Sigmund Freud: Massenpsychologie und Ich-Analyse, cover

EXCERPT
Men are strong only so long as they represent a strong idea. They become powerless when they oppose it.
—Zur Geschichte der psychoanalytischen Bewegung (The History of the Psychoanalytical Movement), 1914

WORKS BURNED
All works published before May 1933

SUMMARY
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), the founder of psychoanalysis, was born in Vienna, Austria. Freud's new science and Jewish heritage were anathema to the Nazi regime. The Nazis raided Freud's house after the 1938 annexation of Austria and "confiscated" all the money they found. Freud, with acerbic wit, quipped afterwards: "I never received as much for a house call." During the 1933 book burnings, a special "fire oath" was said against the "soul-shredding overvaluation of sexual activity" as Freud's writings were burned. Following international interventions, Freud was permitted to emigrate to England, along with his wife, daughter, housekeeper, and medical caretaker. His sisters were murdered in concentration camps in 1941. Freud, already suffering from cancer while in Austria, died in England in 1939.