"I can recommend the Gestapo to anyone."

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Wednesday, December 8. 2010

"I can recommend the Gestapo to anyone."

That's what Freud wrote on his Austrian exit papers, when the Gestapo informed him that he could finally leave if he would put in writing that he had been treated well by them in the lengthy process. The grim sarcasm, no doubt, went over the heads of the Gestapo thugs.

Freud had a wry sense of humor which was rarely evident in his writing. He was 82 at the time, the Anschluss had happened, and his friends like Ernest Jones had to drag him out of Vienna to London, with the assistance of Pres. Roosevelt.

Fearful as he was of growing anti-Semitic sentiment, he did not want to leave home.

The NYT announced his departure on June 5, 1938. He died a year later, in London.

Posted by Bird Dog in History at 13:21 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0)

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Perhaps tangentially related, a NY Times story about a 97 year old German who once was in the Waffen SS and kept Himmler's War Diary for a time, as well as serving on the Eastern Front. He still hates the Jews.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/world/europe/08nazi.html?_r=1&hp

#1 feeblemind on 2010-12-08 18:00 (Reply)

“The problem with quotations that you see on the Internet is that it is difficult to discern if they are genuine.”

— Abraham Lincoln

#2 DOuglas2 on 2010-12-08 22:15 (Reply)

That's not from the internet.

#2.1 bd on 2010-12-09 06:15 (Reply)

It is now. I found it on a blog called "Maggie's Farm" ;)

The details of the story surrounding that quote seemed to vary between biographers, which made me suspicious when I read "Modern Times". Some reported that he asked if he could append the statement, some that he added it without consultation. Some that he had said later that he wished he had added it.
The earliest reference I've found was Ernest Jones 1957 biography, and he indeed interviewed Freud. But it did not surprise me to learn that another Freud biographer, Alain de Mijolla, has found the original document of a statement that Freud signed for the Gestapo just before his exit from Vienna. This document has nothing added like the quote above.

"Erklarung. Ich bestätige gerne, dass bis heute den 4. Juni 1938, keinerlie Behelligung meiner Person oder meiner Hausgenossen vorgekommen ist. Behörden und Funtionäre der Partei sind mir und meinem Hausgenossen ständig korrekt und rücksickstvoll entgegentretten. Wien, den 4. Juni 1938. Prof. Dr. Sigm. Freud."

#2.1.1 Douglas2 on 2010-12-09 12:23 (Reply)

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Wednesday, December 8. 2010

"I can recommend the Gestapo to anyone."