The little known connection between Sigmund Freud and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was publicly acknowledged here last night when the university made a presentation to his daughter, Dr. Anna Freud, the famous child psychologist.
A scroll referring to Anna Freud’s contribution to the world of learning and science, was handed to her by London University Professor Sir Ernst Combrich, who had first known her in pre-war Vienna.
However, in her response, 80-year-old Dr. Freud made it clear that she regarded the ceremony as a long-belated gesture to her father who, with Albert Einstein, was one of the university’s first governors in 1925. “I proudly accept this honor in the name of my father, and with humility in my own name,” she declared.
“I well remember the pleasure with which he first received the news and accepted the invitation to become one of the first governors. It was his hope that the Jewish university would be free forever of the prejudices which are apt to govern universities in the Western world.” Freud had also hoped that–although it was not possible at that time–a department of psychoanalysis would one day find its place at the University.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
