Bertha Pappenheim (27 February 1859 – 28 May 1936) was an
Austrian
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
-
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
feminist, a social pioneer, and the founder of the
Jewish Women's Association (''). Under the pseudonym
Anna O.
Bertha Pappenheim (27 February 1859 – 28 May 1936) was an Austrian-Jewish feminist, a social pioneer, and the founder of the Jewish Women's Association (''). Under the pseudonym Anna O., she was also one of Josef Breuer's best-documented pat ...
, she was also one of
Josef Breuer
Josef Breuer ( , ; 15 January 1842 – 20 June 1925) was a distinguished physician who made key discoveries in neurophysiology, and whose work in the 1880s with his patient Bertha Pappenheim, known as Anna O., developed the talking cure (cathar ...
's best-documented patients because of
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...
's writing on Breuer's case.
Childhood and youth
Bertha Pappenheim was born on 27 February 1859 in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, the third daughter of Recha Pappenheim and Sigmund Pappenheim. Her mother Recha,
née Goldschmidt (1830–1905), was from an old and wealthy family in
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
. Her father Sigmund (1824–1881), a merchant, the son of an Orthodox Jewish family from ,
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
(today's
Bratislava, Slovakia), was the cofounder of the Orthodox
Schiffschul in Vienna; the family name alludes to the Franconian town of
Pappenheim
Pappenheim is a town in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Altmühl, 11 km south of Weißenburg in Bayern.
History
Historically, Pappenheim was a statelet within Holy Roman Empire. It ...
. As "just another daughter" in a strictly traditional Jewish household, Bertha was conscious that her parents would have preferred a male child. Her parents' families held traditional
Jewish views on marriage
Marriage in Judaism is the documentation of a contract between a Jewish man and a Jewish woman in which God is involved. In Judaism, a marriage can end either because of a divorce document given by the man to his wife, or by the death of eit ...
and had roots in
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses ...
. Bertha was raised in the style of a well-bred young lady of good class. She attended a Roman Catholic girls' school and led a life structured by the
Jewish holiday calendar and summer vacations in
Ischl
Bad Ischl (Austrian German ) is a spa town in Austria. It lies in the southern part of Upper Austria, at the Traun River in the centre of the Salzkammergut region. The town consists of the Katastralgemeinden ''Ahorn'', ''Bad Ischl'', ''Haiden ...
.
When she was eight years old, her oldest sister Henriette (1849–1867) died of galloping consumption, now known as a form of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
. When she was 11 the family moved from Vienna's
Leopoldstadt
Leopoldstadt (; bar, Leopoidstod, "Leopold-Town") is the 2nd municipal Districts of Vienna, district of Vienna (german: 2. Bezirk) in Austria. there are 103,233 inhabitants over . It is situated in the heart of the city and, together with Bri ...
, which was primarily inhabited by poverty-ridden Jews, to in the
Alsergrund
Alsergrund (; Central Bavarian: ''Oisagrund'') is the ninth district of Vienna, Austria (german: 9. Bezirk, Alsergrund). It is located just north of the first, central district, Innere Stadt. Alsergrund was incorporated in 1862, with seven suburbs ...
. She left school when she was sixteen, devoted herself to
needlework and helped her mother with the
kosher preparation of their food. Her 18-month-younger brother Wilhelm (1860–1937) was meanwhile attending a high school, which made Bertha intensely jealous.
Illness and treatment as Anna O.
Between 1880 and 1882, Pappenheim was treated for a variety of symptoms that began when her father suddenly fell seriously ill in mid-1880 during a family holiday in
Ischl
Bad Ischl (Austrian German ) is a spa town in Austria. It lies in the southern part of Upper Austria, at the Traun River in the centre of the Salzkammergut region. The town consists of the Katastralgemeinden ''Ahorn'', ''Bad Ischl'', ''Haiden ...
. His illness was a turning point in her life. While sitting up at night at his sickbed she was suddenly tormented by hallucinations and a state of anxiety. At first the family did not react to these symptoms, but in November 1880 a friend of the family, the physician Josef Breuer, began to treat her. He encouraged her, sometimes under light hypnosis, to narrate stories, which led to partial improvement of the clinical picture, although her overall condition continued to deteriorate. Breuer kept his then-friend
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...
abreast of her case, informing his earliest analysis of the origins of hysteria.
Starting on 11 December, Pappenheim was bedridden for several months. Pappenheim's father died on 5 April 1881. As a result, she became fully rigid and did not eat for days. Her symptoms continued to get worse and on 7 June she was admitted against her will to the
Inzersdorf sanatorium, where she remained until November. After returning she continued to be treated by Breuer. She returned to this sanatorium several times over the course of the following years (sometimes at her own wish).
According to Breuer, the slow and laborious progress of her "remembering work" in which she recalled individual symptoms after they had occurred, thus "dissolving" them, came to a conclusion on 7 June 1882 after she had reconstructed the first night of hallucinations in Ischl. "She has fully recovered since that time" were the words with which Breuer concluded his case report.
Anna O. was the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
given to Pappenheim by
Josef Breuer
Josef Breuer ( , ; 15 January 1842 – 20 June 1925) was a distinguished physician who made key discoveries in neurophysiology, and whose work in the 1880s with his patient Bertha Pappenheim, known as Anna O., developed the talking cure (cathar ...
while she was his patient, in his descriptions of her as a case study. The pseudonym was constructed by shifting her initials ''B.P.'' one letter back in the alphabet to ''A.O.'' Aspects of the Anna O. case were first published by Freud and Breuer in 1893 as preliminary communications in two Viennese medical journals. The detailed case history appeared in 1895 in his book ''
Studies on Hysteria'', written in collaboration with Freud.
Symptoms
Pappenheim was treated by Breuer for severe cough, paralysis of the extremities on the right side of her body, and disturbances of vision, hearing, and speech, as well as hallucination and loss of consciousness. She was diagnosed with
hysteria. Freud implies that her illness was a result of the resentment felt over her father's real and physical illness that later led to his death.
Throughout the two years of her illness, she developed a wide spectrum of symptoms:
*
Language disorder
Language disorders or language impairments are disorders that involve the processing of linguistic information. Problems that may be experienced can involve grammar (syntax and/or morphology), semantics (meaning), or other aspects of language. ...
s (
aphasia
Aphasia is an inability to comprehend or formulate language because of damage to specific brain regions. The major causes are stroke and head trauma; prevalence is hard to determine but aphasia due to stroke is estimated to be 0.1–0.4% in t ...
): on some occasions she could not speak at all, sometimes she spoke only English, or only French, or Italian. She could however always understand German. The periods of aphasia could last for days, and sometimes varied with the time of day.
*
Neuralgia
Neuralgia (Greek ''neuron'', "nerve" + ''algos'', "pain") is pain in the distribution of one or more nerves, as in intercostal neuralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, and glossopharyngeal neuralgia.
Classification
Under the general heading of neural ...
: she suffered from facial pain which was treated with
morphine
Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. T ...
and
chloral
Chloral, also known as trichloroacetaldehyde or trichloroethanal, is the organic compound with the formula Cl3CCHO. This aldehyde is a colourless oily liquid that is soluble in a wide range of solvents. It reacts with water to form chloral hydrate ...
and led to addiction. The pain was so severe that surgical severance of the
trigeminus
In neuroanatomy, the trigeminal nerve ( lit. ''triplet'' nerve), also known as the fifth cranial nerve, cranial nerve V, or simply CN V, is a cranial nerve responsible for sensation in the face and motor functions such as biting and chewing; ...
nerve was considered.
*
Paralysis (
paresis
In medicine, paresis () is a condition typified by a weakness of voluntary movement, or by partial loss of voluntary movement or by impaired movement. When used without qualifiers, it usually refers to the limbs, but it can also be used to desc ...
): signs of paralysis and numbness occurred in her limbs, primarily on only one side. Although she was right-handed, she had to learn to write with her left hand because of this condition.
*
Visual impairment
Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment ...
s: she had temporary motor disturbances in her eyes. She perceived objects as being greatly enlarged and she squinted.
*
Mood swing
A mood swing is an extreme or sudden change of mood. Such changes can play a positive part in promoting problem solving and in producing flexible forward planning, or be disruptive. When mood swings are severe, they may be categorized as par ...
s: Over long periods she had daily swings between conditions of anxiety and depression, followed by relaxed states.
*
Amnesia: when she was in one of these states she could not remember events or any of her own actions which took place when she was in the other state.
*
Eating disorders: in crisis situations she refused to eat. During one hot summer she rejected liquids for weeks and lived only on fruit.
*
Pseudocyesis
False pregnancy (or pseudocyesis, from the Greek "false" and "pregnancy") is the appearance of clinical or subclinical signs and symptoms associated with pregnancy although the individual is not physically carrying a baby. The mistaken impressi ...
: there are some accounts that during her final meeting with Breuer she exhibited symptoms of a false pregnancy. Freud later claimed that she accused Breuer of impregnating her, but admitted that this was a guess.
Many believe that the illness was not psychological as Freud suggested but either neurological or organic. While some believe that Freud misdiagnosed her, others meticulously refute these claims.
["Freud Evaluated", Malcolm Macmillan, Elsevier, 1991, pg. 631]
Current research has suggested many illnesses which Pappenheim may have had. Medical researcher
Elizabeth Thornton
Mary Forrest George, née Baxter (24 January 1940 – 12 July 2010), well known as Elizabeth Thornton (her mother's name) is a British-Canadian writer of 31 historical romance novels from 1986 to 2010.
Biography
Born Mary Forrest Baxter on 24 J ...
, after interviewing many of Freud's early patients, suggested that Pappenheim had
tuberculous meningitis
Tuberculous meningitis, also known as TB meningitis or tubercular meningitis, is a specific type of bacterial meningitis caused by the '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' infection of the meninges—the system of membranes which envelop the central ...
, a view supported by professor of psychology
Hans Eysenck. Others have suggested it was
encephalitis, a form of brain inflammation.
[Webster, Richard (1996). ''Why Freud was wrong. Sin, science and psychoanalysis''. London: Harper Collins.] Many have also suggested that she suffered from a form of
temporal lobe epilepsy
Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a chronic disorder of the nervous system which is characterized by recurrent, unprovoked focal seizures that originate in the temporal lobe of the brain and last about one or two minutes. TLE is the most common ...
since many of her symptoms, including imagined smells, are common symptoms of types of epilepsy.
According to one perspective, "examination of the neurological details suggests that Anna suffered from complex partial seizures exacerbated by drug dependence."
Treatment by Breuer
Breuer began the therapy without a clear method or theoretical basis. The treatment of her symptoms ranged from feeding her when she rejected food to dosages of
chloral
Chloral, also known as trichloroacetaldehyde or trichloroethanal, is the organic compound with the formula Cl3CCHO. This aldehyde is a colourless oily liquid that is soluble in a wide range of solvents. It reacts with water to form chloral hydrate ...
when she was agitated. He described his observations as follows:
He noted that when in one condition she could not remember events or situations that had occurred in the other condition. He concluded, "it is difficult to avoid saying that she dissolved into two personalities, one of which was psychically normal and the other mentally ill." Such symptoms are associated with the clinical picture of what was then referred to as "split personality" and today is referred to as
dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder (DID), better known as multiple personality disorder or multiple personality syndrome, is a mental disorder characterized by the presence of at least two distinct and relatively enduring personality states.
The di ...
. The existence and frequency of such an illness was, and still is, controversial.
An initial therapy approach was suggested by the observation that Pappenheim calmed down and her speech disorder improved whenever she was asked to tell stories that had presumably arisen from her daydreams. About these daydreams Breuer remarked: "Although everyone thought she was present, she was living in a fantasy, but as she was always present when addressed, nobody suspected it."
[ (Fischer TB 6001) p. 20] He also encouraged her to calmly "reel off" these stories by using such prompts as a first sentence. The formula he used was always the same: "There was a boy…" At times Pappenheim could only express herself in English, but usually understood the German spoken around her. About her descriptions Breuer said, "The stories, always sad, were sometimes quite nice, similar to Andersen's ''Picture Book Without Pictures''".
The patient was aware of the relief that "rattling off" brought her, and she described the process using the terms "chimney-sweeping" and "
talking cure
''The Talking Cure'' and ''chimney sweeping'' were terms Bertha Pappenheim, known in case studies by the alias Anna O., used for the verbal therapy given to her by Josef Breuer. They were first published in '' Studies on Hysteria'' (1895).
As E ...
". The latter term subsequently became part of psychoanalytic terminology.
Other levels of story telling soon came up, and were combined with and penetrated each other. Examples include:
* Stories from a "private theater"
* Hallucinatory experiences
* Temporal relocation of episodes: during one phase her experience of the illness was shifted by one year
* Episodes of occurrence of hysterical symptoms
Breuer developed systematic remembering and "reeling off" the occasions when hysterical symptoms first occurred into a therapeutic method first applied to Pappenheim. To his surprise he noticed that a symptom disappeared after the first occurrence was remembered, or after the cause was "excavated".
Breuer described his final methodology as follows: In the morning he asked Pappenheim under light hypnosis about the occasions and circumstances under which a particular symptom occurred. When he saw her in the evening, these episodes—there were sometimes over 100—were systematically "reeled off" by Pappenheim in reverse temporal order. When she got to the first occurrence and thus to the "cause", the symptoms appeared in an intensified form and then disappeared "forever".
Breuer later described the therapy as "a trial by ordeal", probably in the sense of an examination. He spent 1,000 hours in the course of two years.
Accounts of final session
The first possible account is that this therapy came to a conclusion when they had worked their way back to a black snake hallucination which Pappenheim experienced one night in Ischl when she was at her father's sickbed. Breuer describes this finish as follows:
An alternate story is that on the eve of his final analysis with her, he was called back to her home to find her experiencing severe stomach cramps and hallucinating that she was having his child. Of course, there was no child. His comportment towards her has never been questioned nor is there any indication that it should have been—as Breuer was the first analyst of the first patient to undergo analysis,
transference
Transference (german: Übertragung) is a phenomenon within psychotherapy in which the "feelings, attitudes, or desires" a person had about one thing are subconsciously projected onto the here-and-now Other. It usually concerns feelings from a ...
was not understood. Breuer promptly handed Pappenheim's care over to a colleague. He would have no more to do with her. Freud's initial encouragement to continue his talking therapy was met by Breuer's insistence that he'd had quite enough of hysterical women and wanted nothing more to do with them. It would be another four years before Sigmund Freud could persuade him to once again attempt psychotherapy or to deal with women diagnosed as hysterical, and a further six years passed before Breuer was willing to publish on the subject of the talking cure.
Legends arose of this alternate conclusion. It was handed down in slightly different versions by various people; one version is contained in a letter from Freud to
Stefan Zweig:
As nothing is known of such a publication by Freud, it is not clear where Breuer's daughter could have read it. In the version by Ernest Jones, after his flight Breuer quickly goes on a second honeymoon to Venice with his wife Mathilda, who actually conceives a child there—in contrast to the imaginary child of Pappenheim. There is no evidence for any of this, and most of it has been proved false. Breuer did not flee but rather referred his patient to Kreuzlingen. He did not go to Venice, but with his family on a summer vacation to
Gmunden, and he did not conceive a child (either in Venice or in Gmunden), since his youngest child—Dora Breuer—was born on 11 March 1882, three months before the alleged conception.
Freud's purpose in describing the conclusion of treatment in a way that contradicts some of the verifiable facts is unclear. The assumption that he wanted to make himself the sole discoverer of psychoanalysis at Breuer's expense is contradicted by the description of the discovery in Freud's writings, in which he does not minimize Breuer's role, but rather emphasizes it. Freud's behavior is compared by some authors with his conduct in the so-called "
cocaine affair". There, too, he gave false representations not only privately, but also several times in published form, without there being any advantage to offset the risk of lasting damage to his scientific reputation.
Success of treatment
Despite Breuer and Freud's official case reports, historical records since showed that when Breuer stopped treating Pappenheim she was not becoming better but progressively worse. She was ultimately institutionalized: "Breuer told Freud that she was deranged; he hoped she would die to end her suffering".
After Breuer ceased treating her, both he and Freud continued to follow the course of Pappenheim's illness. Among Freud's disciples the dubiousness of the assertion of "treatment success” was discussed. In a private seminar
Carl Gustav Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...
said in 1925:
And Charles Aldrich reports:
Opponents of psychoanalysis use this statement as an argument against this therapeutic approach.
In contrast, Lucy Freeman reports that Pappenheim made a remarkable recovery following her treatment. Their talking therapy had helped her rid herself of every symptom manifesting from repressed events and emotions. Breuer left Pappenheim on the eve of their final session convinced she was completely cured. Subsequently, Breuer did not say he wished Pappenheim to die. Rather in the period following his treatment and before she left mental illness behind and became so influential in social matters concerning children and women, she did struggle with morphine addiction following a doctor's prescription. He feared she would never recover and wondered if death might not be better. Quite obviously, his fear was unfounded, though expressed from compassion.
[Freeman, Lucy ''The Story of Anna O.'', Paragon House 1990.]
She later recovered over time and led a productive life. How Pappenheim herself assessed the success of her treatment is not documented; It is assumed that Pappenheim destroyed all relevant documentation during her last stay in Vienna in 1935. She never spoke about this episode of her life and vehemently opposed any attempts at psychoanalytic treatment of people in her care.
Bellevue Sanatorium
On 12 July 1882, Breuer referred Pappenheim to the private Bellevue Clinic in
Kreuzlingen on
Lake Constance, which was headed by
Robert Binswanger. After treatment in Bellevue she was no longer personally treated by Breuer.
While in Kreuzlingen she visited her cousins
Fritz Homburger and
Anna Ettlinger in
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
. The latter was one of the founders of the Karlsruhe High School for Girls (''), which was attended by the young
Rahel Straus Rahel may refer to:
* Rachel, a biblical figure
* Rahel Varnhagen
Rahel Antonie Friederike Varnhagen () (née Levin, later Robert; 19 May 1771 – 7 March 1833) was a German writer who hosted one of the most prominent salons in Europe during the ...
. Ettlinger engaged in literary work. In an article which appeared in 1870 entitled "A Discussion of Women's Rights" ('') she demanded equal education rights for women. She also gave private lessons, and organized "ladies' literature courses".
Pappenheim read aloud to her some of the stories she had written, and her cousin, 14 years her senior, encouraged her to continue her literary activities. During this visit toward the end of 1882 Pappenheim also participated in a training course for nurses which was offered by the Women's Association of Baden (''). The purpose of this training was to qualify young ladies to head nursing institutions. She could not finish the course before her visit came to an end.
On 29 October 1882 her condition improved and she was released from treatment in Kreuzlingen. Though there were some initial setbacks, Pappenheim went on to become one of the most revered women in Germany and in European Jewry.
Public life
In November 1888, when she was twenty-nine and after her convalescence, she and her mother moved to her mother's hometown of
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
, Germany. Their family environment was partially Orthodox and partly liberal. In contrast to their life in Vienna they became involved in art and science, and not only in charitable work. The Goldschmidt and Oppenheim families were well known as collectors and patrons of the arts and lent their support to scientific and academic projects, particularly during the founding of
Frankfurt University
Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...
.
Shortly after moving to Frankfurt, she first worked in a
soup kitchen and read aloud in an orphanage for Jewish girls run by the ('Israelite Women's Association'). In discovering the children's delight at
H. C. Andersen's tales, she shared her own tales. In this environment, Pappenheim intensified her literary efforts and became involved in social and political activities. Her publications began in 1888 and were initially anonymous; they appeared from 1890 under the pseudonym ''Paul Berthold'', and she began publishing under her own name in 1902, firstly in the journal ('Ethical Culture') .
In 1895 she was temporarily in charge of the orphanage, and one year later became its official director. During the following 12 years she was able to orient the educational program away from the one and only goal of subsequent marriage, to training with a view to vocational independence.
Having witnessed Catholic and Protestant charities working to address the issue of white female slavery, Pappenheim sought to align herself with a Jewish charity with a similar mission. Her cousin, Louise, informed her that not only did no such organization exist, but it was an issue the Jewish population wished not to acknowledge. She entreated several Rabbis to address the issue of Jewish men in Turkey and Frankfurt heavily involved in the trafficking of Jewish girls and women. As well, she addressed the problem of Jewish men walking out on their families to relocate and remarry without having issued a divorce, thus leaving their wives "Agunot", unable to remarry under Jewish law.
The situation forced many women to sell their children to men—often under the persuasion the girl would be hired out to a wealthy family with lifetime opportunities. These girls became just some of the victims of white slavery among the Jews. Other women knowingly sold their daughters into prostitution because they had no means of supporting their children. As well, Jewish girls caught in the white slavery trap but discovered by the German police had no organization which advocated for them. Without proper papers and no means of returning home, many turned to prostitution.
Activism
In 1895, a plenary meeting of the (ADF; 'General German Women's Association') took place in Frankfurt. Pappenheim was a participant and later contributed to the establishment of a local ADF group.
After she gave a speech at the ('Israelite Women's Aid Association') in 1901, a women's group was formed with the goal of coordinating and professionalizing the work of various social initiatives and projects. This group was first a part of the , but in 1904 became an independent organization, ('Women's Relief').
At the first German conference on combating
traffic in women held in Frankfurt in October 1902, Pappenheim and
Sara Rabinowitsch were asked to travel to
Galicia to investigate the social situation there. In her 1904 report about this trip, which lasted several months, she described the problems that arose from a combination of agrarian backwardness and early industrialization as well as from the collision of
Hasidism
Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Judaism, Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory ...
and
Zionism
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
.
At a meeting of the International Council of Women held in 1904 in Berlin, it was decided to found a national Jewish women's association. Similar to the (BDF; 'Federation of German Women's Associations'), co-founded by
Helene Lange
Helene Lange (9 April 1848 in Oldenburg – 13 May 1930 in Berlin) was a pedagogue and feminist. She is a symbolic figure of the international and German civil rights feminist movement. In the years from 1919 to 1921 she was a member of the ...
in 1894, the intent was to unite the social and emancipatory efforts of Jewish women's associations. Pappenheim was elected the first president of the (JFB; 'League of Jewish Women') and was its head for 20 years, contributing to its efforts until her death in 1936. The JFB joined the BDF in 1907. Between 1914 and 1924, Pappenheim was on the board of the BDF.
On the one hand the goals of the JFB were feminist—strengthening women's rights and advancing the gainful employment of Jewish women—and on the other hand they were in accordance with the traditional goals of Jewish philanthropy—practical charity, as a divine precept. Integrating these different objectives was not always easy for Pappenheim. A particular objection was that in her battle against traffic in women she not only spoke openly about Jewish women as victims, but also about Jewish men as perpetrators. She criticized how women were perceived in
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...
, and as a member of the German feminist movement she demanded that the ideal of equal rights for women be realized also within Jewish institutions. She was particularly concerned about education and job equality.
A statement she made at the first JFB delegate assembly in 1907 – "under Jewish law a woman is not an individual, not a personality; she is only judged and assessed as a sexual being" – prompted a violent nationwide reaction on the part of Orthodox
rabbis
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
and the Jewish press. The existence of the conditions Pappenheim criticized — traffic in women, neglect of illegitimate Jewish orphans — was denied, and she was accused of insulting Judaism. Also, politically liberal and emancipated Jews had a patriarchal and traditional attitude about women's rights.
Meanwhile, the JFB grew steadily and in 1907 had 32,000 members in 82 associations. For a time the JFB was the largest charitable Jewish organization with over 50,000 members. In 1917 Pappenheim called for "an end to the splintering of Jewish welfare work," which helped lead to the founding of the ('Central Welfare Agency of German Jewry'), which continues to exist today. Her work on its board was supported by
Sidonie Werner.
In May 1923, she was one of the principal speakers at the
First World Congress of Jewish Women in Vienna, where she spoke on the need to protect Jewish girls and women from trafficking and prostitution.
After the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
assumed power in 1933, Pappenheim again took over the presidency of the JFB. She resigned in 1934 because she could not abandon her negative attitude to Zionism, despite the existential threat for Jews in Germany, while in the JFP, as among German Jews in general, Zionism was increasingly endorsed after 1933. Especially her attitude toward the immigration of young people to Israel (''
Youth Aliya
Youth Aliyah (Hebrew: עלית הנוער, ''Aliyat Hano'ar'', German: Jugend-Alijah, Youth Immigration) is a Jewish organization that rescued thousands of Jewish children from the Nazis during the Third Reich. Youth Aliyah arranged for their r ...
'') was controversial. She rejected the emigration of children and youths to Palestine while their parents remained in Germany. However, she herself brought a group of orphanage children safely to Great Britain in 1934. After the antisemitic
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws (german: link=no, Nürnberger Gesetze, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of ...
were passed on 15 September 1935, she changed her mind and argued in favor of the emigration of the Jewish population.
After Pappenheim died, her JFB positions were partially taken over by her friend
Hannah Karminski. In 1939 the JFB was disbanded by the Nazis.
Neu-Isenburg home
Pappenheim was the founder or initiator of many institutions, including kindergartens, community homes and educational institutions. She considered her life's work to be the Neu-Isenburg home for Jewish girls ().
Starting around 1906 Pappenheim devoted herself to the goal of founding a refuge to help illegitimate girls and Jewish women endangered by prostitution and traffic in women, where she could implement the theories she had developed on Jewish social work. This home was to be operated on the following principles:
* In contrast to traditional Jewish charities, modern social work should be undertaken, focusing mainly on education and training for an independent life.
* In accord with the principle of "follow-up aid," former home inhabitants' progress through life was to be monitored for an extended period to avert renewed negligence.
* The home should not be "an establishment caring for juveniles in the legal sense, no monument in stone to some foundation, with inscriptions, votive tablets, corridors, dormitories and dining halls, an elementary school, a detention room and cells, and a dominating director's family, but rather a home, although it can be only a surrogate for the proper raising of children in their own families, which was preferable."
* The residents should become involved in Jewish tradition and culture.
* The home should be kept simple, so that the residents become familiar with the realities and requirements of a lower middle class household.
Louise Goldschmidt
Louise or Luise may refer to:
* Louise (given name)
Arts Songs
* Louise (Bonnie Tyler song), "Louise" (Bonnie Tyler song), 2005
* Louise (The Human League song), "Louise" (The Human League song), 1984
* Louise (Jett Rebel song), "Louise" (Jett ...
, a relative of Pappenheim's mother, made available a pair of semi-detached houses where a girl's home could be established in
Neu-Isenburg
Neu-Isenburg is a town in Germany, located in the Offenbach district of Hesse. It is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area and has a population of 38,204 (2020). The town is known nowadays mainly for its regionally used shopping centre, th ...
near Frankfurt am Main with all its clinics and social institutions. In contrast to Prussian Frankfurt, Hessian Neu-Isenburg's less rigid laws also had advantages for stateless persons.
Thanks to donations amounting to 19,000 marks to furnish the house, it could begin operations on 25 November 1907 with the goal of providing "protection for those needing protection and education for those needing education."
The facility was plain, and was sometimes criticized for being excessively so. There was, for example, no running water in the bathrooms, and central heating was only added in 1920. But the facilities did make it possible to strictly adhere to Jewish dietary and purity requirements, (
kashruth, kosher). In the basement a passover kitchen was available, although it was required only once a year.
Art in the house and the garden was to serve to educate the residents. Examples are the children's fountain, ('The Expelled Stork'), designed by
Fritz J. Kormis to illustrate a tale by Pappenheim, lecture series, modest theater performances, and speeches, among others by
Martin Buber
Martin Buber ( he, מרטין בובר; german: Martin Buber; yi, מארטין בובער; February 8, 1878 –
June 13, 1965) was an Austrian Jewish and Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism ...
, a friend of Pappenheim and a guest on several occasions.
The number of residents was initially low, but grew in the course of time from 10 in 1908 to 152 in 1928. The property and existing buildings were expanded with purchases and donations and adapted to meet increasing requirements, and additional buildings were constructed. In the end, the home consisted of four buildings, including one for pregnant women and those who had just given birth—the delivery itself took place in a Frankfurt clinic—and an isolation ward.
The home's school-aged children attended the Neu-Isenburg elementary school. There was extensive medical care for the residents, and—at regular intervals—psychiatric examinations. Pappenheim rejected psychoanalytic treatment for the residents. Although she technically never experienced psychoanalytic therapy herself due to it not yet existing, her treatment by Breuer can be regarded as an early form of the therapy. Pappenheim only spoke once about
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
in general:
Since the ongoing financing of the home was preferably not to depend on rich individual patrons, an association, the ('Home of the Jewish Women's Association'), was established to act as its sponsor and owner. Membership fees of 3 marks per year were supposed to put the covering of running expenses on a broad basis.
Appreciation for her Neu-Isenburg work was not at first forthcoming for Pappenheim. Orthodox Jewish circles considered the founding of the home to be a scandal, and its existence a tacit toleration of prostitution and immorality. In order to reintegrate into the Jewish community single mothers, young prostitutes and their children, who in most cases had been disowned by their families, the home would urge families to resume relations with them, and known fathers to marry the mothers of their children, or pay alimony.
After the death of Pappenheim in 1936, the work in Neu-Isenburg could continue essentially unhindered until the 1936
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...
. In 1937, the children residing in the home were no longer allowed to attend the Neu-Isenburg elementary school and had to be transported daily to the Jewish school in Frankfurt. In 1938, the Isenburg branch of the
NSDAP
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
instigated the closure of the home.
On 10 November 1938, one day after the November Pogrom ('
'), the home was attacked. The main building was set afire and burned down, and the other buildings were wrecked. On 31 March 1942 the home was disbanded by the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
. The remaining residents were deported to the concentration camp in
Theresienstadt
Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination ca ...
, where many died.
Literary works
Stories, plays, poetry
Pappenheim published her first works anonymously, and later under the pseudonym Paul Berthold, a common practice among women writers of that time. She derived the pseudonym by taking modifying her first name ''Bertha'' to a surname, ''Berthold'', and using the initial of her surname, ''P'', as the first letter of the first name, ''Paul''. Starting in 1902 she published
novellas and plays under her own name.
('Little Stories for Children') appeared anonymously in 1888, to be followed in 1890 by a volume of tales, (In the Junk Shop). The nine novella in this volume have as their subject in each case a defective or otherwise useless item, such as a piece of lace, a music box, or a coffee pot.
In 1913 she published the play ('Tragic Moments. Three Scenes from Life'). The scenes correspond to three episodes in the life of a Jewish couple. In the first scene the young couple experiences the atrocities of the Russian
pogroms of 1904 and flees to Frankfurt. In the second scene, as Russian Jews they are not accepted in the community. A Jewish innkeeper wants to employ the woman as a hostess and the man as a trickster. When they turn down his offer, he denounces them as political criminals and they flee to
Palestine. The third scene shows the man as a widower waiting for his son to return from Europe. When the son confesses that he cannot imagine a life as a farmer in Palestine, his father commits suicide. Pappenheim refused to have the play performed at a JFP assembly of delegates in 1933, "since the 'Tragic Moments', which I wrote without an ulterior motive, would certainly give rise to objections in Zionist circles because of their timeliness." She advised against "scattering explosives among the women".
In addition she wrote numerous texts unpublished during her lifetime. Most are lost and what remains is scattered. Among the scattered texts are the so-called ''Denkzettel'' ("Memoranda"), short maxims and sayings, some of which are dated and some of which she later had her secretary Lucy Jourdan collect and copy. An example: "Whoever foregoes his freedom without an urgent necessity does not deserve it." These texts also include the prayers which were published by the League of Jewish Women shortly after Pappenheim's death. These are not prayers in the sense of traditional Judaism, but personal poems addressed to God.
One of Pappenheim's poems written in the period 1910–1912:
Translations
One of her first productions was a translation from English of
Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft (, ; 27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional personal relationsh ...
's programmatic paper in English on the women's rights movement, ''
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
''A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects'' (1792), written by British philosopher and women's rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), is one of the earliest works of feminist philosop ...
''. It appeared in 1899 under the title ''Mary Wollstonecraft – Eine Verteidigung der Rechte der Frau''.
Starting in 1910 she translated several
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
texts into German:
* The memoirs of Glikl bas Judah Leib (also known as
Glückel of Hameln), one of Pappenheim's ancestors (1910).
* The ''Ma'assebuch'', also known as the "Women's Talmud" a collection of stories from the
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
and the
Midrash
''Midrash'' (;["midrash"]
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...
(1929)
* Parts of ''Ze'enah u-Re'enah'', also known as the "Women's Bible."
Only the first part of her translation of the Women's Bible appeared (''Bereschit'', correspondending to the First Book of Moses). The translations of the Second and Third Books (''Schemot'' and ''Wajikra'') have reportedly been lost.
Pappenheim dealt exclusively with texts written by women or for women. The ''Ma'assebuch'' and the Women's Bible were the most widely distributed works of Yiddish women's literature. She described the purpose of her translations in the foreword to the memoirs of Glikl:
And in the foreword to the ''Ma'assebuch'' she wrote:
Together with her brother Wilhelm and their relative, Stefan Meyer, she found out while researching her family tree that she was distantly related to Glikl. She also had Leopold Pilichowski (1869–1933) make a portrait of her as Glikl.
Articles and information pamphlets
The focus of her writings, however, was to provide information especially about the social situation of Jewish refugees and traffic in women. In 1924 she published her most well-known book, ''Sisyphus-Arbeit'' (Sisyphean Labor), a study on traffic in women and prostitution in Eastern Europe and the Orient.
Personal life
Women who influenced Pappenheim were
Glückel of Hameln,
Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft (, ; 27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional personal relationsh ...
, and
Helene Lange
Helene Lange (9 April 1848 in Oldenburg – 13 May 1930 in Berlin) was a pedagogue and feminist. She is a symbolic figure of the international and German civil rights feminist movement. In the years from 1919 to 1921 she was a member of the ...
. Breuer describes her as a woman "of considerable intelligence, astonishingly astute reasoning and sharp-sighted intuition..."
After her mother died in 1905 Pappenheim lived alone for many years without a private attachment. "" ('love did not come to me'), she lamented in a poem dated 1911.
In 1924 a close friendship began with
Hannah Karminski, a woman 40 years her junior, when Karminski took over the leadership of the ('Jewish Girl's Club'). Both women spent their free time together as much as possible. When in 1925 Karminski moved for a time to Berlin, they wrote to each other almost daily.
While on a trip in Austria in 1935, she donated two of her collections (lace and small
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...
objects) to the
Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna. From Vienna she traveled on to Ischl. While traveling, her general condition deteriorated and she was taken to the Israelite Hospital in Munich. During an operation which took place there it was determined that she had a malignant tumor. Despite her illness she traveled, at the end of 1935, to Amsterdam in order to meet
Henrietta Szold, the head of ''Youth Aliyah'', and again to Galicia, to advise the Beth Jacob Schools. After returning to Frankfurt her condition deteriorated further and she became unable to leave her bed. She also had
jaundice.
During her last few days of life, she was summoned for questioning by the state police station in Offenbach, the reason being denunciation by an employee of the home. A girl with an intellectual disability had made what was considered by the police to be a derogatory comment about
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
. Pappenheim refused to appear at the hearing because of poor health. After the hearing on 16 April 1936, for which she calmly but firmly supplied information regarding the accusation, no further steps were taken on the part of the police.
She died on 28 May 1936, cared for until the end by her friend Karminski, and was buried next to her mother in the
Jewish cemetery in Frankfurt.
After Pappenheim's death, Karminski took over many of her roles in the JBF. On 9 December 1942, Karminski was brought to the extermination camp in
Auschwitz-Birkenau where she was murdered on 4 June 1943.
Legacy
When the first volume of Ernest Jones' Freud biography appeared in 1953, in which Anna O. was identified as Pappenheim, her friends and admirers were outraged; they only knew her from her time in Frankfurt. One of the reasons for Dora Edinger's biography was to contrast her identification as being "mentally ill", which at the time was considered defamatory, with a depiction of Pappenheim as a philanthropist and advocate of women's rights.
As Pappenheim did not speak of her illness, let alone maintain a complete record, details of her life during that time are largely taken from records of Breuer and Freud. Jones' portrayal contained further details, especially legends about the conclusion of Breuer's treatment, but except for the information contained in the studies nothing was known about the further course of her illness. New facts only became known based on research by Henri Ellenberger and subsequently by Albrecht Hirschmüller, who were able to find Breuer's case history of Pappenheim and other documents in the archives of the Bellevue Clinic in Kreuzlingen. Freud's letters to his fiancée Martha Bernays which have been published contain a few hints about the course of Pappenheim's therapy and Freud's relationship to Breuer, but until all of Freud's letters are published there is room for speculation.
In 1954 a German postage stamp with a portrait of Pappenheim was issued in the series "Benefactors of Mankind" in recognition of her services. On the 50th anniversary of her death, a conference was held on various aspects of her life. On the former site of the Neu Isenburg home for endangered girls and unwed mothers, a seminar room and memorial to Pappenheim were inaugurated in 1997.
Aspects of Pappenheim's biography (especially her time as Breuer's patient) were treated in the film ''
Freud: The Secret Passion'' by
John Huston (along with elements of other early psychoanalytic case histories). The film is based on a screenplay by
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lit ...
who, however, distanced himself from the film version.
Josef Breuer's treatment of Pappenheim is portrayed in ''
When Nietzsche wept
''When Nietzsche Wept'' is a 2007 American art drama film directed by Pinchas Perry and starring Armand Assante, Ben Cross and Katheryn Winnick. It is based on the novel of the same name by Irvin D. Yalom. It was filmed in Bulgaria.
Plot
The ...
'' by
Irvin D. Yalom
Irvin David Yalom (; born June 13, 1931) is an American existential psychiatrist who is emeritus professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, as well as author of both fiction and nonfiction.
Early life
Yalom was born in Washington, D.C. A ...
.
Psychoanalysis
Her treatment is regarded as marking the beginning of
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
. Breuer observed that whilst she experienced 'absences' (a change of personality accompanied by confusion), she would mutter words or phrases to herself. In inducing her to a state of hypnosis, Breuer found that these words were "profoundly melancholy fantasies...sometimes characterized by poetic beauty".
Free association came into being after Pappenheim decided (with Breuer's input) to end her hypnosis sessions and merely talk to Breuer, saying anything that came into her mind. She called this method of communication "chimney sweeping" and "
talking cure
''The Talking Cure'' and ''chimney sweeping'' were terms Bertha Pappenheim, known in case studies by the alias Anna O., used for the verbal therapy given to her by Josef Breuer. They were first published in '' Studies on Hysteria'' (1895).
As E ...
" and this served as the beginning of free association.
Her case history, under the pseudonym Anna O., was described in ''Studies on Hysteria'' ('
') in 1895, which Breuer published together with Freud. She is presented as the first case in which it was possible to "thoroughly investigate" hysteria and cause its symptoms to disappear. Her statement that being able to verbalize her problem helped her to unburden herself is in accordance with the treatment later denoted in psychoanalysis as the
catharsis theory. Accordingly, Freud described her as the "actual founder of the psychoanalytic approach". Based on this case study the assertion that "those with hysteria suffer for the most part from their reminiscences", in other words from traumatic memories which can be "processed" by relating them, was formulated for the first time.
Freud wrote:
Freud specified psychoanalytic therapy, but not theory. Psychoanalysis did not come into being until ''
The Interpretation of Dreams
''The Interpretation of Dreams'' (german: Die Traumdeutung) is an 1899 book by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, in which the author introduces his theory of the unconscious with respect to dream interpretation, and discusses what w ...
'' was written five years later.
Mark J. Blechner has delineated three cures that Bertha Pappenheim underwent: the talking cure, the writing cure, and the social cure.
[Mark J. Blechner (2022) The Three Cures of Bertha Pappenheim (Anna O): the Talking Cure, the Writing Cure, and the Social Cure, ''Contemporary Psychoanalysis'', 58:1, 3-25, DOI: 10.1080/00107530.2022.2078178]
See also
References
Further reading
Selective bibliographyMore on her life* Loentz, Elizabeth: ''Let me continue to speak the truth: Bertha Pappenheim as author and activist''. Cincinnati, Hebrew Union College Press 2007 (als
in ''Google Books'')
Bertha Pappenheim Collection. AR 331; Leo Baeck Institute, New York, NY.
*Aubin, Melissa
University of Toronto.
*Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen
"Remembering Anna O.: A Century of Mystification" (Routledge, 1996)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pappenheim, Bertha
1859 births
1936 deaths
19th-century Austrian Jews
20th-century women writers
Writers from Vienna
Writers from Frankfurt
Analysands of Sigmund Freud
Austrian social workers
Austrian women writers
Burials at the Old Jewish Cemetery, Frankfurt
Case studies by Sigmund Freud
Feminist writers
German social workers
German women's rights activists
History of psychology
Jewish feminists
Translators from Yiddish
Women and psychology