FREUD, SIGMUND

Autograph document signed "Prof. Sigm. Freud," written in English. 39, Elsworthy Road, London, NW3: July 3, 1938. 9 1/4 x 5 5/8 inches (23.5 x 14.25 cm); a single page letter on Freud's personal letterhead (from his first, temporary London address), written in blue ink. Old horizontal fold, minute chip at head, one small stain in the margin, verso with light soiling and remnants of old adhesive to corners.

The document reads as follows:

"I am surprised to learn that Dr. Th. Reik has gone to America where the fact that he is not a medical man is likely to interfere with his activity as an analyst. He is one of the first masters of applied analysis as is shown especially in his earlier contributions, while his later work is more concerned with matters of general psychological interest. In both ways he has given proof of a high amount of intelligence, criticism and independent thought. Any man who is interested in the progress of the science of Psychoanalysis should try to lend him assistance in the continuation of his work. Prof. Sigm.[und] Freud."

This is an important letter of testimony concerning the value of the psychoanalytical work of Freud's protege Theodor Reik, written shortly after Freud’s urgent departure from Vienna to London in 1938 following the Anschluss. We are aware of only one other such testimonial by Freud to have come to auction, that example (also for Reik), having been written in German in 1933. Freud’s explicit support of his friend and pupil as expressed here is deeply significant to the history of psychoanalysis in the United States.

After earning his doctorate in psychology from the University of Vienna in 1912, Reik spent several years studying under Freud. Freud immediately recognized Reik's talent for psychoanalysis and financially supported Reik and his family throughout his psychoanalytic training, during which time Karl Abraham—often referred to as Freud's "best pupil"—analyzed Reik. Following Otto Rank's resignation from the Vienna psychoanalytic circle, Reik became the Secretary of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. From 1918–1928, Reik practiced in Vienna and was also a member of a select group that met with Freud on Wednesday evenings. Regarding this period of Reik's writings, the biographer Joseph Natterson noted: “These papers include many interesting clinical examples of case material and technical problems in psychoanalytic treatment, but the major concept is that unconscious guilt motivates both the crime itself and the criminal's need to be caught and punished.”

In 1928, Reik moved to Berlin where he established a practice and taught at the Berlin Institute until the rise of Nazism forced him to move to The Hague. In these years, Reik pioneered an attack on the view that the unconscious can be made to yield to an orderly, methodical approach. With the pressures of Nazism reaching the Netherlands, Reik was forced to emigrate to the United States in 1938.

Given Reik's position as a psychoanalyst (an insular field in America at the time) and not a physician, Freud's letter begins with an expression of concern over Reik's decision, saying: "I am surprised to learn that Dr. Th. Reik has gone to America where the fact that he is not a medical man is likely to interfere with his activity as an analyst." This proved prophetic. Indeed, when Reik arrived in America he was rebuffed by his colleagues for not possessing an M.D. degree and he was denied membership by the New York Psychoanalytic Society. Subsequently, he helped found a more tolerant organization, the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, which remains one of the largest and highly regarded psychoanalytic training institutes.

As part of Reik's conflict with the medical psychoanalysis community, he participated in the first lawsuit that helped define and legitimize the practice of psychoanalysis by non-physicians. His legacy for non-medical, lay psychoanalysis in the US is accordingly important: that the training of non-medical analysts, such as psychologists and social workers, is now widely accepted is substantially due to Reik's efforts. It was also true to Freud’s vision of the field of psychoanalysis, as articulated in his 1926 work Die Frage der Laienanalys.