The Death of Sigmund Freud: The
Legacy of His Last Days by Mark
Edmundson
Some Notes On German Usage
“The Death of Sigmund Freud offers a compelling redescription of why the
founder of psychoanalysis retains his relevance today…a stirring account
of Freuds final months in Vienna…This is the disruptive legacy of Freuds
last year, and Edmundson has found the words to bring it alive today.”—
Los Angeles Times
When Hitler invaded Austria in March of 1938, Sigmund Freud was among
the 175,000 Viennese Jews dreading Nazi occupation. Though Freud was
near the end of his life—eighty-one years old, battling cancer of the jaw—
and Hitler’s rise on the world stage was just beginning, the fates of these
two historical giants were nonetheless intertwined. In this gripping and
revelatory historical narrative, Mark Edmundson traces Hitler and Freud’s

oddly converging lives, then zeroes in on Freud’s escape to London, where
he published his last and most provocative book, Moses and Monotheism.
By taking a close look at Freud’s last years—years that coincided with the
onset of the Second World War—Edmundson probes Freud’s prescient
ideas about the human proclivity to embrace fascism in politics and
fundamentalism in religion. At a time when these forces are once again
shaping world events, The Death of Sigmund Freud suggests new and
vital ways to view Freud’s legacy.
Personal Review: The Death of Sigmund Freud: The Legacy of
His Last Days by Mark Edmundson
"The Death of Sigmund Freud" is a timely look at the last days of Freud
since he was facing the march of Nazism, and since after 9-11, the US has
tilted quite a bit to the Right, and it is wise to weigh into possible reasons to
be concerned about tilting further, and a look from Freud's perspective is
certainly interesting.
Since anti-Semitism was rampant at the time, from the book, critics did say
that psychoanalysis was right, just that it was a 'Jewish Science' only
applying to Jews, an attempt to discredit it. Some of Freud's thoughts on
the matter were:
1. Freud called the relationship crowds form with an absolute leader,
erotic. Hitler, himself, in his speeches said that he made love to the
German masses. Essentially, the crowds become hypnotized. Not that we
are anywhere near such a situation, but one surely can notice a more
'patriotic' tone to many of the current presidential supporters and calling
dissenters un-patriotic.
2. Inner conflict, between one's ego, id, and superego, is not only
inevitable, but desirable to better modify behavior. Seeking some
perpetual, peaceful state is dangerous because it is more likely to erupt
into really bad behavior. So, public dissent is healthy and should be
encouraged.
3. Freud, a Jew, recognized in monotheism, that the ability to internalize an
invisible god prepares a person to think more abstractly. He saw Jews'
long history with that as allowing Jews to distinguish themselves in math,
sciences, law and literary arts, ways which effect some control over nature.
Better to have some invisible god, than some human authoritarian one, be
it political or some religious one who tries to have crowds focus on him or
her. Freud felt that such thinking made Jews more likely to reject
pageantry and less susceptible to elevating humans to god-like status, one
reason for anti-Semitism to run rampant as Nazis knew they would meet
resistance from Jews. Not that one should conclude that Judaism is

superior, just that the internalizing of an invisible god is the important part
of monotheism.
4. Rather than blame something about Germany, Japan or Italy for the rise
of 20th century fascism, Freud felt that internally we are all
fascists/fundamentalists, at least potentially. So, it is the inner conflict we
need to use to overcome it. Once again, dissent is healthy.
A very interesting book!
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