David Likely wrote:
> History Question: Was Freud a Professor?
>
> It's long been textbook wisdom that some professions,
> including the academic, were "closed to Jews" in Austria
> and other European countries in the 19th century. That's
> why Freud, a relatively poor man, took a medical degree
> and went into practice. Therefore I was surprised to see,
> in a Freud chronology posted by the Austrian National
> Tourist Office:
>
> "1902: Freud is appointed professor at the University of
> Vienna." ...
>
> I think, but I'm not sure, that the resolution of this is
> that while a
> Jew might become a Privatdozent (which the Austrian Tourist
> Office translates as "professor," small "p"), there would be
> very little chance to become a Professor (capital P)....
>
> I have an idea that salaried Professors didn't lecture very
> often or "cover" courses very systematically, so that the
> students, in order to pass their exams (perhaps one set of
> exams only after several years of study), hired
> Privatdozenen
> and perhaps tutors. The University had to approve these
> teachers, perhaps, but they were not regarded as real
> members (fellows?) of the University, so could sometimes
> include Jews.
>
> Alternatively, I'm wrong and Freud and perhaps other Jews
> were regarded as so exceptional that they really did get
> appointments as professors or Professors, or the textbooks
> are wrong, and the academic profession, including a
> reasonable salary, wasn't entirely "closed to Jews."
In 1885, Freud was given the position of Privatdozent. In 1897, Hermann
Nothnagel and Richard von Krafft-Ebing nominated Freud for
Ausserordentlicher Professor ) Professor Extraordinarius). It was a
position that carried more prestige and higher fees but it still was not
a position within the council of the medical faculty. Freud wanted it
for the prestige and the greater impact this prestige would have on
potential patients. There were all sorts of machinations that went on
behind the scenes for several years because, apparently, Freud's
appointment was held up by various officials. Freud eventually became
actively involved in maneuvering to gain the appointment, even enlisting
the aid of a couple of former patients of some prominence (one of these
patients bribed the minister of education by donating a painting to a
gallery the minister was establishing). Freud finally achieved his goal
in 1902.
Let me quote from Peter Gay (1988), _Freud: A life for our time_
(Anchor), the book in which I found the above information:
"One thing is plain from the record: Freud's academic career was
markedly--it seems deliberately--slowed down. A fair number of
physicians were promoted from being _Privatdozent_, some even to full
professorships, after five or four years, or even after only one. From
1885 on, during Freud's time of waiting, the average span between
appointment to a _Dozentur_ and appointment to a professorship was eight
years.... Freud had to wait for seventeen. Apart from the handful who
never secured a professorship at all, only four of the roughly one
hundred aspirants who were appointed _Privatdozent_ in the last fifteen
years of the nineteenth century were held back longer than Freud. Exner
was right; there was some tenacious prejudice against Freud in official
circles.
"Certainly anti-Semitism cannot be ruled out. While Jews, even those who
refused the profitable refuge of baptism, continued to rise to positions
of eminence in the Austrian medical profession, the spreading infection
of anti-Semitism did not leave influential bureaucrats untouched. In
1897, when Nothnagel had informed Freud that he and Krafft-Ebing had
proposed him for promotion, he had also warned him not to expect too
much." (pp. 138-39)
He told him not to expect too much because of the growing anti-Semitism
in Vienna during the 1890s. Hatred of Jews was being used for political
purposes during this time and, as Gay stated, that "this atmosphere had
effects on the professional careers of Jews in Austria was not a secret"
(p. 139). Thus, it seems that while Jews may have been appointed to
professorships before the 1890s, it was becoming increasingly difficult
for this to happen during this decade.
But Gay also noted that Freud's "scandalous" theories may have also held
him back. I am not so sure about this reason since, as I understand it,
the perceived "scandalous" nature of Freud's theories was somewhat
overblown and probably more of a myth promoted by Freud's followers than
an actual difficulty for Freud in his career. But others perhaps can
address this point better than I since it has been a while since I have
been conversant with this literature.
Jeff
--
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