THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 16 Friday, December 11, 1982 Psychoanalyst Reminisces About Freud By MARGUERITE KOZENN CHAJES "Reminiscences of a Vie- nnese Psychoanalyst" is the VEN5Y- music NL – VT is 855-1400 Talent Agency FOR A GREAT PARTY! A SURE THING Johnny Chase Wilmot Jerry Denby Fenby-Carr Shelby Lee ,Eric Freudigman Carl Ryding George Brooks Fascinating Rhythm Sheldon Yellen Caricaturists Rendezvous ABZ Orchestra Primos Harry Teichert Strings Gigue Perfect Blend Mariachi Band Smiling Faces Tom Ploeger Bob Durant Divertissement Jay Valle Tim Hewitt & Feelings Johnny Griffith Nate RondeII Eric Harris COMPLETE SICKROOM EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES OSTOMY SUPPLIES featuring products by WHEEL CHAIRS • WALKERS COMMODES • HOSPITAL BEDS HOLLISTER & SQUIBB RESPIRATORY EQUIPMENT EXPERIENCED REGISTERED NURSE ON STAFF PRIVATE FITTING ROOMS AVAIL. 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Sterba, who to- gether with his wife Editha, who is also a psychoanalyst, and their two daughters ar- rived in Detroit in 1939 as refugees from Vienna. Dr. Sterba's family was pure "Aryan" and could have stayed on in Vienna even after Hitler's take-over of Austria. However, they chose to emigrate as did Siegmund Freud, and his family and all his disciples and co-workers. The book is a "hymn of praise" to Freud. Already in the preface Sterba writes: "It would be most gratifying for me if, by this presenta- tion of my memories, I could make it possible for the reader to empathize .. . with our envyless admira- tion for Freud, whom we all recognized as a genius and a unique scientific leader." Starting with the pref- ace and up to the last page of the book, the utter devotion and pro- found affection of the author is evident in his repeated statements. Sterba was born in Vie- nna in 1898. The mayor of Vienna was Dr. Karl Lueger, the leader of. the Christian Socialist Party. This party was connected with the Catholic Church, to which more than 90 per- cent of the citizens be- longed. Lueger and his fol- lowers were outspokenly andi-Semitic. The anti-Semitism of the - Church enhanced the hos- tility toward the Jews that was traditional in the men- tality of. the Viennese "petite-bourgeoisie." There was also another powerful party, led by Georg von Schoenerer. This party was rabidly anti- Semitic and advocated the absorption of Austria into the German' Reich. One cannot fail to con- nect what occurred in Austrian history at that point to the consequent development of Nazism under Hitler. Sterba's grandparents were Czechs, born in Bohemia. His grandgather was a tailor. Sterba's father studied and excelled in mathematics and physics. As profession he chose to teach at a girls' high school. "Under the German nationalistic propaganda of Schoenerer my father be- came mildly German nationalistic and anti- Semitic," Sterba writes. After serving in the Aust- rian army during World War I, Sterba won a schol- arship and started his medi- cal studies. He also studied music and became an ac- complished violinist and chamber music performer. "The first works by Freud I read were the five lectures he gave in 1909 at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. ... what attracted me most was Freud's literary style and his unusually clear "From January 1938 we looked with growing ap- prehension . . . on what we learned from German refu- gees about the mistreat- ment of Jews by Nazis. It caused us to be greatly alarmed for the welfare of Freud in the event that Au- stria fell victim to the threatening giant neighbor." At the last meeting of the Psychoanalytic Society in Vienna in March 1938, Anna Freud presided. She asked all the members about their future plans. All of them spoke of emigration. "When Anna directed the question to me, I felt that the other board members awaited my answer with a certain uneasiness, since I was the only non-Jewish member of the board pre- sent. When I declared-that I was determined to emigrate at the earliest possibility, my answer was received with noticeable relief." Anna then asked her father, who was in another room, to join us. He was told that wherever he would set- tle, that would be the center of the society. He • as also told that all tr e .nembers intended to leE -e Austria. "When we got. •-) from our chairs to take 1€ ve, Freud remarked: 'Aft( the de- struction of the ' 'emple in Jerusalem by Titus, Rabbi Jochanan ben Sakkai asked permission to open a school at Jabneh for the study of the Torah. We are going to do the same! We are after all used to persecution by our history, tradition and some of us by personal experi- ence, with one exception.' He pointed at me and smiled benevolently!" Only a few days after Hitler's "triumphant" ar- rival in Vienna, the Sterba family left for Basle, Switzerland. There they learned that the exit permit for Freud and his family was finally granted by the Nazi authorities. "This was the result of a concerted influence of many per- sonalities in highest posi- tion in four countries: the Home office in Lon- don; W.C. Bullit, the U.S. Ambassador to France; an uncle of the King of Greece and even Musso- lini intervened." Freud and his family ar- rived in London in 1939. Nine months later he died. Laura Z. Hobson, the author of many novels, among them "Gentleman's Agreement," secured the af- fidavit for the Sterbas' im- migration to America. Some weeks ago, on the occasion of the publication of the. "Reminiscences," Sterba announced the es- tablishment of a "Richard Sterba Fund" for the benefit of clinical psychologists and social workers. Sterba concludes his book with this paragraph: "The reader will have become aware of the deep affection that ties me to the man, to whose cause I have devoted my life's work." . MARGUERITE CHAJES and beautiful way of ex- pressing his ideas." Sterba graduated from medical school in 1923. Fas- cinated by the desire to be- come a psychoanalyst he joined the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, ad- vanced soon and was named "an associate member." Sterba proudly mentions that his graduation certifi- cate from the Psychoanaly- tic Society was signed by Freud himself. In 1923 he met his future wife Editha, a fellow psychoanalytic trainee and protege of Freud's daughter Anna. Editha had graduated from the Vienna University after studies in psychology and musicology. She is a fine pianist. In May 1926, Freud celebrated his 70th birthday. In his home on Berggasse 19, a building that is now included in the sightseeing !,`musts" of Vienna, he received his friends and members of the Psychoanalytic Society. Sterba writes: "It was then, that I was introduced to and shook hands with the man who was of such impor- tance to me and to the world! "We all knew of Freud's cancer (oral) and his sick- ness was a constant worry for us. What an ordeal Freud had to go through over a period of 17 years, while his extraordinary sci- entific productivity re- mained undiminished!" He underwent 33 operations. Sterba devotes an entire chapter of his book to his fel- low members of the Vien- nese Psychoanalytic Society. He describes "their manifold talents and char- acters. "What tied them to- gether was the common cause, that is the study and promotion of Freud's work and the devotion to the extraordinary scien- tist, humanist and human 'being Siegmund Freud." Sterba repeatedly de- scribes the boundless dedi- cation and admiration of the professor's disciples. "One can well imagine that we analysts felt bombarded by the barrage to which Freud's productivity ex- posed us.. . Freud's spirit and seriousness hovered over us, his great personal dignity and respect- inspiring superiority .. . and the greatness of Freud's scientific edifice . . . obliged all of us to behave in a dig- nified manner.