Allen Esterson wrote: > Chris Green wrote: > >> It is true that Jews were barred from various professions >> in Germany (which is why, for instance, Freud moved from >> neurology to medicine). >> > > Not so! Diligent readers may recall my comment in a recent post.... so I'm > left wondering where Chris got his mistaken notion from. >
I'm not sure where I first heard this, but I have heard it many times. The question is somewhat narrower than you make it out to be. It is not whether "anti-semitism," broadly construed, prevented Freud from becoming a neurologist. It is the degree to which Jews were able to obtain professorships in neurology in the (state-run) German and Austrian universities of the 1880s. It goes without saying that many universities put quotas on the numbers of Jewish professors they allowed on faculty (and not only in Germany and Austria). I do not know prescisely which German and Austrian universities were likely to have open professorships or assistantships in neurology in the next few years after 1881, or which of those would have been open to the prospect of hiring a Jew (though I bet Freud knew both). It would require much more detailed knowledge of the university system in that particular time and place that I (or you, I suspect) have at the moment. Coincidentally, 1881 was the year that the pogroms started in Russia (following the murder of the Czar). This drove many Jews out of Russia, and many of those immigrated to Germany, leading to a resurgence of German anti-semitism at exactly this time (Ellenberger's general claim notwithstanding). History is in the particularities. Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [email protected] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================== --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=5895 or send a blank email to leave-5895-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
