Psychoanalysis, Nazism and 'Jewish science' |
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Authors: | Stephen Frosh |
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Affiliation: | Centre for Psychosocial Studies, School of Psychology, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK |
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Abstract: | In this paper the author offers a partial examination of the troubled history of psychoanalysis in Germany during the Nazi period. Of particular interest is the impact on psychoanalysis of its 'Jewish origins'-something denigrated by the Nazis but reclaimed by more recent Jewish and other scholars. The author traces the rapid decline of the pre-Nazi psychoanalytic institutions under the sway of a policy of appeasement and collaboration, paying particular attention to the continuation of some forms of psychoanalytic practice within the 'Göring Institute'. He suggests that a feature of this history was the anti-Semitism evidenced by some non-Jewish psychoanalysts, which revealed an antagonism towards their own positioning as followers of the 'Jewish science'. |
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Keywords: | anti-semitism german psychoanalysis goring institute 'jewish science' nazism |
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