BENTINCK Prelims_Bentinck prelims correx 18/11/2015 11:10 Page i KARL ABRAHAM BENTINCK Prelims_Bentinck prelims correx 18/11/2015 11:10 Page ii The History of Psychoanalysis Series Professor Brett Kahr and Professor Peter L. Rudnytsky (Series Editors) Published and distributed by Karnac Books Other titles in the Series Her Hour Come Round at Last: A Garland for Nina Coltart edited by Peter L. Rudnytsky and Gillian Preston Rescuing Psychoanalysis from Freud and Other Essays in Re-Vision by Peter L. Rudnytsky Ferenczi and His World: Rekindling the Spirit of the Budapest School edited by Judit Szekacs-Weisz and Tom Keve Freud in Zion: Psychoanalysis and the Making of Modern Jewish Identity by Eran J. Ronik Ferenczi for Our Time: Theory and Practice edited by Judit Szekacs-Weisz and Tom Keve The Clinic and the Context: Historical Essays by Elisabeth Young-Bruehl Sandor Ferenczi–Ernest Jones: Letters 1911–1933 edited by Ferenc Eros, Judit Szekacs-Weisz, and Ken Robinson The Milan Seminar: Clinical Applications of Attachment Theory by John Bowlby, edited by Marco Bacciagaluppi Ferenczi and Beyond: Exile of the Budapest School and Solidarity in the Psychoanalytic Movement during the Nazi Years by Judit Mészáros Looking Through Freud’s Photographs by Michael Molnar Psychoanalytic Filiations: Mapping the Psychoanalytic Movement by Ernst Falzeder The Abandonment Neurosis by Germaine Guex (tr. Peter Douglas) The Life and Times of Franz Alexander: From Budapest to California by Ilonka Venier Alexander Freud and the Dora Case: A Promise Betrayed by Cesare Romano The Freudian Orient: Early Psychoanalysis, Anti-Semitic Challenge, and the Vicissitudes of Orientalist Discourse by Frank F. Scherer BENTINCK Prelims_Bentinck prelims correx 02/12/2015 09:03 Page iii KARL ABRAHAM Life and Work, a Biography Anna Bentinck van Schoonheten Translated from the Dutch by Liz Waters BENTINCK Prelims_Bentinck prelims correx 18/11/2015 11:10 Page iv First published in Dutch as Karl Abraham: Freuds rots in de branding © Garant, Antwerp, 2013 First published in English in 2016 by Karnac Books Ltd 118 Finchley Road, London NW3 5HT Copyright © 2016 to Anna Bentinck van Schoonheten. The right of Anna Bentinck van Schoonheten 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. Translated by Liz Waters British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A C.I.P. for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978 1 78220 184 7 Edited, designed and produced by The Studio Publishing Services Ltd www.publishingservicesuk.co.uk e-mail: [email protected] Printed in Great Britain www.karnacbooks.com BENTINCK Prelims_Bentinck prelims correx 18/11/2015 11:10 Page v CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix ABOUT THE AUTHOR xi ABBREVIATIONS xiii SERIES EDITOR’S FOREWORD xv INTRODUCTION xxi CHAPTER ONE Childhood in Bremen 1 CHAPTER TWO Student years 11 CHAPTER THREE Doctor’s assistant in Dalldorf 19 CHAPTER FOUR Burghölzli 27 CHAPTER FIVE The first meetings between Freud and staff from the Burghölzli Clinic 39 CHAPTER SIX A private practice and the first psychoanalytic conflict 49 v BENTINCK Prelims_Bentinck prelims correx 18/11/2015 11:10 Page vi vi CONTENTS CHAPTER SEVEN Psychoanalysis in Berlin 65 CHAPTER EIGHT Segantiniand depression 81 CHAPTER NINE A meeting with Fließ, family life, and the failed Habilitation 93 CHAPTER TEN Akhenaten 107 CHAPTER ELEVEN The secret committee 117 CHAPTER TWELVE An unhappy writer, scopophilia, and other peculiarities 125 CHAPTER THIRTEEN The First World War 135 CHAPTER FOURTEEN A great turnaround 141 CHAPTER FIFTEEN Creation of a theory about early childhood and ejaculatio praecox 149 CHAPTER SIXTEEN The final war years in Allenstein 161 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN The congress in Budapest of 1918 169 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Germany in chaos, yet the creation of a psychoanalytic 175 polyclinic in Berlin goes ahead CHAPTER NINETEEN The congress in The Hague from 8 to 11 September 1920 187 CHAPTER TWENTY The issue of lay analysis and Abraham in a tight corner 199 CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Psychoanalysis flourishes in Berlin 207 CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO Unrest in Germany and a successful congress in Berlin 215 BENTINCK Prelims_Bentinck prelims correx 18/11/2015 11:10 Page vii CONTENTS vii CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Young talent pours in 225 CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Psychoanalytic techniques and Helene Deutsch 231 CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Innovative work 245 CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX The conflict surrounding Rank and the disintegration of the committee 259 CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN Melanie Klein and fellow analysands 277 CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Abraham’s death 291 CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE Upheaval 313 Afterword 321 SOURCES 331 INTERVIEWS 333 NOTES 335 REFERENCES 411 INDEX 425 BENTINCK Prelims_Bentinck prelims correx 18/11/2015 11:10 Page viii BENTINCK Prelims_Bentinck prelims correx 18/11/2015 11:10 Page ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writing of this book would not have been possible without the help of friends, colleagues, and the staffs of archives in many countries, since the archives of psychoanalysts have become dispersed around the world. First of all I would like to thank the late Professor Dr Gerhard Fichtner, who received me with great hospitality in Tübingen, familiarised me with the history of psychoanalysis, and was always ready to advise and assist. Unfortunately, he did not live to see the book completed. Dr Bettina Decke invited me to stay in her house and showed me around Bremen, Karl Abraham’s native city. Her research into his childhood years was of great importance for this book. It was Dr Marion de Ras who suggested that I should gain a doctorate. I had many discus- sions about Abraham with her and she provided a critical commentary on my texts on the subject. Thanks also to Karl Abraham’s relatives, Lottie Levy-Abraham (who died in 2012), Anja Amsel, and Steven Burgner. We had long conversations in London and Edinburgh about the fortunes of the Abrahams and the Burgners (the family of Abraham’s wife). I would also like to thank Jeremy Lewison, son of Hilda Abraham’s good friend Dinora Pines, for the informa- tion he gave me. I am grateful to Dr Arnold Enklaar, who suggested writing a book about Karl Abraham, Henry Strick van Linschoten in London, who provided critical remarks, Ursula Heyl-Keese for her transcriptions from Sütterlin script, and Anne Folkertsma for a meticulous final edit of the Dutch edition. I would also like to thank the following for their advice and contributions: Deirdre Bair (New Haven), Pieter van den Berg, Anne Birkenhauer (Jerusalem), Dr Gabriela Bosch of the Military History Research Office (Potsdam), Dr Gertie Bögels, Emile Brugman, Dr Leonardo Bruno of the LoC (Washington), Wolfgang zu Castell-Castell (Castell), Joyce and Richard ix