#6 Freud's preparations concerning England
Freud's preparations ... concerning England
Significantly, in the letter of September 22, 1914, in the first, 1965 version, Freud expressed his gratitude to Abraham, for the latter’s assistance, writing:
Thank you very much indeed for the preparations you are making for my second stay in Berlin, in particular for those concerning England. (1)
Notably, the editor’s footnote explained that the mention of England refers to Anna Freud, who was caught in England by the outbreak of the war and stranded for some weeks. (1)
Already the fact that Freud’s statement needed clarification, is suspicious. But is the suspicious explanation even true?
Anna Freud travelled from Hamburg to England on July 18, 1914. But was Anna still in England, when Freud wrote the letter of gratitude to Abraham, at the end of September, thus over a month after the start of WWI, which started on July 28, 1914? And the answer is: she wasn’t.
How do we know that Anna wasn't in England when Freud's letter of September 22, 1914, was written? The answer can be found in The Correspondence of Sigmund Freud and Sándor Ferenczi, 1908-1914.
As the editor’s note attached to Freud's letter, to Ferenczi, sent from Vienna on August 23, 1914, explains Anna Freud had actually already left England. She arrived in Vienna on August 26, 1914. A similar comment is attached to Freud’s letter to Abraham on May 7, 1914.
There’s also a reference to Anna having returned to Vienna, before the start of the war, in Freud’s postcard to Jones of October 3, 1914, in which Freud stated: My daughter has reached home safely. And Freud added: Some days ago I visited Abraham in Berlin. (2) there’s no mention of Ferenczi or his analysis, which, together with previous statements in the other letters, means Freud has no alibi for October 17, thus the day when Emanuel died.
The explanation that the reference to Anna has anything to do with her stay in England is a blatant ruse intended to deflect any suspicion that Abraham's preparations ... concerning England may, instead, have something to do with Freud's eldest half-brother, Emanuel's, death in Manchester on October 17, 1914.
Freud's preparations ... against England
Interestingly, in the 2002 version of the same letter, of September 22, 1914. Freud changes his tune, stating:
Thank you very much indeed for the preparations you are making for my second stay in Berlin, in particular for those aimed against England. (3)
The second version of the statement is quite funny. So, Abraham, an insignificant doctor, at an insignificant local hospital, somewhere in Berlin, was making preparations for Freud to go to war with England! Possibly he managed to buy a machine gun or, maybe even, a tank. Anything to help the war effort!
The statement is as bizarre as it sounds, So, Freud, the lionhearted warrior, aged 68, was on a one man's crusade to defeat England.
Since Great Britain declared war on Germany, Freud would declare war on Great Britain!
Freud's preparations for the invasion of England?
What kind of preparations, Abraham was making aimed against England, oddly, wasn't mentioned in any of the previous letters. So, how could Freud thank Abraham for the preparations he knew nothing about? Or, maybe the letter, or the passage, in which Freud asked Abraham to make preparations concerning England somehow got lost. or maybe there was an error in the translation or the editing process? When one reads Freud's published letters, one should always expect the unexpected.
The question of what Abraham’s preparations were concerning, or aimed against England is important, since Freud's eldest half-brother, Emanuel, incidentally residing in England, would under mysterious circumstances, also incidentally, be dead only four weeks later!
Thus, since there are two versions of the same statement, there's a well-motivated question of what Freud wrote in his letter of September 22, 1914, when thanking Abraham for his assistance regarding England.
As it is apparent, Freud's letter didn't have any connection with Anna's visit to England since Anna Freud already had been back home in Vienna for almost four weeks.
Moreover, it is highly unlikely, if only because of his age, that Freud was contemplating some kind of military action against the United Kingdom. Was Freud, the lonely warrior, rater, considering the assassination of the King or the prime minister of Great Britain? Not even Freud would be that crazy. Thus, there must be some other reason for Freud’s statement: Thank you very much indeed for the preparations you are making … concerning or aimed against, England.
So, if Freud was neither going to invade England, nor to assassinate the King, or the prime minister, who else could he be going to assassinate? Considering Freud's maniacal hatred of fathers - and the fact that Emanuel was living in England - there's only one suitable object for Freud's murderous attention: his own, as he claimed, biological father, Emanuel.
It is not a coincidence that Emanuel had to die at the same age as Freud's own "father", Jacob. Suffering from compulsion to repeat, Freud could not allow Emanuel to live past his fatherly due date. Thanks to Abraham's preparations, Freud had no problem not only reaching Manchester but also returning safely home. Emanuel wasn't as lucky, dying on the train line.
(1) Abraham, Hilda C., & Freud, Ernst L., eds., A Psycho-Analytic Dialogue: The Letters of Sigmund Freud and Karl Abraham, 1907-1926, (1965, p. 197).
(2) Freud, Sigmund & Jones, Ernest, The Complete Correspondence of Sigmund Freud and Emest Jones 1908-1939, (1995, p. 299).
(3) Abraham, Karl & Freud, Sigmund, The Complete Correspondence of Sigmund Freud and Karl Abraham, 1907–1925, (2002, p. 602).
Freud’s lucky day for murder?
While Freud’s father, Jacob died on October 23, 1896,18 years earlier, Emanuel, Jacob’s eldest son, and Freud’s half-brother died on October 17, 1896, thus only six days before the anniversary of Jacob’s death.
Assuming that Freud, suffering from repetition compulsion - and having the need to repeat the father murder - murdered Emanuel, the obvious question is why wasn’t Emanuel killed on the same day as Freud's father, Jacob, which would be madly logical, but on an earlier date?
There may be different explanations for the early timing. Maybe Freud couldn’t make the travel arrangements that would allow him to come to Manchester in time.
But, there may be yet another special reason why Freud would have chosen this specific date, the 17th, for murdering his half-brother.
Thus, Freud’s doctor, Max Schur, in his biography of Freud. talks about Freud's typically Jewish numerological superstition. As Schur (p. 25) pointed out, in the Jewish tradition there were superstitions about certain numbers. While some numbers were considered good, others were considered bad. And, the number 17, because it could be spelled out as the Hebrew word for good, was a good number.
As his biographer, Ernest Jones (1955, p. 379) recounted, Freud told his fiancé that as a boy chose the number 17 in a lottery that was supposed to reveal his character and the word that came out was “constancy”. Consequently, to take advantage of the good day, the young couple became engaged on June 17, 1882.
Hence, for the superstitious Freud, it would also have been natural to choose the 17th, thus a good day, for murdering Emanuel, and, it worked for him. A good day for Sigmund, a not-so-good day for Emanuel. And, in case this explanation sounds insane, you are not wrong, but Freud was insane.
In fact, for Freud, numerology was extremely important. As Dr Schur revealed, both Freud and his numerologist boyfriend, Dr. Fliess were living their lives in the world of numbers (and sex, of course), both of them manipulating numbers, for example, to find out the length of their depraved lives. Hence, Freud’s letters to Fliess are filled with numerological calculations.
So, it would be logical for a numerological madman, like Freud, to choose the 17th day of the month for the murderous deed.
N.B. In the Bible, the number 17 symbolises overcoming the enemy and complete victory. No wonder Freud would treat this number as his lucky charm.
https://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/meaning-of-numbers-in-bible/17.html
As mentioned, Freud also applied his superstitious numerology to the prospective date of his death. Writing to Abraham, only a year after Emanuel’s killing, on July 3, 1915, Freud made the following remark: My father reached the age of 81 1/2, my eldest brother the same age - gloomy prospects! [Abraham & Freud, A psycho-analytic dialogue: the letters of Sigmund Freud and Karl Abraham, 1907-1926, 1966, p. 226] Freud was 59 at the time.
Assuming that both of his fathers died at his hand, this is an odd statement, Maybe Freud was pretending, or maybe, since he was a split personality, in this incarnation - like Mr Jekyll - he simply wasn't aware of what his evil double was guilty of.
There may have been yet another, more mundane reason why Emanuel died on that day and not on any other. October 17, 1914, was a Saturday. Thus, Freud could work for most of the week preceding Emanuel’s death and return to his practise after the weekend, losing only a couple of work days.
Freud's contribution to the war effort. Killing Emanuel?
Did Freud kill Emanuel?
You've had the opportunity to review the available information about Emanuel's death. Did Freud kill his eldest half-brother in Manchester, or did Emanuel die as a result of an accident? You be the judge. True, this is circumstantial evidence, but people have been sentenced and hanged for much less. As Britannica points out, The notion that one cannot be convicted on circumstantial evidence is, of course, false. Most criminal convictions are based on circumstantial evidence, although it must be adequate to meet established standards of proof. *
This is a summary of the circumstantial evidence. You be the judge.
Karl Abraham made preparations for Freud for his trip to England shortly before Emanuel’s death in October 1914.
Abraham provided Freud with a reference to a friend in Denmark shortly before Emanuel’s death.
Freud may have travelled the route through neutral Denmark
Emanuel died not long after Freud thanked Abraham for his preparations for England.
The differing versions of Freud's reason for preparations for England are highly suspicious.
Freud's half-brother (or biological father), Emanuel. was killed (died) at almost the same age as Freud's (grand) father, Jacob.
Freud hated his fathers, his “stepfather”, Jacob, and his half-brother, Emanuel who, he believed, was his real father.
Freud killed his "stepfather", Jacob.
Freud knew about Emanuel's death 25 days after the tragic event, even though he wasn’t notified about the tragic event by Emanuel's family during the war, nor by anyone else.
There were no post services during the war
Freud didn't correspond with the family throughout the war.
After the war, it was Freud who informed his nephew of his father's, Emanuel's death, rather than vice versa.
Freud had no alibi for the date of Emanuel's death, because:
Assuming there was one, Ferenczi's analysis was abruptly interrupted in October (exact date unknown).
In the letters by Freud before, during October, Ferenczi's analysis wasn't mentioned.
Allegedly, Ferenczi was on holiday in Vienna in October, even though WWI was raging, which isn't believable.
Freud’s letter to Abraham, dated October 18, a day after Emanuel's death, sent from Vienna, appears to have been backdated.
Freud visited England on several occasions. For the first time, in 1875, travelling by boat from Hamburg to Grimsby, and, again, in 1908. Other visits, most certainly there were some, weren't documented. Thus, Freud felt very much at home in England.
Freud lived for several weeks in Manchester, with Emanuel Freud's family, as a young man, aged 19, in 1875.
Freud knew Manchester, and Emanuel's routines.
Freud spoke English fluently,
Freud may have had an English passport provided to him by either of his two brothers in Manchester.
The train is a symbol of death for Freud.
Emanuel's death on the 17th may be a result of Freud's superstition.
In several places in his writings, Freud alludes to murder
Freud was both a daring and insane person. Thus, he would not hesitate to go to England, even during the war.
Freud committed a series of murders during his lifetime
* Britannica: circumstantial evidence, https://www.britannica.com/topic/circumstantial-evidence, 30.10.2014.