Matthias Heinrich Göring (5 April 1879,

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

– 24/25 July 1945, Posen) was a German psychiatrist, born in

. He died in prison in

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

. He was an active

Nazi 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 ...

. Göring started his studies with a doctorate in law, and a doctorate in medicine at

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

in 1907. Specializing in psychiatry and neurology he did a training analysis with

Adlerian Individual psychology (german: Individualpsychologie) is a psychological method or science founded by the Viennese psychiatrist Alfred Adler. The English edition of Adler's work on the subject (1925) is a collection of papers and lectures given mai ...

Leonhard Seif in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Like his fellow Adlerians Seif and Fritz Künkel, Göring placed an emphasis upon "community feeling," to which he added German patriotism and Christian pietism. He was therefore critical of the contemporary Freudian

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 ...

for its alleged materialism and pansexualism. Göring's significance in the history of psychoanalysis stems from his career after 1933. His position as leader of organized

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

stemmed from the fact that he was an elder cousin of the Nazi

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

. In part to protect the fledgling institution of psychotherapy against Nazi medical activists and university psychiatrists, Göring (who joined the Nazi party in 1933) preached against "Jewish" psychoanalysis and supervised the exclusion of Jewish psychoanalysts, particularly those from the

Freudian 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 i ...

school of thought, from his society and institute. In 1934 Göring assumed leadership of the German General Medical Society for Psychotherapy and from 1936 to 1945 both annexed and then became director of the

Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute The Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute (later the Göring Institute) was founded in 1920 to further the science of psychoanalysis in Berlin. Its founding members included Karl Abraham and Max Eitingon. The scientists at the institute furthered Sigmun ...

/German Institute for Psychological Research and Psychotherapy in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. In 1938 he presided over the dissolution of the German Psychoanalytic Society and the

Vienna Psychoanalytic Society The Vienna Psychoanalytic Society (, WPV), formerly known as the Wednesday Psychological Society, is the oldest psychoanalysis society in the world. In 1908, reflecting its growing institutional status as the international psychoanalytic authority ...

/Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute, although made official on 25 August, Göring left behind a small "study group" 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 ...

connected to the Göring Institute. and appointed psychiatrist/neurologist Heinrich Von Kogerer as its figurehead.''Psychotherapy in the Third Reich'' edited by Thomas Blomberg Matthias also employed the psychotherapists Felix Boehm, Carl Müller-Braunschweig,

Harald Schultz-Hencke Harald Julius Alfred Carl-Ludwig Schultz-Hencke (18 August 1892, Berlin – 23 May 1953, Berlin) was a German psychiatrist and psychotherapist. After an initial introduction to psychoanalysis, with Sandor Rado as psychoanalyst, he was excluded ...

, and Werner Kemper and a friend to

Karen Horney Karen Horney (; ; 16 September 1885 – 4 December 1952) was a German psychoanalyst who practised in the United States during her later career. Her theories questioned some traditional Freudian views. This was particularly true of her theories of ...

, all of them members of the anti- or

Neo-Freudianism Neo-Freudianism is a psychoanalytic approach derived from the influence of Sigmund Freud but extending his theories towards typically social or cultural aspects of psychoanalysis over the biological. The neo-Freudian school of psychiatrists and p ...

movement. In 1933, Harald Schultz-Hencke like several non-Jewish psychotherapists helped set up the " Goering Institute" which was closely linked to the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and promoted a "New German soul medicine," a psychotherapy for Germans.

References

* Cocks, Geoffrey. (1985). ''Psychotherapy in the Third Reich: The Göring Institute'' (2nd ed). New York: Oxford University Press. () *

Alain de Mijolla Alain de Mijolla (15 May 1933, in Paris – 24 January 2019) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Mijolla was analyzed by Conrad Stein and Denise Braunschweig. He became a psychoanalyst in the Societe psychanalytique de Paris in 1968, ...

: ''International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis'', 2nd vol.: "Göring, Matthias Heinrich Goring (1879–1945)", MacMillan Reference Books, {{DEFAULTSORT:Goring, Matthias 1879 births 1945 deaths German military personnel of World War II German psychiatrists History of psychiatry German people who died in Soviet detention Infectious disease deaths in Poland Scientists from Düsseldorf People from the Rhine Province Deaths from dysentery Physicians from North Rhine-Westphalia