The Freud Files

by Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen

  Bernfeld to Eissler, 4 January 1951: There are dozens of things, such as: ‘Did Freud personally meet Richard Avenarius?’,278 or ‘What crimes were committed by his uncle Joseph, the brother of Jakob Freud? When was this? What was he sentenced to? What did he do afterwards?’ Etc., etc.279

  In his response, Eissler indicated that the decision had already been made to opt for a centre of ‘type A’ and that the documents assembled by the Archives would be sent directly to the Library of Congress, without any examination. Bernfeld, disappointed that his proposition had not been accepted, warned against the dangers of not processing the documents before depositing them at the Library of Congress.

  Bernfeld to Eissler, 19 January 1951: The plan you describe in your letter of 13 January naturally has my approval, since it conforms to one of the alternatives I suggested . . . I don’t like the idea of assembling letters and sending them unprocessed to the Library of Congress. I understand the advantages of this procedure. But I think that it should only be used as a last resort and it would be better not to make things easy for donors wishing to lock them up and bury them in Washington. I know enough about Freud as a letter writer to understand that many of his correspondents would prefer to keep secret some of his blunt remarks regarding them and their colleagues. It’s mostly excessive sensitivity, but at times there is, in fact, food for devastating gossip . . . If the Archives come to fruition, they are probably going to suck up all these documents and keep them sealed for an undetermined duration. And this is a point, in my opinion, that deserves serious reflection by the Directors of the Archives; they shouldn’t begin to assemble the documents before deciding on a policy that reduces this danger.280

  Involved as he was in his historical research, Bernfeld doesn’t seem to have understood that what he perceived as a ‘danger’ was precisely the objective Anna Freud had conceived for the Archives. In this affair, Eissler, a young analyst trained by August Aichhorn, was simply an executor of Miss Freud’s wishes – he had sent her a copy of Bernfeld’s first letter and was awaiting her instructions.

  Eissler to Anna Freud, 13 January 1951: I hope that I am not committing an indiscretion in including a copy of the letter that Dr. Bernfeld wrote to me, insofar as I am sending it without having asked his permission . . . It’s clear in reading this letter that he would like to be the curator of the letters. I think that this is absolutely impossible since the Archives operate according to the principle of not favoring any publication and of handling everything personal with the greatest discretion. Of course, I could imagine that there may be among the letters certain ones that aren’t of a personal nature and that essentially deal with Freud’s scientific work, and undoubtedly the question will eventually be to know the extent to which you and the future proprietors of the letters would be favorably disposed to a study of such letters by a reliable biographer. For that reason, it would be very important for me to know if you would prefer to have a contemporary analyst writing a biography of Freud or if the Archives should, from the start, adopt a policy of not making any documents available to anyone, not even those that contain no personal references.281

  Anna Freud to Eissler, 27 January 1951: Frankly, I was appalled by his suggestions [those of Bernfeld]. They are extremely far from what I was envisaging for ‘the Archives’ and I think that it goes without saying for you as well. I find it difficult to imagine something more contrary to the life of my father, to his habits, to his conceptions and attitudes than this sort of detailed study of his biography . . . I believe it necessary to very clearly distinguish between ‘the Archives’ as a safe place and archives conceived as a way of assembling materials for a biography. The letters that I and, I suppose, the Princess [Marie Bonaparte] intended to deposit there would have gone there in order to not be used at this time by a biographer.282

  Things couldn’t be any clearer. Eissler, while also sending a copy of Bernfeld’s second letter, thus assured Miss Freud that the Archives would be a tomb.

  Eissler to Anna Freud, 4 February 1951: Following up on my indiscretion, I am sending you a copy of another letter from Bernfeld . . . I am sure that the majority of the letters will be given [to the Freud Archives] on the sole condition that no contemporary will be able to read them and you can be sure that I will not grant Bernfeld’s demand ‘not to make things easy for donors wishing to lock them up and bury them in Washington’ . . . Of course, the personal letters will only have been read by the donor and will be sent sealed to the representative of the Archives, which will not have the right to open the letter and which will send it sealed to the Library of Congress, where it will remain sealed for as long as the donor or the board of directors stipulate. Broadly speaking, the board of directors will stipulate a longer duration than the donor has intended, in order to prevent any possibility of an embarrassing situation in the future.283

  Henceforth, Bernfeld’s fate within the movement’s inner circle was sealed. On 28 March, Eissler, somewhat ashamed, told Anna Freud that he had met Bernfeld in New York and that the latter had expressed his surprise that Anna, as she had formerly done, no longer responded to his letters and requests for information.284 Bernfeld had clearly fallen into disfavour; now, his rival Jones was going to have access to the treasures of House of Freud.

  On 16 February, Eissler announced to Anna Freud the formation of the Sigmund Freud Archives, Inc.’s board of directors, which included, among others, Bertram Lewin (President), Ernest Jones, Heinz Hartmann, Willi Hoffer, Princess Marie Bonaparte (Vice-Presidents), Ernst Kris, Herman Nunberg and Siegfried Bernfeld (members). Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann and Anna Freud were honorary members. Eissler himself settled for the more modest position of ‘Secretary’. Anna Freud was delighted.

  Anna Freud to Eissler, 27 February 1951: This wonderful list contains so many of our old friends that this alone should guarantee that all goes well as far as our future plans are concerned.285

  The goal of the Freud Archives had never been to make the documents of Freudianism available to the public, as Luther Evans, the Librarian of Congress, undoubtedly believed when Eissler approached him. In reality, the Library of Congress and the American people had been duped. What Anna Freud and the Freudian Family sought, quite simply, was a safety deposit box where they could lock up the archives, their archives, and protect them from the curiosity of outsiders. If their choice was the Library of Congress, it was because the American government and its legendary bureaucracy presented, in this respect, extremely solid guarantees of reliability and security. Not to mention the fact that the costs of archiving and safekeeping the materials were entirely thrust upon the American taxpayers: as Bernfeld had said, a ‘type A’ Archives wouldn’t cost a dime. Better yet, donations to the Library of Congress were tax-deductible, making for an excellent business, insofar as the ‘expert’ designated to appraise their value for the American Internal Revenue Service was none other than . . . Kurt Eissler.286

  Paul Roazen: Eissler went around and suggested to all the people concerned that they could get tax deductions on what they donated to the Freud archives. A good deal for everybody, right? It was a wholly crooked set-up. The gifts were made to the Freud Archives, then Eissler, as head of Freud Archives, gave them to the Library of Congress. The archives was a conduit. The documents are housed at the Library of Congress at taxpayers’ expense, but the Library of Congress has to turn to the Freud Archives before they can release anything.287

  M. B-J: So it is a situation in which the Freud Archives use taxpayers’ money to pursue its own goals, without being accountable to anybody?

  Roazen: Yes. Thanks to this setup, everything went through Eissler’s hands and is now under the Freud Archives’ control. For instance, Eissler went around and conducted interviews with anyone who would see him, only to lock up these tapes at the Library of Congress. At the same time, there have always been exceptions to this policy of secrecy. For instance, Eissler would send some of the material to Jones – which is how I was able to read it in th
e Jones files, before those were restricted in their turn.288

  But it wasn’t simply the American taxpayers who were taken advantage of, but also, in many cases, the donors themselves. Even though certain donors were obviously in on the secret, many others undoubtedly believed that they were making a gift of their archives to a public entity, the Library of Congress, considering that the Library’s current ‘Freud Collection’ was initially called ‘The Sigmund Freud Archives’. As article 2 of the contract signed on 5 July 1951 between the Sigmund Freud Archives, Inc. and the Library of Congress, the latter promised to ‘protect [the] identity [of the donations] by marking the name “The Sigmund Freud Archives” on all the publications and on the cartons containing other documents, and [to] administer these donations under the title “The Sigmund Freud Archives”’.289 It must have been difficult, therefore, for the donors to distinguish between the ‘Sigmund Freud Archives’ of the Library of Congress and the ‘Sigmund Freud Archives, Inc.’ – all the more so since the paper in front of them proudly stated: ‘Conservator of the Archives: the Library of Congress’ (later changed to ‘Guardian and Proprietor of the Sigmund Freud Collection: the Library of Congress’).

  In reality, the donations were being made to the Sigmund Freud Archives, Inc., a private organisation which then became their legal owner and could thus impose any restrictions on access that it wished from the moment they were deposited at the Library of Congress (in the catalogues, we still read: ‘Donor: Sigmund Freud Archives’ or ‘Donor: Kurt Eissler’). In regard to this, Peter Swales speaks of ‘donor impostership’,290 insofar as Eissler was to have deliberately maintained the ambiguity surrounding the donations’ actual destination. It is hard to prove such an intention to mislead; nevertheless, the ambiguity Swales is concerned with is quite real, and we can find many examples of it. To the British psychiatrist E. A. Bennet, who in 1972 asked if the Freud Archives would be interested in two letters that Freud had addressed to him, Eissler nonchalantly responded that it depended on the Library of Congress.

  Eissler: Of course, we take in all the documents . . . The original or a photostat is deposited in the Library of Congress. The Archives are not independent, everything goes to the Library of Congress in Washington.291

  To the donors, then, the Archives passed themselves off as representatives of the Library of Congress and of the American people, in order, as Bernfeld said, to ‘suck up’ the documents and testimonials. To the Library of Congress, on the other hand, they passed themselves off as the representatives of donors and medical confidentiality, imposing restrictions on access, as well as arbitrary declassification dates, which the donors themselves had not often demanded.

  Marvin W. Kranz, Supervisor of the Freud Collection at the Library of Congress: In certain cases, we know that the [original] donor imposed restrictions on access . . . As a general rule, the documents were given to Eissler [and] he imposed restrictions. Presumably, he would say to the person: ‘We are going to classify that for a period of twenty-five, fifty years, okay?’ and the person would say yes. We don’t know how exactly it worked, but in my opinion, it was Eissler who suggested the restrictions.292

  Eissler, Notes on His First Interview with Sergius Pankejeff in Vienna, 1952: He always has the idea that his Memoirs could be published and is rather disappointed, that this material will first be read by others in 200 years.293

  Eissler to the Pastor Oskar Pfister, 20 December 1951: When your report is opened in 150 years, I believe that it will no longer be able to cause even the slightest indiscretion.294

  Eissler, Interview with Carl Gustav Jung, 29 August 1953: I believe that the historical development of depth psychology will at one time have a great interest, and your relation to Freud, your observations of Freud whom you knew in such an important phase, in such an important epoch, will very much interest historians, if there are still historians in 200 years /laughs/.295

  Eissler to Bonaparte, 1 April 1960: At The Library of Congress you would only see a row of boxes which concern The Sigmund Freud Archives. The boxes are filled with sealed envelopes and, since we have an agreement with The Library of Congress that the envelopes may be opened only after many years they would not be permitted to show you anything of their contents . . . if you plan to visit The Library of Congress solely out of your desire to see The Sigmund Freud Archives, I would strongly advise against it because, as I have said before, there is nothing to see other than a row of boxes.296

  Yes, the Freud Archives were very much a tomb, a crypt, where, as Bernfeld said, the radioactive waste of psychoanalysis’ history could be ‘buried’. Therefore, as we see with the X (formerly Z) series of the Sigmund Freud Collection, the slow process of declassification (we are almost tempted to say: of decontamination) only began in 1995, with the correspondence between Freud and Max Eitingon, and will continue for the most part until 2057, when Eissler’s inteviews with Elsa Foges, Harry Freud, Oliver Freud, Judith Bernays Heller,297 Clarence Oberndorf, Edoardo Weiss and the mysterious ‘Interviewee B’ are due to be released. In the 1990s one letter to Freud from an unidentified correspondent was restricted till 2113 (and not 2102, as the 1985 catalogue anticipated298). Now, many such items do not even have a stipulated derestriction date, and are listed simply as ‘closed’.

  Sulloway: Just think of the secrecy associated with the documents of the Freud Archives at the Library of Congress and the oddity of their dates of release. Some documents are sealed away until 2013, others until 2032, others until 2102, 2103, etc., and you wonder how they came up with these strange dates. If you look up the birth and death dates of the persons concerned, you are almost tempted to apply Fliessian periodicities of 23 and 28 to see what these numbers mean, because it is not 100 or 150 years from anybody’s death, it’s not 150 or 200 years from anybody’s birth – it’s just some weird number that someone thought up! It is totally arbitrary, but that is how censorship has always worked.299

  In certain cases, the restrictions on access have been imposed despite the wishes expressed by the donors. As Peter Swales has noted, Eissler’s interview with Freud’s granddaughter, Sophie Freud, will not be available until the year 2017, even though she has declared herself, on several occasions, in favour of a complete and immediate opening of the Archives. Paul Roazen, likewise, relates how Eissler refused to let the psychoanalyst Helene Deutsch take a look at her own donation when she had wished to show it to Roazen.

  Roazen: I wrote a letter to the Freud Archives, which Helene co-signed, in which I requested to have access to this material. The letter that I got back was not signed by Eissler himself, but by Edward Kronold, who was technically head of the Freud Archives at the time. He didn’t actually deny our request, he just said that they would postpone their decision till the next meeting of their board of directors . . . This was totally absurd, of course, for what we were asking for was perfectly obvious and straightforward.300

  Roazen: During my own research on Freud and his circle, I met numerous donors who were not only completely unaware that their donation was now locked away, but who also clearly disapproved of the secrecy Eissler was determined to maintain around Freud in order to protect him from the curiosity of independent historians.301

  Eissler to Borch-Jacobsen, 13 November 1996: Doctor P[ankejeff] wanted the recordings of our conversations to be published while he was alive. I refused.302

  The Freud Archives, obviously, do not represent the wishes of their donors, contrary to what they made the Library of Congress and the public believe. In reality, they only represent themselves, which is to say, the interests of the Freudian Family and Cause. And these interests have never coincided with those of the public interest, of the res publica. The function of the Archives has never been one of openness and publication, but rather one of selection and censorship: controlling access to the documents, filtering information, monitoring interpretation and debate, and, above all, stopping material passing unrestricted into the public domain. Nothing could be further from the d
emocratic ideal of ‘free and open access to knowledge and information’303 that guides the Library of Congress. Kurt Eissler spent his life amassing archives and testimonials, not in order to share them and reveal their contents, not even to preserve them for future generations, but with the single goal of being able to determine who would have access to what – all this in the interests of a private society: the true Freudians.

  There was, in the end, a method in this madness. If Eissler censored anything and everything, it wasn’t because there was something to hide – some skeletons in the closet or compromising photos. It was because the Archives, despite the portions open to the public, had never been intended for the public. Anna Freud perhaps said it best: these documents are going to be deposited at the Library of Congress ‘in order to not be used by a biographer’. Meaning: by a non-accredited, non-authorised biographer, since, for the historians in the Freudian family, it was never a question of hiding anything from them. At the same time that Anna Freud was locking up the Archives and refusing Bernfeld access to it because he was judged to be too independent, Jones was allowed wide access, aiding him with his work on the Biography. He certainly wasn’t going to be the one to contradict the version of events Freud had put down in his writings, whether in his case histories or his historical-autobiographical presentations of psychoanalysis.