Living in the Shadow of the Freud Family

I had to do something to escape Hitler's clutches, writes Esti Freud. Yet she waits with her then-16-year-old daughter, Sophie in Paris until German canons can be heard in the distance before deciding to escape by bicycle across France, as Sophie keeps looking back to see whether German tanks will overtake them. Both women survive and, in their own ways, come to feel a need to keep a personal record of those tumultuous times. Thus, in a memoir written at age 79, Esti Fraud, daughter-in-law of Sigmund Freud and wife of his oldest son, Martin, looks back on her life starting before the 20th century, lived on three continents, and stretched through two world wars and the Holocaust. Twenty years after her mothers' death, daughter Sophie turned to Esti's memoir as the scaffold for this book, expanding it through family letters, archival material, and her own diary penned as a teenager. Out of these documents, Sophie Freud has created a many-voiced mosaic, including letters and insights from a wide cast of characters who tell the story of a famous family—and of a century.This work gives an insider's, in-law view of the family Freud, its foundations, and flaws. The relationship between Esti, daughter of a wealthy Vienna attorney and her husband Martin Freud is foreshadowed by the young lovers' fathers. At first meeting Esti, Sigmund told his son the glamorous woman was too beautiful for the clan, meaning her splendor belied a lifestyle not conducive to the frugal Freud ways. And Esti's father, on hearing of her love for Martin, expressed regret she was involved with a man who was not a financially favorable linkage, and that his family was not respectable since patriarch Sigmund was just another psychiatrist, and one who writes pornography books at that. Thus begins the ill-fated relationship that would rock two families and a generation of children to come. Sophie weaves into the text letters she inherited, including letters from Martin while he was a prisoner of war, and excerpts from her own diary, kept as an adolescent. The resulting mosaic will fascinate—and perhaps disturb—readers interested in Freud and psychoanalysis, as well as those intrigued by relationships and family. Contents......Page 6 Family Tree Legend......Page 10 A Drucker-Freud Family Tree......Page 13 A Long Voyage......Page 16 Apologia......Page 24 AUSTRIA......Page 26 1 Childhood Memories......Page 28 2 The (Grand) Parents Next Door......Page 38 3 Early School Years......Page 45 4 Growing Up......Page 49 5 Climbing Mountains......Page 51 6 Austria’s War Soon Turned into Defeat......Page 54 7 The Other Famous Grandfather......Page 58 8 Meeting Martin Freud......Page 62 9 Letters to a Prisoner of War......Page 78 10 Joys and Sorrows of Married Life......Page 95 11 Young Motherhood......Page 103 12 Starting an Independent Life......Page 110 13 Mother’s Poems......Page 120 14 Grandfather Freud......Page 125 15 Franz-Josefs-Kai 65......Page 135 16 Rooms Full of Memories......Page 138 17 Waiting for the Apocalypse......Page 150 18 Heroes of Their Own Lives......Page 158 FRANCE......Page 168 19 Getting Settled in Paris......Page 170 20 Tante Janne......Page 174 21 Liebstes Herzenspuckerl......Page 179 22 Miraculous Acceptance at the Lycée Jean de lan Fontaine......Page 189 23 Twelve Years Would Pass before I Met My Child Again......Page 192 24 Baggage from Vienna......Page 196 25 But We Corresponded for Some Time......Page 201 26 Sigmund Freud as Marriage Counselor......Page 206 27 The Summer before the Dark......Page 214 28 (Grand)Parents Drucker Redux......Page 218 29 Une Drôle de Guerre......Page 221 30 I Had to Do Something to Escape Hitler’s Clutches......Page 227 31 Reading Balzac in Castillonès......Page 235 32 Wartime in Nice......Page 238 33 Insanity Strikes......Page 261 34 Mademoiselle Kronheim......Page 270 35 From Marseille to Casablanca......Page 278 36 The Delay of the Serpapinto......Page 284 37 Waiting in Casablanca......Page 294 38 From Casablanca to Lisbon......Page 304 39 Lisbon......Page 308 40 On the Carvalho Arujo to America......Page 312 41 Arrival in America......Page 321 AMERICA......Page 324 42 The New Country......Page 326 43 Neither the Family Nor Papa Have the Slightest Intention of Sending Money......Page 328 44 Radcliffe Summer 1943......Page 343 45 It Was Very Difficult at the Beginning......Page 349 46 Lectures for the United Jewish Appeal......Page 353 47 Getting Settled in New York City......Page 358 48 It Took Me Seven Years to Finish My Ph.D.......Page 361 49 Neither of My Children Invited Me to Their Weddings......Page 366 50 At the New York Hospital......Page 376 51 A Case of False Memory......Page 378 52 Mrs. Sigmund Freud......Page 394 53 Grandmother Freud’s Letters to Sophie and Paul......Page 402 54 Disaster at Valløe......Page 405 55 Those Honorable Brothers-in-Law......Page 410 56 Let Me Complain......Page 414 57 I Like to Remember the Good Days in the Freud Household......Page 419 58 After My Ph.D., My Life Took a Much Smoother Course......Page 429 59 Friends at the Cemetery......Page 432 60 Tante Janne’s Tragedy......Page 435 61 Martin’s Ghost......Page 441 62 Working until Her Last Breath......Page 446 63 Mother’s Death without Daughter and without Son......Page 452 Acknowledgment......Page 462 References......Page 464 Index......Page 466

"I had to do something to escape Hitler's clutches," writes Esti Freud. Yet she waits with her then-16-year-old daughter, Sophie in Paris, until German canons can be heard in the distance, before deciding to escape by bicycle across France as Sophie keeps looking back to see whether German tanks will overtake them. Both women survive by sheer miracle and, in their own ways, come to feel a need to keep a personal record of those tumultuous times. In a memoir written at age 79, Esti Freud, daughter-in-law of Sigmund Freud and wife of his oldest son Martin, looks back on her life that began before the 20th century, was lived on three continents, and stretched through two world wars and the Holocaust. Twenty years after her mother's death, daughter Sophie turned to Esti's memoir as a scaffold for this book, expanding it through family letters and archival material. Out of these documents the author has created a fascinating, many-voiced mosaic--the story of a famous family and of a century seen through the eyes of many characters. Indomitable Esti was not an easy person to love. While she establishes herself professionally three times, in three different languages, her troubled family relationships leave her lonely, often deeply unhappy. Sophie confides that Esti died without son or daughter at her side.

This work gives an insider's, in-law view of the family Freud, its foundations, and flaws. The relationship between Esti, daughter of a wealthy Vienna attorney and her husband Martin Freud is foreshadowed by the young lovers' fathers. At first meeting Esti, Sigmund told his son the glamorous woman was "too beautiful" for the clan, meaning her splendor belied a lifestyle not conducive to the frugal Freud ways. And Esti's father, on hearing of her love for Martin, expressed regret she was involved with a man who was "not a financially favorable linkage," and that his family was not respectable since patriarch Sigmund was "just another psychiatrist, and one who writes pornography books at that." Thus begins the ill-fated relationship that would rock two families and a generation of children to come. Sophie weaves into the text letters she inherited, including letters from Martin while he was a prisoner of war, and excerpts from her own diary, kept as an adolescent. The resulting mosaic will fascinate--and perhaps disturb--readers interested in Freud and psychoanalysis, as well as those intrigued by relationships and family.

I had to do something to escape Hitler's clutches, writes Esti Freud. Yet she waits with her then-16-year-old daughter, Sophie in Paris until German canons can be heard in the distance before deciding to escape by bicycle across France, as Sophie keeps looking back to see whether German tanks will overtake them. Both women survive and, in their own ways, come to feel a need to keep a personal record of those tumultuous times. Thus, in a memoir written at age 79, Esti Fraud, daughter-in-law of Sigmund Freud and wife of his oldest son, Martin, looks back on her life starting before the 20th century, lived on three continents, and stretched through two world wars and the Holocaust. Twenty years after her mothers' death, daughter Sophie turned to Esti's memoir as the scaffold for this book, expanding it through family letters, archival material, and her own diary penned as a teenager. Out of these documents, Sophie Freud has created a many-voiced mosaic, including letters and insights from a wide cast of characters who tell the story of a famous familyand of a century. This work gives an insider's, in-law view of the family Freud, its foundations, and flaws. The relationship between Esti, daughter of a wealthy Vienna attorney and her husband Martin Freud is foreshadowed by the young lovers' fathers. At first meeting Esti, Sigmund told his son the glamorous woman was too beautiful for the clan, meaning her splendor belied a lifestyle not conducive to the frugal Freud ways. And Esti's father, on hearing of her love for Martin, expressed regret she was involved with a man who was not a financially favorable linkage, and that his family was not respectable since patriarch Sigmund was just another psychiatrist, and one who writes pornography books at that. Thus begins the ill-fated relationship that would rock two families and a generation of children to come. Sophie weaves into the text letters she inherited, including letters from Martin while he was a prisoner of war, and excerpts from her own diary, kept as an adolescent. The resulting mosaic will fascinateand perhaps disturbreaders interested in Freud and psychoanalysis, as well as those intrigued by relationships and family. The pained yet proud autobiography of Sigmund Freud's daughter-in-law, Esti, who had a "problematic" relationship with the patriarch, roots this fascinating narrative of the famed family told by its members across the turbulent 20th century