--- title: Sigmund Freud: He Stayed in Nazi Germany Rather Than Come to the US description: May 6, 1856: Sigmund Freud is born canonical: https://time.com/3840374/freud-birthday-anniversary-history/ author: Jennifer Latson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-06T14:30:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:04.707Z article:section: History og:title: Sigmund Freud: He Stayed in Nazi Germany Rather Than Come to the US og:description: May 6, 1856: Sigmund Freud is born og:url: https://time.com/3840374/freud-birthday-anniversary-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57284b525b44a81f/6987ed8306f2c11c2d337fcc/freud.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Freud Behind His Desk og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sigmund Freud: He Stayed in Nazi Germany Rather Than Come to the US twitter:description: May 6, 1856: Sigmund Freud is born twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57284b525b44a81f/6987ed8306f2c11c2d337fcc/freud.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Freud Chose Nazi Germany Over America ## Video: The Last Nazi Trials [Watch (HLS stream): The Last Nazi Trials](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/iBig1Tcg.m3u8) (7:02)  _Published 2016-05-03. The trial of a former Nazi guard brings forth questions about justice and forgiveness for Holocaust survivors and German citizens._ by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson May 6, 2015 2:30 PM UTC  Portrait of Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939) in his study in Vienna, in the 1930s. Portrait of Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939) in his study in Vienna, in the 1930s.Authenticated News / Getty Images by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson May 6, 2015 2:30 PM UTC His aversion to America was by no means unconscious: given the choice between safe passage to the United States and increasing oppression at the hands of the Nazis, [Sigmund Freud chose to stick with the Nazis.](http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-escape-of-sigmund-freud/00011507) The father of psychoanalysis — born on this day, May 6, in 1856 — was in his early 80s and “tortured by advanced cancer of the jaw,” [per TIME](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/printout/0,8816,931342,00.html), when he turned down the invitation to the U.S. from a worried nephew who was a publicist in Manhattan. But Freud was no longer safe in Vienna after the Nazi occupation, since the Gestapo was not only targeting Jews in general but [psychoanalysts in particular;](https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/shofar/v020/20.3cocks.html) their fixation on the id’s uncivilized impulses seemed to the Nazis to undermine the dignity of the Volk. In 1933, mobs of Nazi sympathizers had burned Freud’s books, chanting, [per _The Atlantic_](http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/how-sigmund-freud-wanted-to-die/380322/), “Against the soul-destroying overestimation of the sex life ─ and on behalf of the nobility of the human soul, we offer the flames the writings of Sigmund Freud.” After they took Vienna in 1938, the Nazis seized Freud’s money, property, and publishing house, by TIME’s account. Still, he preferred to shelter in place rather than seek asylum among the [money-obsessed savages](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204908604574330991380910578) he believed comprised the American populace. “America is gigantic,” he’s [reported to have said](http://www.nysun.com/arts/pursuit-of-happiness-2007-09-26/63417/), “but a gigantic mistake.” It took the intervention of one of his star patients, Princess Marie Bonaparte, Napoleon’s great-granddaughter, to uproot him — and for London instead of New York. Bonaparte paid what amounted to ransom to secure Freud’s exit visas, and, [according to the _Daily Mail_](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-1248835/How-frigid-princess-saved-Freud-Nazis-THE-ESCAPE-OF-SIGMUND-FREUD-BY-DAVID-COHEN.html), “brokered a deal that enabled him to salvage his library, large sculpture collection, and celebrated couch.” Freud was ultimately happy with the move, according to TIME, which describes his exile as an idyllic period, despite his near-constant pain: --- > “” --- His wry sense of humor seems never to have abandoned him, either. According to the [New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/magazine/09wwln-lede-t.html?pagewanted=all&%5Fr=0)_,_ the Nazis had allowed him to leave Austria on the condition that he sign a statement swearing that they had treated him well. He signed, but added a tongue-in-cheek comment offering more praise for German fascism than he’d ever mustered for American democracy: “I can most highly recommend the Gestapo to everyone.” **_Read a 1939 cover story about Freud, here in the TIME Vault_**: [Intellectual Provocateur](http://time.com/vault/issue/1939-06-26/page/61/) ### Color Photos of Hitler Among the Crowds  Adolf Hitler greets the cheering throng at a rally in 1937. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, Germany, 1937. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Austrians cheer Adolf Hitler during his 1938 campaign (before the Anschluss) to unite Austria and Germany. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Austrians cheer Adolf Hitler during his 1938 campaign (before the Anschluss) to unite Austria and Germany. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Crowds greet a saluting Adolf Hitler at a cornerstone ceremony at a Volkswagen factory, 1938. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Crowds greet a saluting Adolf Hitler at a cornerstone ceremony at a Volkswagen factory, 1938. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Crowds at a cornerstone ceremony at a Volkswagen factory, 1938. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Torchlight rally honoring Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday, 1939. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Hundreds of thousands gather at a harvest festival and Nazi Party rally in Germany, 1937. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Guests of honor at a military demonstration for Hitler's 50th birthday celebration in Berlin. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A crowd cheers in Florence, Italy, during Hitler's state visit in 1938. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Italian fascists during Adolf Hitler's 1938 state visit. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A crowd in Munich, Germany, around the time of the 1938 Munich Conference. Hugo Jaeger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Paying tribute to Hitler during celebrations for his 50th birthday, Berlin, 1939. 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