letter your wife's condition has improved completely. We too have not quite finished with the influenza. If you cannot manage to give me some information in the near future about the course of the illness, you might perhaps entrust it to Rank, who often needs to write to me in any case! Your eldest son's imprisonment is probably almost at an end. The latest news gives us hope for an agreement in the course of this month after all.
5 June. Two very full days have prevented me from continuing my letter. Apart from work in the practice, which now fills the whole of my day, I have tried almost daily during the last five months to find a permanent home. The last two days were—besides work—completely filled with negotiations on this subject. At last we found a very suitable flat for 1 October, so we must make do with our temporary lodgings for another four months. Incidentally, these last months have proved that patients do not mind coming out as far as the Grünewald colony, and I have now rented a place very near our present refuge.
Meanwhile, the issue on war neuroses has arrived. Jones's contribution1 interests me particularly, but I have not been able to read it yet.
As you know, among my patients there is also Dr S. He is definitely making progress. I may soon be able to give a final favourable report on him. I do not know whether I mentioned in my last letter that I have taken on the analysis of a paranoia querulans. It is progressing very successfully. The patient has lost interest in those things about which he was querulously complaining, has utterly changed, and is making a surprising switch-over from man to woman. He is a complete and brilliant confirmation of the theories you develop in your Schreber.2 It is the sort of case where one would least expect to achieve a therapeutic influence. This man, who two months ago had no thoughts or words other than querulous ones, said to me today: “I'm feeling damned well.” The speed of the improvement can probably be accounted for by only one factor—the patient's homosexuality had been very little repressed, and its significance became evident to him very rapidly.
It is weeks since I have written anything. The paper I promised on the female castration complex got stuck right at the beginning. Now that flat-hunting is over, I hope to become more productive once again.
What do you think at your end about a meeting or a congress in the course of the year? The Hague is hardly feasible while going abroad is so difficult. We here would be very pleased if a German town were considered, and our Society asks that this proposal should be given some thought!
I have not heard any more from Reik. He was supposed to come to Berlin some time ago.
In conclusion, I again send my best wishes for your wife's speedy recovery. With the most cordial greetings from house to house,
Yours,
Karl Abraham
1. Jones, 1918.
2. Freud, 1911c [1910].
357F
Vienna IX, Berggasse 19
6 July 1919
Dear Friend,
You are right, this is still not a proper correspondence. There are also weeks in which for some inner reason one cannot bring oneself to take a pen in hand. My wife has, I can say, completely recovered. She is going on the 15th inst. to the Parsch Sanatorium near Salzburg, and at the same time my sister-in-law and I are going to Gastein. (Her doctor insists on trying a high-altitude climate and a completely quiet life.) My daughter is trying to arrange a visit to Bavaria, near Reichenhall, with a friend.1
Do not be surprised that we are choosing such expensive holidays in these times. Everything near Vienna is even more expensive, almost prohibitive, most summer resorts are forbidden, and anything to do with foreign travel is still unbearably bothersome. And yet we do not want to give up a possible recreation as long as it is warm. Who knows how many of us will survive next winter, which is expected to be bad. And the certainty of financial decline as a result of our national situation does not encourage thrift.
We were completely cut off from Budapest for 3–4 weeks. Now Rank can speak to his journal2 there by telephone again, and we are hoping in this way to learn the essentials about what is happening to Ferenczi and Freund.
Tausk shot himself a few days ago.3 You remember his behaviour at the Congress. He was weighed down by his past and by the recent experiences of the war; he should have been married this week, but could not struggle on any longer. Despite his outstanding talents, he was of no use to us.
Interpretation of Dreams and Leonardo have come out now, Everyday Life is expected this month.4 Then they will certainly come to you too. Jones wants to visit me in Gastein.5
Rank is staying in Vienna; he is expecting to become a father soon.6
With cordial greetings to you and yours,
Yours,
Freud
1. Anna spent the holidays in Bayrisch Gmain, between Salzburg and Reichenhall, with Margarethe Rie, the daughter of Freud's friend Oskar Rie (and later the wife of analyst Herman Nunberg). Both young women were in analysis with Freud at the time.
On 13 August, the Freud family went to Munich to visit Ernst; subsequently they went to Badersee near Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria. During this time Martin returned to Vienna after his imprisonment.
2. A newspaper of which Rank was the representative, and which he contacted by telephone every evening.
3. On 3 July (cf. Freud's obituary, 1919f).
4. Freud, 1900a (fifth edition; like the fourth, with contributions by Otto Rank), 1910c (second edition), 1901b (sixth edition).
5. Jones could not get a passport before peace was concluded; at the end of September, he and Eric Hiller were the first foreign civilians to come to Vienna after the war.
6. His only child, Helene (named after Helen of Troy), was born on 23 August 1919; she was a psychotherapist in San Francisco and Seattle, and she died in 1999.
358A
Berlin-Grünewald
3 August 1919
Dear Professor,
I greet you on your summer holiday and wish for you in the coming weeks as much rest and pleasant impressions as you need, according to your last letter. The same good wishes apply also to your sister-in-law. Your wife has, I hope, arrived in Salzburg in good shape and is on the road to complete recovery. We in Berlin are having such a cool summer that we do not strive to leave the city as much as usual. And besides, we live a very idyllic life in our garden city, in the woodlands so to speak, with a large veranda, garden, etc. That makes staying here much easier. At the same time, for 3¼ years we have had only what will go into suitcases for a journey. Our things are still in store, packed away so that we cannot get to them until we move into our final home. After more than three years of life à la chambre-garnie we long for home comforts more than for new temporary arrangements. Recently we travelled the short distance to Bremen to show my mother the children, whom she had not seen during our three years in East Prussia.
Although I too think about the future without much optimism, I do not see it just as black as you must in Vienna. At least at the moment we are not going further downhill here.
In case there cannot be a congress this autumn, I should be glad if we could have at least a smaller meeting—perhaps quite private, only for the inner circle, or official, for the group leaders. What place would you suggest? I should be much in favour of Lindau or Konstanz on the lake, which can easily be reached from Austria, and because Switzerland is so near, the catering is good. Binswanger could prepare everything for us there.
Things are good in our group. Enthusiasm is great, and achievements much better than they were. You already know from Eitingon that your appeal in Budapest fell on fertile ground. The polyclinic will be opened in the winter, and will grow into a ψα institute.1 Eitingon, the driving force of that cause, will have told you all the details. Our colleague S., about whom we were corresponding, has, following a partial Ψα with me (which will be continued soon), developed decidedly more favourably. I hope for good things from him in the future, even if more from a therapeutic than a scientific point of view. He is indispensable to us for the polyclinic.
The practice continues to be lively and takes up so much of my time that I do not get anything else done. The long-lasting bronchitis, with its accompanying symptoms, which went on until the beginning of the summer, tired me out to such an extent that I do not have, in addition to my practical work, my former fitness for scientific work. The huge cost of living and the move facing us force me to work like a slave. But I hope to be completely serviceable again in a short time. From a scientific point of view I had a host of subjects to work on. I am thinking of taking several weeks off in the winter to give my breathing organs a rest from winter here. I should then like to be somewhere with much sun, Engadine, Davos, or somewhere like that.
I had not heard about Tausk's sad end. He had made a disturbing impression in Budapest. The typical neurotic, who finally turns his painfully suppressed violence against himself!
I am delighted with the various new editions that have appeared, and thank you in advance for the copies in prospect.
After the barrier has been raised, I will now write to Jones. Are you still hearing nothing more detailed from Ferenczi and Freund? What about the Institute planned in Budapest?2 If ever you have nothing better to do in Gastein, a letter would please me very much.
My wife and I send our cordial greetings!
Yours,
Karl Abraham
1. “[A]t some time or other”, Freud had said at the Budapest Congress, “the conscience of society will awake and remind it that the poor man should have just as much right to assistance for his mind as he now has to the life-saving help offered by surgery.…It may be a long time before the State comes to see these duties as urgent.…Probably these institutions will first be started by private charity” (1919a [1918]: p. 167). On 19 July 1919, Eitingon had proposed to the Berlin Society the foundation of a psychoanalytic polyclinic (Zeitschrift, 1920, 6: 100), and this took place on 14 February 1920. The clinic was financed by Eitingon and was directed by him, Abraham, and Ernst Simmel. It soon also became the first training institute.
2. Ferenczi directed a newly founded University Psychoanalytic Clinic in Budapest (Zeitschrift, 1919, 5: 228), wishing to transform it into a psychoanalytic institute. The whole project, as well as Ferenczi's professorship, collapsed with the fall of the Council Republic.
359A
Berlin-Grünewald, Schleinitzstrasse 6
14 September 1919
Dear Professor,
After consulting Eitingon, I can give you the following programme1:
Your train, unfortunately, does not reach Lehrter Station until 1: 40 in the afternoon, not at 12 o'clock, as my wish wanted to improve the timetable. I shall be at the station with Eitingon. He will look after your luggage and take it to Anhalter Station and bring the luggage ticket to you in the afternoon at our house. I myself will take you and your wife to Grünewald immediately by the quickest way. For lunch and supper you are our guests. If Eitingon has obtained sleeping-coach tickets, you can stay with us until about 8 o'clock in the evening.* My wife and I are vastly looking forward to receiving you both in our house again, but we must ask you in advance to excuse the fact that our temporary lodging cannot offer you as comfortable a stay as we would wish.
In the evening I shall see to it that you catch your train at the right time. Meanwhile have some really lovely days in Hamburg with your children and grandchildren!2
I would be grateful for a short confirmation that you agree with the programme. In any case, I will point out that my telephone number is post Pfalzburg number 1684.
With the most cordial greetings to all of you from my wife and me,
Yours,
Karl Abraham
* The train for Munich leaves at 9: 20 in the evening.
1. On 9 September Freud and his wife went from Badersee to Hamburg to visit the Halberstadts and then to Berlin; on 24 September they were back in Vienna.
2. Ernst [b. 1914] and Heinz (“Heinerle”) [1918–1923].
360F
Vienna IX, Berggasse 19
3 October 1919
Dear Friend,
There is already something dream-like about the times behind us, when friendly solicitude kept the seriousness of life away from us. The dreadful conditions in this city, the impossibility of feeding and keeping oneself, the presence of Jones, Ferenczi, and Freund, the necessary conferences and decision-making, and the hesitant beginnings of analytic work (5 sessions = 500 crowns) result in a vivid present in the face of which memories quickly fade. Let me tell you briefly the outcome of the committee meetings, which unfortunately had to take place in your absence. Because of the uncertainty of the situation in Hungary, Ferenczi handed over the presidency to Jones until the Congress, at which the latter is to be installed definitely. Jones is also undertaking to produce a Journal of Ψα1 for England–America; this will remain in the closest contact with the Zeitschrift, and the contents of the latter will be freely available to it. The technical production will take place in Vienna, and it will be imported to London; two issues have already been assembled. I have handed over administration of the fund to Jones, and he will take the money back with him to England. Ways and means of transferring funds from London for our work in Vienna have already been found. It was Rank's idea to arrange for the fund (Verlag) to produce commodities here, which would then be sold in England and America. In other words, the orientation towards the west proclaimed by our Chancellor! Another point on which your opinion will be decisive is the following. It is proposed on the occasion of the foundation of the Berlin polyclinic to admit Eitingon to full membership of the Committee. If you too agree with this, please mention it to him without further delay.2 In any other eventuality please let us know.
My son Martin has become engaged to a girl from a well-to-do family (Ernestine Drucker),3 a lawyer's daughter, and through his future father-in-law's influence he will soon have a post as secretary in a newly established bank, and also a flat. No news about the others.
I send my cordial greetings to you and your dear family, and thank you all again for all the proofs of friendship you gave us during our visit.
Yours,
Freud
1. Italicized words in English in original. The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis was first published in 1920.
2. Eitingon was proposed in place of the terminally ill Anton von Freund. Abraham informed him on 12 October (Eitingon to Freud, 13 October 1919, SFC).
3. Ernestine (“Esti”) Drucker [1896–1980] and Martin married on 7 December 1919, Martin's thirtieth birthday. The couple had two children, Anton Walter [b. 1921] and M. Sophie [b. 1924]. (Cf. Roazen, 1993: pp. 136–166.)
361A
Berlin-Grünewald, Bismarckallee 14
19 October 1919
Dear Professor,
Many thanks for the joint card from the Kobenzl,1 for your letter, and for your photograph, which I received from Hamburg. It is excellent, true to life, and technically perfect.
I have naturally not the slightest objection to Eitingon being co-opted as a member, and he has been glad to accept. I am only too pleased to have someone here with whom I can discuss everything, should the need arise.
All the news from the Committee interested me very much and meet with my approval. There seems to be a general wish for a congress in the spring. Since most of the participants live in Germany and Austria and will not be able to afford a journey to Holland just at present, the congress will probably have to take place either in Germany or in Austria. Eitingon and I should like to propose to the Committee that the congress be held in Berlin and should further like to suggest that our closed scientific meetings be followed by a number of lectures partly on medical and partly on general subjects. We would ask you to pass on this suggestion, with our comment that there would certainly be a considerable number of participants for such a project.
After I discussed this with Eitingon, I met Federn, who broke his journey in Berlin. He said the Vienna Society was declining and expressed the hope that a congress in Vienna would revive interest there. What do you think about this? Naturally we do not want to stand in your way.—The previous objection raised against university towns is no longer valid. Berlin is clamouring for psychoanalysis, and a week of explanatory lectures would be of great service to us.
Simmel recently gave an excellent report in the Society on the Ψα of a gambler.2 He has been coming on very well lately.
A word about your last paper!3 I am most enthusiastic about it. It seems to me that you have never before penetrated so deeply into the uttermost depths of a problem. Moreover, the presentation is so beautifully comprehensible and clear that reading it is an outstanding intellectual and aesthetic pleasure.
To end with, my congratulations that Martin has come to such a good arrangement, and I send the most cordial greetings from my wife and myself to you and yours!
Yours,
Karl Abraham
How did you like Böhm's paper? It sounded very good when he presented it.4
1. Restaurant on a hill overlooking Vienna; the card to Abraham is missing, but on 28 September 1919 Freud, Martha and Anna Freud, Eric Hiller, Jones, and Rank had sent a card to Eitingon from their luncheon at the Kobenzl (SFC; cf. Jones, 1957: p. 17).
2. At the meeting of 14 October (Simmel, 1920).
3. Freud, 1919h.
4. Probably referring to the manuscript of Böhm's talk “On a Case of Exhibitionism” on 8 May 1919 (Zeitschrift, 1919, 5: 231). It does not seem to have been published. (Cf. the following letter.)
362F
Vienna IX, Berggasse 19
2 November 1919
Dear Friend,
My congratulations on your new address, which means the re-establishment of a home of your own.
I put your and Eitingon's proposal to call a congress in Berlin and in the spring before Ferenczi, Freund, and Rank at a Committee meeting. At first they were all greatly captivated by the idea, but slowly they began to share the doubt that had prevailed with me from the first. Finally we were all in agreement. The chief objection was that, particularly in view of our new orientation towards the west, we could not decide anything without consulting Jones. But Jones attaches importance to getting some Americans to come to the Congress this time and has already said that arrangements for their journey have to be made many months in advance. We also think that it would undoubtedly be better for several issues of the English journal to have been published before the Congress discusses it. So it was decided to write to Jones and ask his opinion. Moreover, I thought it better that the Congress week should fall in the autumn instead of the spring. In my opinion we should not forget that we have received an invitation to Holland, and, as the last congresses had to be quite “middle-powerful”,1 it is becoming that the next one should be moved closer, also geographically, to our Entente members. There is absolutely nothing to be said in favour of Vienna, no good is to be done here; Federn's description is correct, but nothing can be done about it. Everyone liked very much the idea of the week of lectures you would like to associate with the Congress. We should like to know whether you would not like to carry it out independently of the Congress or afterwards as a continuation. This is an idea of which something may come.
Rank is very vigorously at work here. My daughter has begun work as an assistant in the English department of the Verlag. Ferenczi is staying until the 8th, and Freund for an indefinite period, his condition now permits certain perhaps misleading doubts. I am analysing nine hours a day and cannot manage anything else. Dr Forsyth,2 who is still under analysis with me, turns out to be a very notable personality; he talks much about the great interest in analysis in England. Böhm's paper is now being read by Ferenczi. I liked it. As it is too long for the Zeitschrift, we are now considering whether we could make a supplement of it.
The first meeting of the Society takes place today.
With cordial greetings to you and your wife and children,
Your faithfully devoted,
Freud
1. Mittelmächtig—a neologistic adjective of Mittelmächte [Central Powers] [trans.].
2. David Forsyth [1877–1941], founding member of the London Society, in analysis with Freud for seven weeks (cf. Freud, 1933a: pp. 48–54—“Forsyth/foresight”).
363A
Berlin-Grünewald, Bismarckallee 14
23 November 1919
Dear Professor,
Today my wife and I tried to see your daughter1 once more before she left, unfortunately in vain. Otherwise you would have received greetings by word of mouth in a few days. But we were very pleased to see her at our house with your sister-in-law one afternoon recently. Gradually all your family are turning up here, and we hope to have sight of one or two more of them soon. In the meantime we often think of you when we read the gloomy news about Vienna and hope that you do not have to go without too much warmth and nourishment.
I agree that it would be desirable if some Americans were to attend the Congress. It does, however, seem impossible to me to hold the Congress in Holland until the German and Austrian exchange rates have greatly improved. This can hardly be expected by the autumn, but by then it is likely that the Americans will have no difficulty in travelling to Germany! At the moment, a journey to Holland plus a few days' stay there can hardly be managed for 1,500–2,000 marks, and there are very few who can afford this. Things are even worse in Austria. Most people from there would find the journey alone far beyond their means. A congress that excludes most of the Austrians, Hungarians, and Germans would be no congress. Therefore, everything seems to speak in favour of Berlin.—We are waiting here to hear what Jones has to say about the Congress before arranging the week of lectures.
Eitingon will certainly be keeping you up to date with the business of our polyclinic. It seems that the plan is soon to become a reality.
If you have any news about Ferenczi and Freund, please do let me know! We are completely cut off from Budapest.
As co-editor of the Zeitschrift, I should like to repeat my objection against making it top-heavy. I still think it was a mistake to discontinue the Jahrbuch. Especially now that we have our own Verlag, there should be, alongside the Zeitschrift to which one subscribes, a Jahrbuch that one buys to get information about the development of our science. It seems an unnecessary weighting to include an overall view of the literature in the Zeitschrift. Special issues containing longer articles do not seem practicable to me. I think we should once again consider the question of resuming publication of the Jahrbuch.
A short paper of mine (“The Narcissistic Evaluation of Excretory Processes in Dreams and Neurosis”2), which is now being typed, will be sent to Rank within a few days. The paper about the female castration complex, which has been finished for some time, needs revising. I discovered, while I was churning out the reviews, that the literature already contains aspects that I had believed to be new. During the war I did not follow the literature in detail.
Reik's book3 is excellent. The essay on the Shofar in particular is convincing and extremely penetrating. Rank sent me his book on myths.4 His achievements are truly amazing. I am just starting to read those articles that I do not yet know.
The necessity for working very long hours unfortunately leaves me too little time for theoretical work—the same tune as the one that you, dear Herr Professor, are also singing. Added to this is the fact that I have not yet had a break this year and am therefore less keen on writing than I might otherwise have been. I shall probably take 1–2 weeks off at Christmas.
Hoping to have good news from you, I am, with cordial greetings— also from my wife, to you all,
Yours,
Karl Abraham
1 Mathilde.
2 Abraham, 1919[63].
3 Reik, 1919, the fifth book published by the Verlag, with a preface by Freud (1919g).
4 Rank, 1919, a collection of pre-war essays, the Verlag's fourth publication.
364F
Vienna IX, Berggasse 19
1 December 1919
Dear Friend,
I do not turn a deaf ear to the weight of your arguments against Holland and in favour of Berlin, and I am actually afraid that they may turn the scale, but I must confess that to me there is something unsatisfactory about such a congress. Also I do not know whether it will really be possible to get the British and Americans to come to Berlin next autumn. Hostile prejudice is indeed stronger than you suppose. In any case Rank, who is now in The Hague and is travelling to London tomorrow with Emden and Ophuijsen, will be coming to see you in the course of this month, and he will give you Jones's attitude in the matter; and what the two of you then decide will be acceptable to all of us here. I am almost of the opinion that with 31/3 crowns to the mark either journey will be just as difficult to most of the Viennese.
Your proposal to resuscitate the Jahrbuch will be carefully considered and should have a place in your discussions with Rank. For the time being I feel that the difficulties outweigh the demand. Because of the tremendous costs of printing, the Verlag already feels the maintenance of two journals a serious burden. Moreover, a third publication would be restricted to the purely ψα public, which does not have much buying power. Deuticke might be persuaded to revive the Jahrbuch, but I am afraid that the material produced by us in the course of a year might not be sufficient to keep it going. We do not exactly have an abundance of material even for the Zeitschrift. A far deeper interest by a much wider circle would be necessary to create a real demand for the Jahrbuch. Also what England (and America) produce is henceforward to be diverted to the English Journal of Ψα.1
The papers you announce will be given the usual welcome! It is astonishing how much work you are still able to do in a situation in which, as I am well aware myself, all one's energy is required to maintain one's economic level.
I now have all my three sons together for a short time. Martin is marrying on the 7th inst., and the following day Ernst will be leaving for Berlin, where you will certainly see him more often. There has been hardly any news from Ferenczi since his departure, and Freund, who is here, is in a bad way. He will probably not leave Vienna alive, the metastases have now been confirmed beyond doubt.
With cordial greetings to you and your wife,
Your faithfully devoted,
Freud
1. In English in original.
365A
Berlin-Grünewald, Bismarckallee 14
7 December 1919
Dear Professor,
Your letter of the 1st inst. reached me by the 5th! Is this a sign that conditions are improving?
I want to start my reply with best wishes for your son's wedding. A telegram of congratulations that I wanted to send was refused; such telegrams are no longer being dispatched as of some weeks ago. I must ask you to pass our congratulations on to the nearest and dearest and to all your family. We hope to see Ernst here in a short time, and also Rank.
I am terribly sorry to hear about Freund's serious illness. If metastases are already present, one must be prepared for the end to come soon. Does he himself know about his condition?
I shall discuss the question of the Congress and the Jahrbuch with Rank.
Your praise for my productivity is not justified. In the few free hours the practice leaves me I have a marked disinclination for work. Otherwise I would get much more done. The small contributions of the last few months can be explained by the fact that I am unwilling to start on anything more extensive.
You may already have heard from Eitingon that there is a possibility of premises for our polyclinic. We shall rent it if the price is within our means. Simmel will be an excellent force for the polyclinic. He is now taking up his analysis with me again. Scientifically he is making good progress, though he has a narcissistic pride in finding everything out for himself. But I have good hopes for him for the future. The same with Böhm, who is working with great enthusiasm. Incidentally, both of them, though they have only settled in a few months ago, are already very fully occupied. We are having an unhappy experience with Körber, who embarrasses us with his superficial knowledge as soon as he comes into the public eye.
I have some additions to make to Reik's papers, which I may write down quite soon. I shall take a holiday from 24 December to 4 January but shall not go away.
With cordial greetings from house to house,
Yours,
Karl Abraham
366F
Vienna IX, Berggasse 19
15 December 1919
Dear Friend,
Thank you for your congratulations! The wedding was a small family affair and passed off very well. The young couple have taken up life's struggle after scarcely three days of isolation.
Your contribution on the omnipotence of excreta1 amused me greatly. After all, they really are creations, just as ideas and wishes are. At the same time I read something on the interpretation of dreams at the subjective level,2 and once again had a strong impression of what a superfluous addition that is to the understanding of dreams. Naturally one destroys the father only because he is the “inner” father, that is, has significance for one's own mental life.
Rank has sent a telegram from London. At last! But, as he had to waste a whole week in Holland waiting for his entry permit, he will probably come back by the shortest route on a children's train3 (before Christmas) without touching Berlin. I have therefore to report that he is definitely against Berlin and still favours Holland in the autumn. I do not even know whether that will be possible. There is no question of any improvement in communications. (Your letter of the 7th reached me today, the 15th.)
Freund's abdominal metastasis, microscopic examination of which showed the same sarcoma as had been removed from the testicle, was liquefied; it was evacuated and drained. A radium capsule has now been inserted through the drainage tube. He knows everything; he has, for instance, directed that the ring he wears is to be restored to me after his death. He has also sensed that it is intended for Eitingon.4
As far as work is concerned, things are no better with me than with you. Only I think that in my case it is not a phase of short duration. I think I have finished with sowing and shall probably not get to the reaping.
Cavalry Captain Schmiedeberg [sic],5 who was Eitingon's guest, gave me a piece of news that is so good that I cannot believe it, namely that you are about to get a professorship of Ψα! As you have not mentioned this in your letters, I can no longer contain my curiosity. I shall naturally keep the secret if there is anything in it.
Cordially
Yours,
Freud
1. Abraham, 1919[63], quoting phantasies and dreams in which “the functions of excretion…are overestimated, and in the sense of possessing great and even unlimited power to create or destroy every object” (p. 322).
2. In The Psychology of Unconscious Processes (1917) Jung had differentiated between dream interpretations on the objective and on the subjective level.
3. These trains brought children from the large cities of northern Germany, where infantile paralysis and tuberculosis were rampant, for convalescence, to places where the climate was more favourable.
4. Freud had presented a ring to each of the Secret Committee's original members in 1913. Eitingon, on joining the Committee in the place of the dying von Freund, received the ring Freud had himself worn, von Freund's ring being claimed by his widow.
5. Walter Schmideberg [1890–1954], from Vienna. While he was a captain in the Austro- Hungarian Army, he had met Eitingon, who introduced him to Freud. After the war he returned to Vienna, where he became a member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society [1919–1922]; in 1922 he moved to Berlin, where he met Melanie Klein's daughter Melitta and married her. They moved to London in 1932, where he became a training and control analyst. After the Second World War Melitta went to New York, while Walter moved to Switzerland with Winifred (Bryher) Ellerman. (Cf. King & Steiner, 1991: p. xx; Mühlleitner, 1992: pp. 289–290.)
367A
Berlin-Grünewald
29 December 1919
Dear Professor,
Your letter of the 15th reached me yesterday! That really does not permit the assumption that the postal services are improving. Meanwhile, your son Ernst has turned up here as a live source of news. Unfortunately we could only see him at our home once, as my wife was ill in bed over Christmas, and still is. It is a benign but stubborn catarrh of the sinuses and larynx. We are hoping that as soon as this business is finished with we shall have Ernst to see us more often. Rank passed us by; I should have been so glad to see him. There seems to be no real prospect of Reik coming either.
I very often think of poor Freund. I would like to write to him but do not want to remind him unnecessarily of his fate. Yet it does seem wrong to me to take no notice of his life and suffering, especially as he showed me so much friendship in Budapest. Could you advise me what to do? You are sure to know whether he is sensitive to his illness being mentioned.
I was afraid that Schmiedeberg would gossip prematurely in Vienna. Eitingon had told him something in confidence, and I only heard about it after S. had already left, so I could not ask him to keep it secret. Now I shall tell you the whole story, and you will appreciate why I did not want to count my chickens before they were hatched.
Through his political activities1 Simmel has some contacts with the Ministry of Education and the Arts. Some important people there told him, partly as a result of his article in the Vossische Zeitung,2 that the Ministry would be very favourably disposed to the founding of a Chair of Ψα. S. first discussed the matter with Eitingon and thought that I, Eitingon, and he himself might be considered. E. firmly declined and said that no one but I should be considered. Simmel allowed himself to be persuaded, spoke to me about it and then with the head of the department concerned in the Ministry. The latter thereupon asked me to call on him, which I did at the beginning of December. In the meantime, the very disagreeable incident occurred in Parliament concerning the Chair for tuberculosis-Friedmann, and for this reason the Ministry had to proceed far more circumspectly with the Faculty than would otherwise have been the case.3 After a long discussion I was asked to get our Society to send in a detailed and scientifically based memorandum on the introduction of ψα teaching. The memorandum will then be submitted to the faculty. The outlook is therefore by no means as favourable as one might have assumed when the matter was first mooted, but it is not hopeless. If the Ministry brings a certain amount of pressure to bear and even if only a few of the professors are definitely in favour, then the chances are not too bad. Interest in academic circles is visibly increasing. The polyclinic, which will definitely be opened in January, is arousing the greatest interest on the part of the Ministry. Of the professors I hope to win over at least Kraus and His. Even if the whole operation should prove unsuccessful, there is still hope in the forthcoming change in the Faculties' right of appeal. The memorandum must contain all the facts that serve to demonstrate the increasing interest in and need for Ψα. I shall tell you the latest news, that a young colleague from Freiburg i/B, unknown to me, who is now doing the State examination and will then be a voluntary assistant with Hoche for six months, has applied for a post at the polyclinic. A few days ago I had a query from a lady doctor, up to the present an assistant in the psychiatric clinic in Königsberg, as to whether a course in Ψα was being held. Similar expressions of interest are increasing. But I need as many facts as possible in this respect, and so I should like to ask for the following information: (1.) Has your “Obsessional Neurosis” already appeared in Kraus's handbook? (2.) What has been the frequency in recent times of your lectures and the course for doctors set up by Tausk? (3.) Is anything known about the frequency of Ferenczi's lectures in Budapest? (4.) Does Jones or Flügel4 hold academic lectures in London? (5.) What is the name of the Norwegian psychiatrist who treated Ψα in detail in his textbook? I am sure that Rank will be kind enough to answer these questions for me. I have already asked him to have this letter shown to him. I would also need Rank's consent to plagiarize—I find a large part of the introductory article in number 1 of the first year of Imago5 eminently suitable as a basis for our memorandum, and I expect he will be pleased to agree to this. (I would further ask him on this occasion to let me have news of Sachs's whereabouts and state of health.)
I should like to ask both of you not to discuss this matter for the time being. It would be very nice. I am sure the lectures would be well attended. But for the time being6
1. See letter 334F, 17 February 1918, n. 2.
2. Simmel, 1919b.
3. Dr F. F. Friedmann had used his political affiliation to enlist the Ministry's help in obtaining a Chair. Between 1904 and 1912 he had published numerous papers on preventive and therapeutic vaccination of animals and of men with tortoise tubercle bacilli. Well-known scientists examined and subsequently discredited his claims, and the Faculty prevented his nomination. This gave rise to a scandal.
4. John Carl Flugel (Flügel) [1884–1955], British psychologist and psychoanalyst, secretary of the IPA [1920] and analysand of Jones. Author of the popular The Psychoanalytic Study of the Family (1921).
5. Rank & Sachs, 1912.
6. The rest of the letter is missing.