Sigmund FREUD and the International Psychoanalytic Association.

Sigmund FREUD (1856.1939)

Signed autograph letter.

One page ½ in-8°, in German, on letterhead.

(Vienna) July 8, 1931.

“I will refuse any tribute without distinction. »

Beautiful letter from Freud, very cautious about the holding of the 12th ^congress of the International Psychoanalytic Association.

“Dear Doctor, You know how much I abhor all these conferences with their activity to attract public attention. Whatever our participation in this congress, be sure that I will not receive anyone at our home and that I will refuse any tribute without distinction. If you expect to be able to avoid the worst with Hartmann's help and not need to ask for Eitingon's expertise – I believe you should write to him about it, it's his domain – then do what you consider necessary and don't ask me any more. I am convinced that something undesirable will result. The question is whether it is even possible to avoid it. It would be best if the congress did not take place in Vienna. Sincerely, your Freud. »

On a proposal from Sándor Ferenczi, Freud, fearing that untrained practitioners would establish themselves as self-proclaimed psychoanalysts, favored, during the 2nd ^{international} congress of psychoanalysis, the creation of the International Psychoanalytic Association (API) in 1910. Jung became one of them. the first president. From then on, congresses were held regularly in various cities in Europe.

The 12th ^Congress , mentioned here by Freud, was finally held in September 1932 in Wiesbaden, Germany, under the presidency of Max Eitingon.

Max Eitingon (1881.1943) was a psychoanalyst and patron of the German psychoanalytic movement of the 1920s. He became President of the API in 1925 and held this role until 1932. His correspondence with Freud ( Correspondence 1906-1939) was published by Hachette .

Heinz Hartmann (1894.1970) was an Austrian psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Considered the founder of Ego -Psychology, he published The Psychology of the Ego in 1937. He served three terms as president of the International Psychoanalytic Association (1953, 1955 and 1957), then received the title of honorary president for life.