Table Of ContentA DANGEROUS LEGACY
A DANGEROUS LEGACY
Judaism and the
Psychoanalytic Movement
Hans Reijzer
Translated by Jeannette K. Ringold
First published in Dutch as HET GEVAAR VAN DE JOODSE ERFENIS by
Prometheus Bv Uitgeverij Bert Bakker
Uitgeverij
Nederlands
This translated English edition, published in 2011 by
Karnac Books Ltd
118 Finchley Road
London NW3 5HT
HET GEVAAR VAN DE JOODSE ERFENIS
Copyright © Hans Reijzer, 2008
Translation copyright © 2011 Jeannette K. Ringold
Publication of A Dangerous Legacy: Judaism and the Psychoanalytic Movement
was made possible with the financial support from the Dutch Foundation
for Literature
The right of Hans Reijzer to be identified as the author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with §§ 77 and 78 of the Copyright Design and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A C.I.P. for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN-13: 978-1-85575-858-2
Typeset by Vikatan Publishing Solutions (P) Ltd., Chennai, India
Printed in Great Britain
www.karnacbooks.com
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii
ABOUT THE AUTHOR xi
EPIGRAPH xiii
PRELUDE 1
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction 9
CHAPTER TWO
Freud: a Jew in Europe 29
CHAPTER THREE
Pfister and Freud, a friendship 51
CHAPTER FOUR
Freud and the man Moses, the man Moses and Freud 67
v
vi CONTENTS
CHAPTER FIVE
Jerusalem and Hamburg: two congresses 83
CHAPTER SIX
Two incidents in the Netherlands 107
CHAPTER SEVEN
International 129
CHAPTER EIGHT
The battle of Durban 165
CHAPTER NINE
Conclusion 185
REFERENCES 197
INDEX 213
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many people helped me while I was writing this book, and I owe
thanks to all of them. The first ones to whom I showed the manuscript
were Jaap Sajet and Solange Leibovici. Jaap had only one question:
In what way do psychoanalysts differ from all other professionals?
That question has hovered in front of me during the whole time that
I worked on this book. Now I know: They are different because of
where they come from. Solange’s advice was firm: Throw out all that
personal rubbish. I have done that, or not really.
My four readers have made a labour-intensive contribution. The
fact that I asked them to do this was evidence of the trust I had in
the quality of our relationship and in their expertise. That trust has
grown. The first two readers were Marian Beijk-Docter and Wouter
Gomperts, both psychoanalysts and both members of the “group
of five” that will be encountered in chapter 6. They tried to look at
the text in an even-handed way. I believe that they have succeeded.
The other two readers were Henk Hillenaar and Bas van Gent. Henk
Hillenaar is a scholar of Romance languages and literatures and an
authority on psychoanalytic literature whom I met as editor of the
Tijdschrift voor Psychoanalyse (Journal for Psychoanalysis). He was
often considerably more charitable than I was about the text. That
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
helped me to overcome many difficulties. I have known Bas for
a long time as a very bright colleague, a social psychologist who
became a professor in adult educational theory. He was endlessly
amused and amazed at what members of the strange psychoanalyst
species were up to with one another and their surroundings.
My PhD thesis supervisor Abram de Swaan read the manuscript
in a later stage and added meaningful comments and fortunately
appreciation. I gave parts of one of the last versions to the Schaamteclub
(Shame Discussion Group), for many years under the leadership of
Louis Tas, and received oral and written comments from the partici-
pants. Iki Halberstadt-Freud was as sharp and widely read as ever. In
his opinion of this book Harry Stroeken was intimate and detached
and above all precise and professional. Heleen Terwijn managed to
summarize my subject matter in one sentence: The psychoanalysts,
by distancing themselves from the Jewish roots of psychoanalysis,
made them more blatantly visible. Randolph Wörner helped me to
find my way in the quagmire of the behaviour of German psycho-
analysts during the Second World War. Wim Kortenoeven (CIDI)
was my guide in searching for difficult-to-find literature, and I
asked Paul Gabriner, a literary scholar, his opinion about the pas-
sages about Edward Said. He said that they were sound. There were
people who supported me occasionally. Walter Schönau helped me
out several times when I did not understand a text. Michael Chayes
helped me in thinking about some excerpts.
I cherish grateful memories of my visit to Janine Chasseguet-
Smirgel who received me for an interview in Paris six months before
her death. Mr W. van Manen looked at the text to check for possible
legal problems. Nina Kaplan and Jan van der Linden ensured that
Jan’s house in Aix-en-Provence would be vacant so that I was able to
work there without interruption for the entire month of December
2003. Petra Kaas unerringly managed to find the good Dutch trans-
lation of all the Freud texts I quoted.
Special thanks go to Evelien Gans and Ronny Naftaniel (CIDI).
At two very different moments, the transformation of manuscript to
book was close to failure. They came to my aid very effectively at the
beginning and at the end of this long haul.
I thank Earl Hopper for his ideas and constant advice and for
drawing attention to the psychological and sociological background
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix
of the dealings of the principal characters and myself. All this has
now become part of our long friendship.
What a pleasure to be able to thank all these people for their
efforts.
* * *
Finally, as I come from a decimated family, it has not been simple to
maintain the Jewish tradition. The fact that this has been possible for
me is thanks to Lottie, who has been my wife for more than 40 years.
It is obvious that she has been my most important consultant as this
book came into being.
I dedicate this book to her and to the gang that she, as matriarch,
watches over: José Reijzer, David Keyson, Ezra Reijzer, Rivka Eljon,
Jonathan Keyson, Nadav Keyson, Moran Reijzer, Yaniv Reijzer,
Gideon Keyson, Tsiporah Reijzer, and Naftali Benjamin Keyson.
