Stephen Black writes: >Which brings to mind one of its more famous victims, Sigmund >Freud, and the supremely sly and ironic comment he is claimed >to have added when asked to sign a document attesting to good >treatment by the Gestapo: >"I can most highly recommend the Gestapo to everyone".
>[…] Presumably, no document with this comment has surfaced. >I wouldn't put it past the old man, though. It's the kind of story one wishes were true, but it ain't so. It originated in the third volume of Ernest Jones's biography of Freud (published in 1957), but the document in question was discovered in 1989 and Freud's actual words are as follows: "Declaration. I hereby confirm of my own free will that as of today, June 4, 1938, neither I nor those around me have been harassed. The authorities and representatives of the Party have always conducted themselves correctly and with restraint with me and with those around me. Vienna, June 4, 1938. Prof. Dr. Sigm. Freud.)" http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3435300580.html Stephen writes >Peter Gay (Freud: A Life for Our Time, 1998) says, without >attribution, that Freud wrote it. The Library of Congress (1998) >exhibition "Sigmund Freud: Conflict & Culture" more cautiously >notes "is said to have sarcastically asked if he could add" [the comment]. Gay's biography was published in 1988, in which book, as Stephen writes, he states as historical fact that Freud wrote the sarcastic "praise" of the Gestapo. It's interesting that Gay was more cautious for the Library of Congress exhibition in 1998. I first learned that the story was false from a letter in the Daily Telegraph in 1995, where the Freud scholar Anthony Stadlen wrote in response to an article by the Cambridge academic John Casey: "Dr Casey repeats a number of common myths. It is a nice story that Freud added 'I can recommend the Gestapo to anyone' to the form the Gestapo discovered. No such sentence appears on it." I can't help wondering if Gay knew by 1998 that the story had been exposed as false, but couldn't resist repeating it. Note that he doesn't write that Freud "is said to have added", but the rather different "is said to have sarcastically asked if he could add" the much-quoted words. In fact this is close to what Jones wrote: "[Freud] asked if he might be allowed to add a sentence, which was 'I can heartily recommend the Gestapo to everyone'." Given Gay's change of wording, my guess is that by 1998 he knew the story he told in 1988 was untrue. The story that Freud wrote the words of "praise" about the Gestapo has, of course, long been reported as historical fact. This recalls to mind the wise words of the Einstein scholar John Stachel: "Bare assertions, particularly by interested parties, do not constitute proof of such assertions, even when these assertions are repeated in print, even in a book." Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London allenester...@compuserve.com http://www.esterson.org --------------------------------------------------------- Re: [tips] Conservapedia and the Deutsche Physik: When Ideology Drives Science sblack Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:28:41 -0700 On 23 Aug 2010 at 17:26, Christopher D. Green wrote: >Psychology was also a victim of politicization under the Nazis. Which brings to mind one of its more famous victims, Sigmund Freud, and the supremely sly and ironic comment he is claimed to have added when asked to sign a document attesting to good treatment by the Gestapo: "I can most highly recommend the Gestapo to everyone". Peter Gay (Freud: A Life for Our Time, 1998) says, without attribution, that Freud wrote it. The Library of Congress (1998) exhibition "Sigmund Freud: Conflict & Culture" more cautiously notes "is said to have sarcastically asked if he could add" [the comment]. Presumably, no document with this comment has surfaced. I wouldn't put it past the old man, though. Stephen Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4390 or send a blank email to leave-4390-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
