Rainy, cold days have been the norm this week. I have gotten yet another go at my long sleeve shirts. And for that, I am thankful. :-) I keep hearing about the hot weather that comes in July and part of August, so I savor each cool day as if it is my last.
Today, another anniversary I would like to mention as a mini-note because it is neither related to Germany nor is it the topic of the day, but it is important nonetheless. Today is the 15th anniversary of the opening of the Chunnel - that is the tunnel that connects mainland Europe to the United Kingdom and allows high-speed rail to take passengers from Paris to London in about 2.5 hours. The tunnel was excavated over a 6 year period, had a final cost of 80% over budget (adjusted cost of a little more than 10 million British Pounds in 2007), for a length of 31.4 miles under the English Channel. Regardless of the time and costs, it is still a remarkable feat and has been named one of the 7 wonders of the modern world. However, don't plan on us using it. Just to go the distance of the tunnel for the 4 of us would have cost us nearly $1000!!!! Flying to Edinburgh was cheaper than driving or taking the train!!
My question yesterday, I hope, was a bit obvious that I was going to talk today about a famous Germanic psychologist from the past. Although he was not born in Germany, he did live for a while as a child in Germany. I am referring to, of course, Sigmund Freud.
Sigmund Freud was actually born in what is now the Czech Republic exactly 153 years ago today - May 6th, 1856. He was apparently a charming and intelligent child from the beginning. His parents, who were not wealthy, saw his potential and put all of their extra money into his education. After a brief time in Leipzig, Germany, the family eventually moved to Vienna, Austria, where he would generally live until Hitler's Nazis would drive him out. Although not practicing, Sigmund was born of Jewish decent.
He graduated with honors from high school and proceeded on to the University of Vienna to the medical school there. After failing to find the answer to a biological question about eels, he changed his major to studying the body and mind of humans as subject to the laws of chemistry and physics known at that time. This was a very new way of thinking.
After med school, he received his doctorate of medicine. He then continued his post doctorate studies in Paris, where he began to specialize in the psychoanalysis work for which he is famous. In 1886, he married a woman from Hamburg, Germany. Soon after, he opened his own practice back in Vienna. He began to see the value of the "talking cure" where patients talked out their problems and released their repressed emotions and experiences. He found that many of the physical ailments of his patients were cured when the emotional ailments were. He also was fascinated by how these problems lay in the subconscious mind and explored as much about it as possible, including dreams and what they could mean in relation to the problems. He also turned his research to himself in addition to his patients, trying to understand his own personal demons and fears. This inward analysis led him to formulate many of his defining ideologies that can still be found in various forms in modern psychological practices today.
In 1900, he began to publish his findings in a series of books. By 1930, he was awarded the Goethe Prize for his contributions to German literature and culture, but the tides were turning fast. By 1933, his books were being publicly burned as a statement against Jews by the Nazis. By 1938, Austria was overtaken, and Freud and his family were closely watched by the dreaded Gestapo, the Nazi secret police. He and his family fled to London, England. His time there was to be short, though, due to suffering from cancer he got from smoking cigars. With the help of his friend, he ended his sufferings on Sept. 23rd, 1939.
The word for today is subconscious (as a noun): das Unterbewusstsein (un ter bay vust zine).
The question for today is "Which famous German composer couldn't even hear the playing of his final symphony?"
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
