1. Early Life and Education
Max Eitingon's formative years were shaped by his birth into a prominent family in the Russian Empire, their subsequent migration to Germany, and his extensive academic journey that led him to medicine and early exposure to psychoanalytic thought.
1.1. Birth and Family Background
Max Eitingon was born on June 26, 1881, in Mogilev, Belarus, which was then part of the Russian Empire. He hailed from a wealthy Lithuanian Jewish family. His father, Chaim Eitingon, was a successful and devout Jewish fur trader and Zionist who established an international business with operations spanning New York, Paris, London, Łódź, and Stockholm. In 1893, when Max was twelve years old, his family relocated to Leipzig, Germany, as his father's business headquarters moved there, significantly shaping Eitingon's early environment.
1.2. Education and Early Influences
Eitingon's academic journey began with studies at a private school and various universities. After leaving gymnasium early, he attended the University of Leipzig and Halle University as an auditing student. In 1902, he formally enrolled at Heidelberg University to study medicine. From 1904 to 1905, he undertook medical studies in Zurich, Switzerland.
Between 1906 and 1908, Eitingon worked as an intern and assistant at the Burghölzli psychiatric hospital in Zurich, which had been directed by Eugen Bleuler since 1898. During this period, Carl Jung had also been working at Burghölzli since 1900. Under Bleuler's influence, Eitingon developed a strong interest in Sigmund Freud's theories and joined the psychoanalytic circle founded by Bleuler and Jung. In early 1907, Bleuler sent Eitingon to meet Freud.
In 1908-1909, Eitingon underwent a five to six-week analysis with Freud, which Ernest Jones later described as "the first training analysis" in the history of psychoanalysis. This foundational analysis famously took place during evening walks with Freud through the streets of Vienna. Eitingon also became a member of the Psychologischen Mittwoch-Gesellschaft (Wednesday Psychological Society) in Vienna. After completing his dissertation, Effect of an epileptic attack on mental associations, with Jung's assistance, Eitingon moved to Berlin in 1909. There, he received training in neurology at the clinic of Hermann Oppenheim. In 1911, he opened his own practice as a psychoanalyst and quickly became recognized as a prominent figure within the Berlin Psychoanalytic Society. While his contributions to early psychoanalysis were not primarily academic, he was highly regarded for his organizational skills and his unwavering loyalty to Freud's theories.
During World War I, Eitingon became an Austrian citizen and served as a doctor in the army, utilizing hypnosis to treat soldiers suffering from war trauma.
2. Psychoanalytic Career and Organizational Contributions
Following World War I, Max Eitingon settled in Berlin and was invited by Freud to join the secret Psychoanalytic Committee, marking the beginning of his extensive contributions to the professionalization and institutionalization of psychoanalysis. His leadership roles in key international organizations and his efforts to define and standardize psychoanalytic training were pivotal in shaping the field.
2.1. Establishment of Psychoanalytic Institutions
Eitingon played an instrumental role in founding and leading major psychoanalytic organizations, which solidified psychoanalysis as a structured discipline.
2.1.1. Berlin Polyclinic
In 1920, Eitingon co-founded the world's first comprehensive psychoanalytic polyclinic in Berlin with Karl Abraham. He served as its president from 1920 to 1933. Eitingon personally financed the construction of the polyclinic, which was designed by Freud's son, Ernst Freud. He, along with Karl Abraham and Ernst Simmel, managed the clinic until the rise of Nazism in 1933. The Berlin Polyclinic was significant as it realized Freud's 1918 vision of "psychoanalysis for all" and served as a model for psychoanalytic practice and training, notably formalizing the concept of training analysis.
2.1.2. International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA)
After Carl Jung's departure from the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA), Eitingon assumed the role of its secretary. He later served as the president of the IPA from 1927 to 1933. Following Karl Abraham's untimely death in 1925, Eitingon became a leading figure within both the IPA and the Berlin Psychoanalytic Society. He sought to establish the dominance of the Berlin school within the IPA, an endeavor that met with strong opposition, particularly from the New York Psychoanalytic Society, and ultimately proved unsuccessful. Due to the financial difficulties faced by his family business during the Great Depression and the political pressures arising from the rise of Nazism, Eitingon was eventually compelled to step down from his position as IPA president.
2.1.3. Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag
Eitingon was also deeply involved with the International Psychoanalytic Publishing House (Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag), serving as its director and patron from 1921 to 1930. He initially joined as an advisor and later became involved in its management, providing crucial financial support from his personal fortune. However, when the publishing house faced the threat of bankruptcy in 1932, Eitingon was forced to withdraw his support. Subsequently, the International Psychoanalytic Publishing House came under the leadership of Freud's son, Martin Freud, and the editorial office of the Internationalen Zeitschrift für Psychoanalyse (International Journal of Psychoanalysis) was relocated from Berlin to Vienna.
2.2. Development of Psychoanalytic Training
Eitingon's pioneering efforts were crucial in standardizing psychoanalytic education globally, particularly through the establishment of the International Training Committee and the advocacy for mandatory personal analysis as a core component of becoming a psychoanalyst.
2.2.1. International Training Committee (ITC)
At the 1925 Bad Homburg Congress, Eitingon proposed that the Berlin system of psychoanalytic training be adopted as an international standard under the supervision of an International Training Commission. He was subsequently appointed president of the International Training Committee (ITC), a position he held until his death in 1943. His establishment of the ITC was a significant achievement aimed at fostering the systematic training of future psychoanalysts and setting international guidelines for the discipline.
2.2.2. Formalization of Training Analysis
A key principle championed by Eitingon was the mandatory personal analysis as a prerequisite for practicing psychoanalysts. This concept gained traction when Hermann Nunberg declared at the 1918 Budapest Congress that no one could learn to practice psychoanalysis without having undergone analysis themselves. Eitingon's 1922 report formalized this rule within the practice of the Berlin Polyclinic. He made it clear that personal analysis of a student was an essential part of the curriculum, to be undertaken in the latter half of the training period, following intensive theoretical preparation through lectures and courses. This principle was embedded within the institutional structures he helped create, becoming a cornerstone of psychoanalytic education.
3. Emigration and Later Life
The rise of Nazism in Germany forced Eitingon to emigrate, leading him to Palestine where he continued his work in establishing and developing psychoanalytic presence and institutions.
3.1. Emigration from Germany
In 1932, Max Eitingon suffered a cerebral thrombosis. Coupled with the increasing political pressures from the Nazi regime, he left Germany in September 1933, following the advice of Sigmund Freud. He then emigrated to Palestine.
3.2. Activities in Palestine
Upon his arrival in Palestine, Eitingon continued his dedication to the field of psychoanalysis. In 1934, he founded the Palestine Psychoanalytic Association in Jerusalem. He also established the Psychoanalytic Institute of Israel. Despite Freud's recommendation, Eitingon was unable to secure a professorship in psychoanalysis at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
4. Controversies and Historical Evaluation
Max Eitingon's life was marked by significant contributions to psychoanalysis, but also by controversial allegations concerning his potential involvement with Soviet intelligence operations. These claims have led to historical debates that impact his complex legacy.
4.1. Allegations of Soviet Agent Involvement
Several historical accounts have described Max Eitingon as a significant figure within a group of Soviet agents implicated in assassinations across Europe and Mexico. These alleged assassinations include those of Ignace Reiss, General Yevgeny Miller, and Lev Sedov. The allegations gained renewed attention when the story was revisited in the The New York Times Book Review by Stephen Suleyman Schwartz. This led to a lengthy public discussion involving Schwartz, historians who had written about these events, and others who disputed Eitingon's involvement, such as Theodore Draper and Walter Laqueur.
The debate concluded with Robert Conquest noting that while there was no direct proof of Max Eitingon's involvement in the murders, his substantial financial interests in the Soviet Union and his connections with key members of the alleged Soviet intelligence team raised significant grounds for suspicion. These connections included his brother, Nahum Eitingon (also known as Leonid Eitingon), Nadezhda Plevitskaya, and Nikolai Skoblin, who notably acted as an intermediary between the NKVD and the Gestapo in the Tukhachevsky affair.
5. Personal Life
Max Eitingon's personal life included significant family connections that provided context to his circumstances.
5.1. Marriage
In 1913, Max Eitingon married Mirra Jacovleina Raigorodsky, an actress associated with the Moscow Art Theatre.
6. Death
In the summer of 1938, while visiting Paris, Max Eitingon suffered a severe heart attack, from which he never fully recovered. He died on July 30, 1943, in Jerusalem, at the age of 62. He is buried on Mount Scopus.
7. Works
Max Eitingon made several significant contributions to psychoanalytic literature through his published articles.
7.1. Selected Publications
- 'Genie, Talent und Psychoanalyse', Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse 2 (1912) 539-540.
- 'Gott und Vater', Imago 3 (1914), 90-93.
- 'Ein Fall von Verlesen', Internationale Zeitschrift für Psychoanalyse 3 (1915), 349-350.
- 'Zur psychoanalytischen Bewegung', Internationale Zeitschrift für Psychoanalyse 8 (1922), 103-106.
- 'Report of the Berlin Psychoanalytical Polyclinic', Bulletin of the International Psychoanalytical Association 4 (1923), 254.
- 'Concluding remarks on the question of lay analysis', International Journal of Psycho-Analysis 8 (1927), 399-401.
- 'Report of Marienbad Congress', International Journal of Psycho-Analysis 18 (1937), 351.
- 'In the Dawn of Psychoanalysis', in M. Wulff (ed.) Max Eitingon: in memoriam, Jerusalem: Israel Psychoanalytic Society, 1950.
8. Related Topics
8.1. Nahum Eitingon
Nahum Eitingon, also known as Leonid Eitingon, was Max Eitingon's brother. He is a related figure due to his alleged involvement in Soviet intelligence operations, which led to suspicions and historical debates surrounding Max Eitingon's own connections to these activities.