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Siegfried Bernfeld was one of the first-generation psychoanalysts who, over time, adopted a radical left-wing position. Bernfeld had a major role in his time, but over time he was unfairly relegated. His work is interesting and his contributions have a great relevance in today’s world.
Anna Freud said that Siegfried Bernfeld had been one of those “outstanding beings” who made up the first layer of psychoanalysis. In fact, Sigmund Freud himself referred to him in one of his letters, saying: “He is an outstanding expert in psychoanalysis. I consider him perhaps the most gifted of my students and disciples. In addition, he has superior knowledge, is an irresistible speaker and an extremely influential teacher. So, taken together, I can only say the best about him.”
Like his contemporaries, Siegfried Bernfeld lived in a very socially and politically disturbed time. For this reason, at a given moment and in view of the persecution he was subjected to for being a Jew, he focused his reflections on the social field. He left aside the strictly psychoanalytic facet to get involved in collective phenomena from a political point of view.
The Beginnings of Siegfried Bernfeld
Siegfried Bernfeld, like so many other psychoanalysts, was of Jewish origin. He was born in Lemberg (Galicia) in 1892. His parents were dedicated to the textile trade and had a peaceful life financially. Bernfeld studied zoology and botany, as he was passionate about nature. This gave him a very solid scientific knowledge base.
When he was very young, he became interested in pedagogy and psychology. He was delighted with the scope of hypnosis, which was an innovation in his day. In fact, he even practiced it with his younger brother. He was also interested in María Montessori’s theories. Afterwards, he studied psychoanalysis in depth and became fascinated with the method of free association.
At the age of 22, he married Anne Salomon, a young medical student and ardent follower of Marxist ideas. She was a definite influence on his thinking and his activities. Three years after his marriage, he was already organizing a gigantic gathering of Zionist youth. In it, Martin Buber gave a speech that became very famous.
Social activity and psychoanalysis
Motivated by his political activity, Siegfried Bernfeld created an institution dedicated to welcoming Jewish children who were orphaned in the First World War. His aim was to form them so that they could emigrate to Palestine. It came to have 145 protected, many of whom had severe trauma. This inclined him even more towards psychoanalysis.
He met Sigmund Freud personally and became part of the psychoanalytic circle. He finally opened an office in Vienna in 1922. At that time, he had started a strong friendship with Anna Freud, and he was considered one of the great promises of the new psychoanalytic current. With Anna and other psychoanalysts of the time, he formed a group dedicated to providing care to helpless children.
This group had as its main interest to extend psychoanalytic issues to the social field. In 1925, Siegfried Bernfeld published his first two works, dedicated to social education. One was focused on adolescence and the other on German pedagogical methods, which he considered a true cultivation of a dictatorial regime.
Bernfeld’s End
Siegfried Bernfeld was married three times and lived in several countries in Europe when Nazism came to power. He ended up in San Francisco (USA) with his third wife. Unlike other psychoanalysts, Bernfeld never agreed with the “psychology of the ego” that was so prominent in North America.
Perhaps nostalgia for his origins, coupled with his great intellectual curiosity, led him to become one of Freud’s most important biographers. Although not considered the “official”, his articles about him were clearly taken up by Ernest Jones, whom Anna Freud considered an authorized biographer of her father.
Siegfried Bernfeld left interesting essays in which he mixes principles of psychoanalysis and social education. His works on the psychology of adolescence are notable. He founded San Francisco’s first psychoanalytic society. Many remember him as a compulsive tobacco user, a lover of beautiful women, and an honest psychoanalyst.
