Table Of ContentContemporary Psychoanalysis
and the Legacy of the Third Reich
F or most of the twentieth century, Jewish and/or politically leftist European
psychoanalysts rarely linked their personal trauma history to their profes-
sional lives, for they hoped their theory—their Truth—would transcend
subjectivity and achieve a universality not unlike the advances in the
“hard” sciences.
Contemporary Psychoanalysis and the Legacy of the Third Reich confronts the
ways in which previously avoided persecution, expulsion, loss, and dis-
placement before, during, and after the Holocaust shaped what was and
remains a dominant movement in Western culture.
E mily A. Kuriloff uses unpublished original source material, as well as
personal interviews conducted with émigré/survivor analysts and scholars
who have studied the period, revealing how the quality of relatedness
between people determines what is possible for them to know and do, both
personally and professionally. Kuriloff’s research spans the globe, including
the analytic communities of the United States, England, Germany, France,
and Israel amid the extraordinary events of the twentieth century.
Contemporary Psychoanalysis and the Legacy of the Third Reich addresses the
future of psychoanalysis in the voices of the second generation—thinkers
and clinicians whose legacies and work remain informed by the pain and
triumph of their parents’ and mentors’ Holocaust stories. These unprece-
dented revelations infl uence not only our understanding of mental health
work, but of history, art, politics, and education. Psychoanalysts, psycholo-
gists, psychiatrists, sociologists, cultural historians, Jewish and specifi cally
Holocaust scholars will fi nd this volume compelling.
Emily A. Kuriloff is a Psychologist and Psychoanalyst. She is in private
practice in New York City and she is Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst
at the William Alanson White Institute, New York.
Psychoanalysis in a New Key Book Series
Donnel Stern
Series Editor
When music is played in a new key, the melody does not change, but
the notes that make up the composition do: change in the context of
continuity, continuity that perseveres through change. Psychoanalysis in
a New Key publishes books that share the aims psychoanalysts have always
had, but that approach them differently. The books in the series are not
expected to advance any particular theoretical agenda, although to this
date most have been written by analysts from the Interpersonal and
Relational orientations.
The most important contribution of a psychoanalytic book is the
communication of something that nudges the reader’s grasp of clinical
theory and practice in an unexpected direction. Psychoanalysis in a
New Key creates a deliberate focus on innovative and unsettling clinical
thinking. Because that kind of thinking is encouraged by exploration of
the sometimes surprising contributions to psychoanalysis of ideas and fi nd-
ings from other fi elds, Psychoanalysis in a New Key particularly encour-
ages interdisciplinary studies. Books in the series have married
psychoanalysis with dissociation, trauma theory, sociology, and criminol-
ogy. The series is open to the consideration of studies examining the rela-
tionship between psychoanalysis and any other fi eld—for instance, biology,
literary and art criticism, philosophy, systems theory, anthropology, and
political theory.
But innovation also takes place within the boundaries of psychoanalysis,
and Psychoanalysis in a New Key therefore also presents work that
reformulates thought and practice without leaving the precincts of the
fi eld. Books in the series focus, for example, on the signifi cance of personal
values in psychoanalytic practice, on the complex interrelationship between
the analyst’s clinical work and personal life, on the consequences for the
clinical situation when patient and analyst are from different cultures, and
on the need for psychoanalysts to accept the degree to which they know-
ingly satisfy their own wishes during treatment hours, often to the patient’s
detriment.
Vol. 18 Vol. 10
Contemporary Psychoanalysis and the Sex Changes: Transformations in
Legacy of the Third Reich: History, Society and Psychoanalysis
Memory, Tradition Mark J. Blechner
Emily A. Kuriloff
Vol. 9
Vol. 17 The Consulting Room and Beyond:
Love and Loss in Life and in Psychoanalytic Work and Its
Treatment Reverberations in the
Linda B. Sherby Analyst’s Life
Therese Ragen
Vol. 16
Imagination from Fantasy Vol. 8
to Delusion Making a Difference in Patients’
Lois Oppenheim Lives: Emotional Experience in the
Therapeutic Setting
Vol. 15 Sandra Buechler
Still Practicing: The Heartaches and
Joys of a Clinical Career Vol. 7
Sandra Buechler Coasting in the Countertransference:
Confl icts of Self Interest between
Vol. 14 Analyst and Patient
Dancing with the Unconscious: Irwin Hirsch
The Art of Psychoanalysis
and the Psychoanalysis of Art Vol. 6
Danielle Knafo Wounded by Reality: Understanding
and Treating Adult Onset Trauma
Vol. 13 Ghislaine Boulanger
Money Talks: In Therapy, Society, and Li fe
Brenda Berger & Stephanie Vol. 5
Newman (eds.) Prologue to Violence: Child Abuse,
Dissociation, and Crime
Vol. 12 Abby Stein
Partners in Thought: Working
with Unformulated Experience, Vol. 4
Dissociation, and Enactment Prelogical Experience: An Inquiry into
Donnel B. Stern Dreams & Other Creative Processes
Edward S. Tauber & Maurice
Vol. 11 R. Green
Heterosexual Masculinities:
Contemporary Perspectives from Vol. 3
Psychoanalytic Gender Theory The Fallacy of Understanding &
Bruce Reis & Robert The Ambiguity of Change
Grossmark (eds.) Edgar A. Levenson
Vol. 2 Vol. 1
What Do Mothers Want? Clinical Values: Emotions
Contemporary Perspectives in That Guide Psychoanalytic
Psychoanalysis and Related Disciplines Treatment
Sheila F. Brown (ed.) Sandra Buechler
Contemporary
Psychoanalysis and the
Legacy of the Third Reich
History, Memory, Tradition
Emily A. Kuriloff
First published 2014
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2014 Taylor & Francis
The right of Emily A. Kuriloff to be identifi ed as author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent
to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Kuriloff, Emily A.
Contemporary psychoanalysis and the legacy of the Third Reich : history,
memory, tradition / authored by Emily A. Kuriloff. – First Edition.
pages cm. – (Psychoanalysis in a New key book series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Psychic trauma. 2. Psychoanalysis. 3. Germany–History–1933-1945. I. Title.
RC552.T7K87 2013
616.89’17–dc23 2013004360
ISBN: 978-0-415-88318-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-88319-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-84588-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Garamond
by Cenveo Publisher Services
For Allison Leah and Melissa Anna
How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky?
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Contents
Foreword by Philip M. Bromberg x
Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xvi
1 It’s Not What You Have Written Down 1
2 History Means Interpretation 22
3 Not Gentle Creatures 45
4 The Founding and the Final Hour 68
5 Throwing Stones at the Future 97
6 Like Shadows 115
7 A Child Is Something Else Again 136
Bibliography 159
I ndex 171
