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Saving Freud: The Rescuers Who Brought Him to Freedom
A dramatic true story about Sigmund Freud’s last-minute escape to London following the German annexation of Austria and the group of friends who made it possible.
In March 1938, German soldiers crossed the border into Austria and Hitler absorbed the country into the Third Reich. Anticipating these events, many Jews had fled Austria, but the most famous Austrian Jew remained in Vienna, where he had lived since early childhood. Sigmund Freud was eighty-one years old, ill with cancer, and still unconvinced that his life was in danger.
But several prominent people close to Freud thought otherwise, and they began a coordinated effort to persuade Freud to leave his beloved Vienna and emigrate to England. The group included a Welsh physician, Napoleon’s great-grandniece, an American ambassador, Freud’s devoted youngest daughter Anna, and his personal doctor.
Saving Freud is the story of how this remarkable collection of people finally succeeded in coaxing Freud, a man who seemingly knew the human mind better than anyone else, to emerge from his deep state of denial about the looming catastrophe, allowing them to extricate him and his family from Austria so that they could settle in London. There Freud would live out the remaining sixteen months of his life in freedom.
This book is both an incisive new biography of Freud and a group biography of the extraordinary friends who saved Freud’s life.
In March 1938, German soldiers crossed the border into Austria and Hitler absorbed the country into the Third Reich. Anticipating these events, many Jews had fled Austria, but the most famous Austrian Jew remained in Vienna, where he had lived since early childhood. Sigmund Freud was eighty-one years old, ill with cancer, and still unconvinced that his life was in danger.
But several prominent people close to Freud thought otherwise, and they began a coordinated effort to persuade Freud to leave his beloved Vienna and emigrate to England. The group included a Welsh physician, Napoleon’s great-grandniece, an American ambassador, Freud’s devoted youngest daughter Anna, and his personal doctor.
Saving Freud is the story of how this remarkable collection of people finally succeeded in coaxing Freud, a man who seemingly knew the human mind better than anyone else, to emerge from his deep state of denial about the looming catastrophe, allowing them to extricate him and his family from Austria so that they could settle in London. There Freud would live out the remaining sixteen months of his life in freedom.
This book is both an incisive new biography of Freud and a group biography of the extraordinary friends who saved Freud’s life.
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Published August 23, 2022
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About the author
Andrew Nagorski
22 books69 followersFrom back cover:
Andrew Nagorski, award-winning journalist, is vice president and director of public policy at the EastWest Institute, a New York-based international affairs think tank. During a long career at Newsweek, he served as the magazine's bureau chief in Hong Kong, Moscow, Rome, Bonn, Warsaw, and Berlin. He lives in Pelham Manor, New York.
Andrew Nagorski, award-winning journalist, is vice president and director of public policy at the EastWest Institute, a New York-based international affairs think tank. During a long career at Newsweek, he served as the magazine's bureau chief in Hong Kong, Moscow, Rome, Bonn, Warsaw, and Berlin. He lives in Pelham Manor, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
June 17, 2022
Saving Freud is an interesting and indepth exploration of Freud's final years.
It's a novel way of approaching biography: not just telling the story of your subject, but also those of several other people whose lives intersected with his. While I was expecting a very focused account of how Freud escaped Vienna, this is a book filled with tangents (some more interesting than others) that builds a wider picture of psychoanalysis, 20th century Jewish experience and European culture more generally. I found it particularly interesting to see a focus on the interwar period in Austria, and I felt not only that I learned a lot, but also that I got a real sense of what Freud's life in Vienna was actually like.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*
It's a novel way of approaching biography: not just telling the story of your subject, but also those of several other people whose lives intersected with his. While I was expecting a very focused account of how Freud escaped Vienna, this is a book filled with tangents (some more interesting than others) that builds a wider picture of psychoanalysis, 20th century Jewish experience and European culture more generally. I found it particularly interesting to see a focus on the interwar period in Austria, and I felt not only that I learned a lot, but also that I got a real sense of what Freud's life in Vienna was actually like.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*
August 26, 2024
I've recently told the following to two friends: "I don't know that much about this Mr. Freud character, I'm going to do some reading..."
Both separately replied with similar sentiments. "Yeah there's some good stuff but a lot of hit and miss, I'd stick with Jung..."
Both separately replied with similar sentiments. "Yeah there's some good stuff but a lot of hit and miss, I'd stick with Jung..."
January 11, 2023
In zwölf Kapiteln begleiten wir Sigmund Freud durch sein Leben und erfahren dabei am Rande etwas über das geistige und politische Klima in Wien zwischen 1873 und 1938, als Freud sein Studium aufnimmt und schließlich, sechzig Jahre später, über Frankreich nach England flieht.
Anders als der Titel des Buches erwarten läßt, steht die „Rettung“ des Erfinders der Psychoanalyse nicht im Zentrum des Buches, das sein Leben erzählt und dann am Ende eher knapp auch über die Organisation der Ausreise durch eine Gruppe einflußreicher Freunde und Verehrer sowie einen involvierten Nationalsozialisten berichtet. Die Erzählung schließt mit den letzten Monaten, die Freud in London vergönnt sind.
3,5 Sterne
Anders als der Titel des Buches erwarten läßt, steht die „Rettung“ des Erfinders der Psychoanalyse nicht im Zentrum des Buches, das sein Leben erzählt und dann am Ende eher knapp auch über die Organisation der Ausreise durch eine Gruppe einflußreicher Freunde und Verehrer sowie einen involvierten Nationalsozialisten berichtet. Die Erzählung schließt mit den letzten Monaten, die Freud in London vergönnt sind.
3,5 Sterne
September 12, 2022
There are numerous biographies of Sigmund Freud, the best ones I have read include Peter Gay’s FREUD: A LIFE FOR OUR TIMES, Joel Whitebrook’s FREUD: AN INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHY, and an earlier work, Ronald W. Clark’s FREUD: THE MAN AND THE CAUSE. The latest monograph SAVING FREUD: THE RESCUERS WHO BROUGHT HIM TO FREEDOM by Andrew Nagorski is not a complete biography but one that focuses on how Freud and fifteen of his followers managed to escape Austria in 1938 as Hitler and his Nazis achieved their Anschluss with Austria triggering a wave of anti-Semitic violence. While Nagorski provides biographical details of Freud’s life, his main thrust is the years leading up to World War II. Nagorski tells an engrossing tale of how there was little margin for error for Freud as he escaped Nazi persecution.
Nagorski a former Newsweek correspondent has written a number of excellent works dealing with 1930s and World II, including HITLERLAND: AMERICAN EYEWITNESSES TO THE NAZI RISE TO POWER, THE NAZI HUNTERS, 1941: THE YEAR GERMANY LOST THE WAR, and THE GREATEST BATTLE: STALIN, HITLER AND THE DESPARATE STRUGGLE FOR MOSCOW THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF WORLD WAR II. In all instances Nagorski’s works reflect superb command of his material based on extensive research of secondary and primary materials, including significant interviews with his subject’s contemporaries and descendants. His latest effort is no exception.
When the Nazis took over Austria Freud was eighty two years old having spent most of his life in Vienna. The founder of psychoanalysis found himself in the middle of an unfolding nightmare. Many have asked why Freud and his family did not leave Vienna earlier as the Nazi handwriting was on the wall and early on it was relatively easy to do so. After his apartment and publishing house were attacked, his daughter Anna’s arrest and interrogation by the Gestapo, Freud still hoped to ride out the storm expecting “that a normal rhythm would be restored, and honest men permitted to go on their ways without fear.” Struggling with cancer, Freud was in denial knowing that he had little time left and did not want to go through the upheaval of relocating. It would take an ad hoc rescue squad to arrange his escape from Vienna that included sixteen people, made up of family members and his doctor and family.
If it were not a true story Freud’s escape to live out his last fifteen months in London would make a superb spy novel. After presenting useful biographical chapters where Nagorski focused on the development of Freudian theories, he concentrated on his relationships with contemporaries like Carl Jung and Ernest Jones. This was important to Freud because as he developed a psychiatric following he worried they were dominated by Jews. Freud was very concerned that his life’s work was becoming a target for anti-Semites who screamed it was a “Jew science.” Freud would cultivate promising non-Jewish psychoanalysts as Nagorski points out his relationships with Carl Jung and Ernest Jones were partly fostered because they were Christians. Of the two, Jones would become a lifelong friend and colleague and would play a prominent role in Freud’s escape from Austria in 1938.
Nagorski delves deeply into the Freud-Jung relationship which at one point saw Freud anoint his friend the heir to his leadership in the psychoanalytic community. As time progressed Freud’s opinion of Jung declined believing he had become a man of “mystical tendencies” that prevented a clear scientific approach to his work. Further he believed Jung had developed a “confused mind,” and may have had anti-Semitic tendencies. By 1914 their break was complete.
Nagorski provides an important window into what Vienna experienced before, during and after World War I in addition to the 1920s leading to the eventual Anschluss with Germany in 1938. He delves into the intellectual and cultural life of the city and the important personalities involved. An additional key to Nagorski’s narrative is how the lives and beliefs of Freud’s “rescue squad” evolved. The most important seems to be Ernest Jones, the Englishman who became Freud’s closest friend, biographer, and a psychoanalyst in his own right. Others include William C. Bullit, an American journalist and ambassador to Russia and France who developed an important relationship with Freud. Both men despised President Woodrow Wilson seeing him as an egotistical personality whose actions at the Versailles Conference they opposed. In addition, they co-wrote a psychohistory of the former president which was not published until 1967 long after Freud’s death. Marie Bonaparte, a former patient of Freud’s plays a significant role as Napoleon’s great grandniece who had many important contacts and funds to help finance Freud’s escape and like many of his patients went on to be a psychotherapist in her own right. Dr. Max Schur, Freud’s doctor during the last decade of his life and a man who kept him on an even keel. Anton Sauerwald, a Nazi trustee in charge of dealing with the Freud family after the Anschluss was a rather mysterious character. Lastly, and most importantly Freud’s daughter Anna, who became his lifelong caretaker and developed her own career in psychiatry focusing on the mental health of children. All pursued interesting lives and the mini biographies presented enhance Nagorski’s narrative.
Most people are unaware of Freud’s disdain for the United States. He visited America in 1909 and was taken aback by American materialism and lack of intellect. As noted previously he opposed the policies of Woodrow Wilson, and he would not consider the United States as a place to emigrate after the Anschluss. Nagorski points out that Freud was a German nationalist whose predictions pertaining to World War I were off base. He believed it would be devastating to both sides, but for him it became more bloody and destructive than anyone could have imagined. Freud came to realize the consequences of the war and was rather prophetic in his comments based on events in the 1930s.
Rachel Newcomb in her September 2, 2022 , Washington Post review of Nagorski’s work addresses why it took Freud so long to agree to leave Austria arguing, “Freud continued to believe that Austria would maintain its independence from Germany, right up until March 1938, when Hitler made his final push into Vienna, cheered on by a mob of rabid supporters. Gangs ransacked Jewish businesses, including the psychoanalytic publishing house managed by Freud’s son Martin, while brownshirts paid a visit to the Freud household and had to be bribed the equivalent of $840 to leave them alone. Yet Freud continued to refuse his colleagues’ entreaties to leave. Suffering from cancer of the jaw, acquired from a habit of smoking 20 cigars a day, he was already in his 80s and knew he did not have much time left. When asked later why he had delayed his departure so long, his daughter Anna Freud blamed his illness as well as his inability to “imagine any ‘new life’ elsewhere. What he knew was that there were only a few grains of sand left in the clock — and that would be that.” But once Anna was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo, Freud realized that to ensure her future, he would have to leave Austria.”
Newcomb is correct in her analysis and nicely sums up the overall impact of the book writing, “readers looking for an in-depth exploration of the tenets of psychoanalysis will not find that here, but SAVING FREUD contains just enough about the central themes of Freud’s professional life to give a sense of his impact on the discipline he is largely credited with inventing. Unlike other, more critical biographies, the Freud that emerges from these pages is warm, avuncular and excessively fond of Anna, who he knew would carry on his legacy. The narrative pace and Nagorski’s fluid writing give this book the character of an adventure story. It is an engrossing but sobering read that reminds us how many others without the resources of the Freud family had no similar options to make an exodus.”
Nagorski a former Newsweek correspondent has written a number of excellent works dealing with 1930s and World II, including HITLERLAND: AMERICAN EYEWITNESSES TO THE NAZI RISE TO POWER, THE NAZI HUNTERS, 1941: THE YEAR GERMANY LOST THE WAR, and THE GREATEST BATTLE: STALIN, HITLER AND THE DESPARATE STRUGGLE FOR MOSCOW THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF WORLD WAR II. In all instances Nagorski’s works reflect superb command of his material based on extensive research of secondary and primary materials, including significant interviews with his subject’s contemporaries and descendants. His latest effort is no exception.
When the Nazis took over Austria Freud was eighty two years old having spent most of his life in Vienna. The founder of psychoanalysis found himself in the middle of an unfolding nightmare. Many have asked why Freud and his family did not leave Vienna earlier as the Nazi handwriting was on the wall and early on it was relatively easy to do so. After his apartment and publishing house were attacked, his daughter Anna’s arrest and interrogation by the Gestapo, Freud still hoped to ride out the storm expecting “that a normal rhythm would be restored, and honest men permitted to go on their ways without fear.” Struggling with cancer, Freud was in denial knowing that he had little time left and did not want to go through the upheaval of relocating. It would take an ad hoc rescue squad to arrange his escape from Vienna that included sixteen people, made up of family members and his doctor and family.
If it were not a true story Freud’s escape to live out his last fifteen months in London would make a superb spy novel. After presenting useful biographical chapters where Nagorski focused on the development of Freudian theories, he concentrated on his relationships with contemporaries like Carl Jung and Ernest Jones. This was important to Freud because as he developed a psychiatric following he worried they were dominated by Jews. Freud was very concerned that his life’s work was becoming a target for anti-Semites who screamed it was a “Jew science.” Freud would cultivate promising non-Jewish psychoanalysts as Nagorski points out his relationships with Carl Jung and Ernest Jones were partly fostered because they were Christians. Of the two, Jones would become a lifelong friend and colleague and would play a prominent role in Freud’s escape from Austria in 1938.
Nagorski delves deeply into the Freud-Jung relationship which at one point saw Freud anoint his friend the heir to his leadership in the psychoanalytic community. As time progressed Freud’s opinion of Jung declined believing he had become a man of “mystical tendencies” that prevented a clear scientific approach to his work. Further he believed Jung had developed a “confused mind,” and may have had anti-Semitic tendencies. By 1914 their break was complete.
Nagorski provides an important window into what Vienna experienced before, during and after World War I in addition to the 1920s leading to the eventual Anschluss with Germany in 1938. He delves into the intellectual and cultural life of the city and the important personalities involved. An additional key to Nagorski’s narrative is how the lives and beliefs of Freud’s “rescue squad” evolved. The most important seems to be Ernest Jones, the Englishman who became Freud’s closest friend, biographer, and a psychoanalyst in his own right. Others include William C. Bullit, an American journalist and ambassador to Russia and France who developed an important relationship with Freud. Both men despised President Woodrow Wilson seeing him as an egotistical personality whose actions at the Versailles Conference they opposed. In addition, they co-wrote a psychohistory of the former president which was not published until 1967 long after Freud’s death. Marie Bonaparte, a former patient of Freud’s plays a significant role as Napoleon’s great grandniece who had many important contacts and funds to help finance Freud’s escape and like many of his patients went on to be a psychotherapist in her own right. Dr. Max Schur, Freud’s doctor during the last decade of his life and a man who kept him on an even keel. Anton Sauerwald, a Nazi trustee in charge of dealing with the Freud family after the Anschluss was a rather mysterious character. Lastly, and most importantly Freud’s daughter Anna, who became his lifelong caretaker and developed her own career in psychiatry focusing on the mental health of children. All pursued interesting lives and the mini biographies presented enhance Nagorski’s narrative.
Most people are unaware of Freud’s disdain for the United States. He visited America in 1909 and was taken aback by American materialism and lack of intellect. As noted previously he opposed the policies of Woodrow Wilson, and he would not consider the United States as a place to emigrate after the Anschluss. Nagorski points out that Freud was a German nationalist whose predictions pertaining to World War I were off base. He believed it would be devastating to both sides, but for him it became more bloody and destructive than anyone could have imagined. Freud came to realize the consequences of the war and was rather prophetic in his comments based on events in the 1930s.
Rachel Newcomb in her September 2, 2022 , Washington Post review of Nagorski’s work addresses why it took Freud so long to agree to leave Austria arguing, “Freud continued to believe that Austria would maintain its independence from Germany, right up until March 1938, when Hitler made his final push into Vienna, cheered on by a mob of rabid supporters. Gangs ransacked Jewish businesses, including the psychoanalytic publishing house managed by Freud’s son Martin, while brownshirts paid a visit to the Freud household and had to be bribed the equivalent of $840 to leave them alone. Yet Freud continued to refuse his colleagues’ entreaties to leave. Suffering from cancer of the jaw, acquired from a habit of smoking 20 cigars a day, he was already in his 80s and knew he did not have much time left. When asked later why he had delayed his departure so long, his daughter Anna Freud blamed his illness as well as his inability to “imagine any ‘new life’ elsewhere. What he knew was that there were only a few grains of sand left in the clock — and that would be that.” But once Anna was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo, Freud realized that to ensure her future, he would have to leave Austria.”
Newcomb is correct in her analysis and nicely sums up the overall impact of the book writing, “readers looking for an in-depth exploration of the tenets of psychoanalysis will not find that here, but SAVING FREUD contains just enough about the central themes of Freud’s professional life to give a sense of his impact on the discipline he is largely credited with inventing. Unlike other, more critical biographies, the Freud that emerges from these pages is warm, avuncular and excessively fond of Anna, who he knew would carry on his legacy. The narrative pace and Nagorski’s fluid writing give this book the character of an adventure story. It is an engrossing but sobering read that reminds us how many others without the resources of the Freud family had no similar options to make an exodus.”
August 20, 2022
What a brilliant and engrossing book this is. It reads like a super-fast thriller and it describes the historical as well as the personal circumstances of Freud's times and the efforts which were done in order to save this great personality and his family members from the clutches of the Nazi beasts. There are only few authors today who can cause one, in this case-me, to finish a book in one reading, and Mr. Nagorski is one of them.
Superbly told and researched, this is a micro-history which deserves to be read as soon as possible.
Bravo, Mr. Nagorski!
Superbly told and researched, this is a micro-history which deserves to be read as soon as possible.
Bravo, Mr. Nagorski!
March 25, 2025
I bought this from a Vienna bookstore and read it after visiting the Freud Museum there--what a page-turner! Great history of Freud and his family, as well as the context of Austria and the rise of Hitler. The author used a wealth of primary sources to explore why Freud stayed in Vienna and how he got out when he did. Although Freud history is well-trodden by other authors, this version seemed fresh, and the angle was interesting to focus on. The biographies of his entourage really rounded out his milieu and kept it fresh. And it wasn't overwritten--clear and direct prose, with the narrative continually moving forward. Finished it on the plan to London!
December 25, 2023
Little in reading makes me crankier than a book that is not what it purports to be. There are 23 pages in this book of 300+ pages about the actual process of "saving Freud". I am trained as a clinical psychologist and taught college psychology for almost 30 years. One of the courses that I taught was called History and Systems of Psychology which is a history of philosophy concerning the nature of human behavior and personality until Wilhelm Wundt opened the Institute for Experimental Psychology at the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1879. ( This was the first laboratory dedicated to psychology, and its opening is usually thought of as the beginning of modern psychology. Indeed, Wundt is often regarded as the father of psychology. Wundt was important because he separated psychology from philosophy by analyzing the workings of the mind in a more structured way, with the emphasis being on objective measurement and control. ) I have read the greater majority of Freud's writing. The book is a trip down memory lane for me as we cover Karl Abraham, Alfred Adler, Euglen Bleuler, Breuer, Charcot, Erik Erickson ( one of my personal favorites for his theory of child development ), Sandor Ferenczi, G. Stanley Hall, William James, Ernst Jones, Carl Jung, and Wilhelm Wundt. I can picture eyes glazing over if a reader is unfamiliar with the history of psychology. The book provides Freud's biography and family. The author drops in the term dementia praecox with no further explanation. Precocious dementia was the early term for schizophrenia because the psychotic episodes largely appeared during the late teens and early twenties.... We have the history of the development of psychoanalysis and the Psychoanalytic Societies in Europe, the United States and Canada. We have Hitler's early and short education and his WWI service. We even throw in the Dreyfus case. Then we have an entire chapter about Freud's daughter Anna entitled Vestal.. As in virgin????? It is page 119, there is no saving happening. Now we introduce the "savers". We have an entire chapter on the biography of William Bullett, an American dipomat. Chapter 7 - biography of Marie Bonaparte. Chapter 8 Max Schur, Freud's doctor. Then a chapter called Political Blindness in which we have Hitler's rise to power and I guess Freud's failure to see his potential as a threat to the world. Freud was not the only one.... We have the book burnings which of course included the works of Sigmund. Chapter 9 The Austrian Cell in which, I guess, we mourn the fact that Austria was not longer part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after WWI and tell the history of this state as WWII approaches. Dollfuss and Schuschnigg. And we need to know this why????? Where is the "SAVING"?????? And of course the reader needs to know about Marie Bonaparte's book: Topsy, the Story of a Golden Haired Chow. Freud loved his own chow and translated the book into German. Certainly a worthy endeavour with Hiter approaching. Then we have the Anschluss, the peaceful annexation of Austria by the Germans on March 12, 1938. Page 233 - the rescue begins. Nazis arrive at Freud's home and the psychoanlytic publishing house where they hold Martin Freud hostage. Ernst Jones still has to convice Freud to leave. DUH!!! Just goes to show that denial is not just a river in Egypt. Bullitt contacts American Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Hugh Wilson the American Ambassador to Berlin. Why? There is no documentation that they assisted in helping the Freud entourage leave Vienna. Wiley, American Ambassador to Vienna has autos displaying the Stars and Stripes parked outside Freud's home. Good strategy to stop the Nazis?? Marie Bonaparte arrives with money. Jones secures permits to enter Britain for 18 adults and 6 children. HOW?? The author discusses the arrests and suicides of other Jews in Vienna that are not as lucky as the Freuds. And the saving???? Anna Freud is arrested by the Gestapo. That gets 2 sentences. The Nazi assigned to confiscate property from the Freud family, Anton Sauerwald, helps them escape Vienna instead. Martin is attempting to destroy incriminating papers. We never know what these papers were or why they had to be destroyed. A "flight tax" of 31,000 Reichsmarks is paid. And Bob's your Uncle, Freud is in Paris. Can we spell anticlimax??????????????? We know what Marie Bonaparte was wearing when she met the train in Paris, but we know nothing of Anna Freud's Gestapo interrogation. Surely there is more information about the Nazi Sauerwald. What role did he play exactly?? We then have 30 pages about Freud's life in London, descriptions of his houses, and oh yes, his death. We learn more about Freud's last published book about Moses than we know about the "RESCUE". Just to add whip cream to the book dessert disaster, the author does not know how to use pronouns correctly. I found at least 50 instances of incorrect grammar. " older than her - a letter to whoever - longer than him. " Easy way to know what prounoun to use - object or subject - is to simply finish the sentence. He was older than her was. NOT. He was older than SHE was. He attended school longer than him did??? He attended school longer than HE did. Then when he has a chance to use an objective pronoun the author blows it again. We do not write To WHO it may concern. It is To WHOM it may concern. He wrote a letter to whoever could solve the problem. No. He wrote a letter to whomever could solve the problem. OK I will stop bitching. As a psychologist I did not mind all the psychological history, but this book should be titled: 277 Pages of Not Saving Freud. Sigh!!!!!!!!!! Kristi & Abby Tabby
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2022
I read this during my visits to the library. Only the first two chapter and the last two are worth anything. I found Freud's disgust of America funny, and that he and Minna had 6 children in the first eight years of their marriage surprising -- talk about sexual repression. Obviously there really was a problem in that marriage as I think Adler wrote. Finally, the sad note was that all of his sister -- four of them -- died in the Camps after he himself had died in London. They had refused to leave their home town.
September 5, 2023
A fascinating, thoroughly researched and at times quite exciting account of Sigmund Freud’s life in Vienna, the birth and practice of psychoanalysis and the remarkable group of friends and colleagues who successfully assisted in getting Freud and his family out of Vienna and safely to London on the eve of World War II.
November 4, 2023
Fascinating historical book on Freud’s life against the backdrop of the rise of Nazism in Austria and Europe.
August 28, 2022
In SAVING FREUD, acclaimed author Andrew Nagorski has brought together the team of people who resolved to rescue psychology progenitor Sigmund Freud as the evils of the Nazi regime became increasingly obvious and the danger to all Jews in its purview an undeniable fact.
Freud had lived most of his life in the storied city of Vienna, Austria. He was old, suffered numerous painful illnesses, and had no inclination to move. Furthermore, he was essentially apolitical, believing far more in one’s inner life as one’s prime motivator and less concerned about overt differences. But there were those around him who, loving and respecting this man of genius who gave the term “psychology” to the world, quietly planned his emigration to England. Although he respected the country, he never had anticipated living there.
The team, as depicted in deft detail by Nagorski, included Anna, Freud’s youngest daughter and his most devoted family follower in the practice of psychology; Ernest Jones, who wrote Freud’s first biography; Max Shur, the great man’s physician and a Jew who clearly perceived the dangers that he and his patient faced if they did not leave Austria; royal Marie Bonaparte, herself a brilliant proponent of Freud’s profession; William Bullitt, an ambassador and former patient of Freud’s; and Anton Sauerwald, a Nazi trustee who aided the family at great risk to himself.
SAVING FREUD mixes almost minute-by-minute events among this widely divergent group with lengthy, fascinating and at times tender recollections of Freud’s long, colorful life and rich mental conceptions. They are innovative in ways that are still today being recalled and refined as his new science has taken strong hold on how we think about ourselves. Freud met and shared ideas with some of the other great minds of his era; details of his communications with Albert Einstein offer an enjoyable sidebar.
Nagorski has personal family history that links him to this vibrant subject matter. Noting the fate of some of Freud’s family members who were left behind underscores the crucial importance of his team of saviors. Nagorski’s attention to one of the 20th century’s greatest men --- his private attitudes, his public acclaim, his revolutionary mental acumen --- provides rich material for an intelligent audience to ponder.
Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott
Freud had lived most of his life in the storied city of Vienna, Austria. He was old, suffered numerous painful illnesses, and had no inclination to move. Furthermore, he was essentially apolitical, believing far more in one’s inner life as one’s prime motivator and less concerned about overt differences. But there were those around him who, loving and respecting this man of genius who gave the term “psychology” to the world, quietly planned his emigration to England. Although he respected the country, he never had anticipated living there.
The team, as depicted in deft detail by Nagorski, included Anna, Freud’s youngest daughter and his most devoted family follower in the practice of psychology; Ernest Jones, who wrote Freud’s first biography; Max Shur, the great man’s physician and a Jew who clearly perceived the dangers that he and his patient faced if they did not leave Austria; royal Marie Bonaparte, herself a brilliant proponent of Freud’s profession; William Bullitt, an ambassador and former patient of Freud’s; and Anton Sauerwald, a Nazi trustee who aided the family at great risk to himself.
SAVING FREUD mixes almost minute-by-minute events among this widely divergent group with lengthy, fascinating and at times tender recollections of Freud’s long, colorful life and rich mental conceptions. They are innovative in ways that are still today being recalled and refined as his new science has taken strong hold on how we think about ourselves. Freud met and shared ideas with some of the other great minds of his era; details of his communications with Albert Einstein offer an enjoyable sidebar.
Nagorski has personal family history that links him to this vibrant subject matter. Noting the fate of some of Freud’s family members who were left behind underscores the crucial importance of his team of saviors. Nagorski’s attention to one of the 20th century’s greatest men --- his private attitudes, his public acclaim, his revolutionary mental acumen --- provides rich material for an intelligent audience to ponder.
Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott
November 4, 2025
Li recentemente O Resgate de Freud, de Andrew Nagorski, e foi uma leitura interessante, embora não propriamente marcante. O livro centra-se na fuga de Sigmund Freud de Viena em 1938, após a anexação da Áustria pela Alemanha nazi, e nos esforços de um grupo improvável de pessoas que tornou possível a sua libertação. Nagorski reconstrói o contexto político e social com detalhe e rigor histórico, mostrando como o cerco ao célebre psicanalista se foi apertando — e como, mesmo em perigo, Freud manteve o seu humor irónico e a lucidez que o caracterizavam.
Entre as figuras que o rodeiam, destacam-se a incansável filha Anna Freud, que não só protege o pai como enfrenta por si mesma o interrogatório da Gestapo; Ernest Jones, o médico e discípulo britânico que lidera os esforços diplomáticos em Londres para garantir a saída da família; e Marie Bonaparte, princesa e psicanalista, cuja influência e fortuna foram decisivas para negociar a libertação de Freud junto das autoridades nazis. O autor também dá espaço a personagens secundárias, como os oficiais que supervisionaram a partida de Freud, mostrando as ambiguidades e tensões do momento.
No geral, é uma leitura sólida e informativa, que ilumina um episódio fascinante da vida de Freud e da história europeia. Ainda assim, apesar da riqueza factual e das figuras envolvidas, o livro raramente atinge um impacto emocional profundo — mais respeitável e cuidadoso do que verdadeiramente envolvente. Foi interessante acompanhá-lo, mas ficou a sensação de que a história merecia um pouco mais de alma.
Entre as figuras que o rodeiam, destacam-se a incansável filha Anna Freud, que não só protege o pai como enfrenta por si mesma o interrogatório da Gestapo; Ernest Jones, o médico e discípulo britânico que lidera os esforços diplomáticos em Londres para garantir a saída da família; e Marie Bonaparte, princesa e psicanalista, cuja influência e fortuna foram decisivas para negociar a libertação de Freud junto das autoridades nazis. O autor também dá espaço a personagens secundárias, como os oficiais que supervisionaram a partida de Freud, mostrando as ambiguidades e tensões do momento.
No geral, é uma leitura sólida e informativa, que ilumina um episódio fascinante da vida de Freud e da história europeia. Ainda assim, apesar da riqueza factual e das figuras envolvidas, o livro raramente atinge um impacto emocional profundo — mais respeitável e cuidadoso do que verdadeiramente envolvente. Foi interessante acompanhá-lo, mas ficou a sensação de que a história merecia um pouco mais de alma.
September 10, 2023
Caught up on my Freud history as I didn't know much about his later years. Andrew Nagorski has trawled decades of Freuds correspondence to get an intimate flavour of the man.
Freud left Austria very late in the day having been in denial about the rise of the Nazi party. In fact he didn't leave until Austria had officially been annexed.
One reason was that he was waiting to die. In his 80s with acute cancer of the jaw, he was in bad shape and getting frailer. He was fortunate in possessing some extremely loyal and influential friends, including a high ranking member of the Nazi party.
These organised his flight (and that of his wife, sister in law and daughter Anna) to London via Paris. In England his sons (already there) rented a house for him until such a time as he could buy one.
And when Freud eventually moved into 20 Maresfield Gardens he actually did some counselling work there even though he was 83 and in bad shape. He and Anna had to pay off a mortgage.
I was interested to discover that at the end of his life, at the great man's request, his doctor gave him three consecutive shots of morphine to end his suffering and to allow him to peacefully die.
Interestingly when the doctors final days came he followed Freud's example in getting HIS doctor to do the same for him.
If Only we all had that option today.
Freud left Austria very late in the day having been in denial about the rise of the Nazi party. In fact he didn't leave until Austria had officially been annexed.
One reason was that he was waiting to die. In his 80s with acute cancer of the jaw, he was in bad shape and getting frailer. He was fortunate in possessing some extremely loyal and influential friends, including a high ranking member of the Nazi party.
These organised his flight (and that of his wife, sister in law and daughter Anna) to London via Paris. In England his sons (already there) rented a house for him until such a time as he could buy one.
And when Freud eventually moved into 20 Maresfield Gardens he actually did some counselling work there even though he was 83 and in bad shape. He and Anna had to pay off a mortgage.
I was interested to discover that at the end of his life, at the great man's request, his doctor gave him three consecutive shots of morphine to end his suffering and to allow him to peacefully die.
Interestingly when the doctors final days came he followed Freud's example in getting HIS doctor to do the same for him.
If Only we all had that option today.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 28, 2022
This book helped me to learn about the human side of Freud. He never stopped working and was a fundamental piece in the development of psychoanalysis. He was a very meticulous man and very close to his daughter and the scientific community. He lived in Austria and never thought of leaving that country. He lived through the First and Second World Wars. He was not very politically involved but in the Second World War, he was aware of the danger that Hitler represented. In his life, he made and developed very good friends: his long-life physician (he had jaw cancer and underwent several operations), Napoleon's great-grandniece, an American Ambassador, and a Welsh physician. Everybody recommended he leave Vienna but he refused to do it until it was apparently too late. Fortunately, his friends did whatever it took to take him out. An interesting novel based on true facts.
July 8, 2023
3.75 stars
Only a small part of this book is about the "rescue," in quotes b/c that word is overstating it a bit. Most of the book is about Freud and various people in his orbit, some of whom became instrumental in getting him out of Vienna in 1938.
Although the title is misleading, I still enjoyed learning about the personalities involved and indeed learning more about Freud. Another book that has just been published -- The Guru, the Bagman and the Sceptic -- paints a totally different picture of Freud, Jones, psychoanalysis, and many other topics and people. How can two authors have such divergent views on recent history? This kind of thing drives me nuts!
Also in the UGH dept, Ernest Jones was a perv and surely got away with much more than the conduct (should I say crimes) he got slapped on the wrist for.
Only a small part of this book is about the "rescue," in quotes b/c that word is overstating it a bit. Most of the book is about Freud and various people in his orbit, some of whom became instrumental in getting him out of Vienna in 1938.
Although the title is misleading, I still enjoyed learning about the personalities involved and indeed learning more about Freud. Another book that has just been published -- The Guru, the Bagman and the Sceptic -- paints a totally different picture of Freud, Jones, psychoanalysis, and many other topics and people. How can two authors have such divergent views on recent history? This kind of thing drives me nuts!
Also in the UGH dept, Ernest Jones was a perv and surely got away with much more than the conduct (should I say crimes) he got slapped on the wrist for.
July 28, 2024
Skrócona biografia Freuda -twórcy psychoanalizy i bliskich mu osób -"zespołu ratunkowego", który umożliwił wyjazd rodziny Freudów z Wiednia i ocalenie tuz przed grozą II wojny.
Autor próbuje objaśnić kontekst zagadki "jak to możliwe", ze Freud (który nigdy nie zwątpił w popęd śmierci i destrukcyjność człowieka) tak długo łudził się, ze Austria uchroni go przed nazizmem. W hipotezach czy myślach autora dominuje sporo uproszczeń. Co chwila miałam wrażenie, że "Freudowi na ratunek" to streszczenie innych prac na temat Freuda. Autor nie jest też specjalistą od podstaw myślenia psychoanalitycznego. Mało tu badania "nieświadomego"... To książka dla osób z szerokiego kręgu, psychoanalitycy mogą czuć się rozczarowani. Zaletą książki jest możliwość poznania historii zaangażowanych osób "ratujących" Freuda i kontekstu polityczno-historycznego.
Autor próbuje objaśnić kontekst zagadki "jak to możliwe", ze Freud (który nigdy nie zwątpił w popęd śmierci i destrukcyjność człowieka) tak długo łudził się, ze Austria uchroni go przed nazizmem. W hipotezach czy myślach autora dominuje sporo uproszczeń. Co chwila miałam wrażenie, że "Freudowi na ratunek" to streszczenie innych prac na temat Freuda. Autor nie jest też specjalistą od podstaw myślenia psychoanalitycznego. Mało tu badania "nieświadomego"... To książka dla osób z szerokiego kręgu, psychoanalitycy mogą czuć się rozczarowani. Zaletą książki jest możliwość poznania historii zaangażowanych osób "ratujących" Freuda i kontekstu polityczno-historycznego.
January 19, 2025
I knew about Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalysis theories and beliefs—from the Oedipal complex to his dream analysis to his id, ego, and super ego components of the soul. What I did not know about Freud was his thoughts and actions in the years leading up to the Anschluss and how he managed to flee persecution from the Third Reich to London. This is a great historical look at the central figures around Freud who helped in this escape and bring him to safety. Saving Freud very easily could have been renamed the Saviors of Freud as much of the book is focused on the lives of the central actors in “Operation Freud,” which I think was a wise move as they’re just not as well known as Freud himself, but no less important in this pivotal period. Saving Freud is a brisk read packed with detail and ratchets up the stakes and tension throughout expertly.
March 19, 2024
The beginning chapters of this book talk about Freud's early years, his work with psychoanalysis, his marriage and children. Also his youngest daughter, Anna, who followed in his footsteps and the trials and tribulations of enduring World War I. The second part dealt with his later life, his health, and the need to leave Vienna due to the Hitler regime during World War II. During this time, four of his sisters already died in the death camps and, with the help of his dear friend and colleague Ernest Jones, Freud and the rest of his family were able to get to escape to England.
I highly recommend this read to anyone interested in the Freud family. I found it to be very informative and easy to get through in a short amount of time.
I highly recommend this read to anyone interested in the Freud family. I found it to be very informative and easy to get through in a short amount of time.
May 11, 2022
I've always known that Freud went to England from Austria (Vienna) to be precise, but not how he did it. This book gave a list of people who helped him and befriended him before he made this move. Of the people who helped him was Marie Bonaparte, she was the Princess of Greece and Denmark, and lived in Paris. She was a patient and also a person who learned psychoanalysis from Freud. She helped Freud with money and to depart his home with the help of many others bribing the German (Anton Sauerwald). I wanted to read this book because my daughter lives in Vienna and because I have my masters in Clinical Psychology. This book brought everything out in the open for me.
September 28, 2022
Until reading this book, I never thought that Freud was "around" during World War Two---he died the same month the war started in Europe.
Unfortunately, Freud, like so many Jews living in Europe, never really thought he would be a victim of Hitler's rise to power. Good to know he died a free man.
An aside: If Jones pulled his "shit" with all those young girls in this day and age, they would have, hopefully, received vindication.
So many good people tried to help the Jews in Europe. They are all true heroes.
Unfortunately, Freud, like so many Jews living in Europe, never really thought he would be a victim of Hitler's rise to power. Good to know he died a free man.
An aside: If Jones pulled his "shit" with all those young girls in this day and age, they would have, hopefully, received vindication.
So many good people tried to help the Jews in Europe. They are all true heroes.
December 20, 2022
The name we all know but I suspect few including me know much more beyond the oedipus complex.
This is a very potted biography which is fine as a real one runs to volumes. The real fascination is the way that by introducing the characters who ultimately extricate Freud from Vienna and the nazis you get to see what the political changes looked like from close quarters and how the holocaust was unimaginable to many of the victims until too late.
Very interesting parallels between the annexing of Austria and Putin’s narrative over Ukraine.
This is a very potted biography which is fine as a real one runs to volumes. The real fascination is the way that by introducing the characters who ultimately extricate Freud from Vienna and the nazis you get to see what the political changes looked like from close quarters and how the holocaust was unimaginable to many of the victims until too late.
Very interesting parallels between the annexing of Austria and Putin’s narrative over Ukraine.
March 6, 2023
It's quite an achievement to make the story of Freud's escape from Nazi-occupied Austria boring, but Andrew Nagorski has managed it. The three stars are for the idea and the research, but the lacklustre writing made this book a struggle. It's not the sort of book you look forward to picking up again - plodding accounts of Freud's life and career, plodding biographies of the people who rallied round to ensure his escape to the UK, and no real living people leaping off the pages. It's a pity, because the idea is a good one.
September 5, 2022
One of those ideal works of history that manages to pack in enormous amounts of information and insight, as well as numerous biographies...without wasting a single word, or the time of the reader. This is a work I would easily hold up as an archetype of concise, efficient scholarship...and it still manages to offer new and interesting insights into Freud, as well as debunking some common misconceptions. Excellent stuff.
June 23, 2023
Loved this book! There were five people who helped get Freud out of Vienna before the Nazis arrested him: Bill Bullitt, American Ambassador; Max Shore, his doctor; Marie Bonaparte, his friend and princess of Greece; Anna Freud, his daughter; and Ernest Jones, a Welsh doctor and early fan of psychoanalysis. The book told the stories of these five people and also the stories of Freud and his life. I learned so much because the book was so engaging.
December 31, 2023
Three stars because I learned a lot about Sigmund Freud's life and some of his developments in psychoanalysis, but there was also a lot that was just too technically sophisticated since I was unaware of Freud's work before reading this book.
I was unhappy to learn about his personal distance from the practice of Judaism, although he certainly was accepting of his place in Judaism, as was Hitler.
I was unhappy to learn about his personal distance from the practice of Judaism, although he certainly was accepting of his place in Judaism, as was Hitler.
April 23, 2025
Extremely interesting
I found this to an extremely interesting account of both Freud’s life and how he was saved from the Nazis.
More than half the book is dedicated to his life and work, before and aside of, the threat to his life in Vienna, so if you have already read a good biography of Freud, you might feel impatient, waiting for the ‘main story’ to begin. For me, as I’ve always wanted to learn more about him, I found it to be balanced and complete. I recommend it.
I found this to an extremely interesting account of both Freud’s life and how he was saved from the Nazis.
More than half the book is dedicated to his life and work, before and aside of, the threat to his life in Vienna, so if you have already read a good biography of Freud, you might feel impatient, waiting for the ‘main story’ to begin. For me, as I’ve always wanted to learn more about him, I found it to be balanced and complete. I recommend it.
October 17, 2022
Historian Andrew Nagorski tells the fraught tale of the escape of an aged intellectual giant from the Nazis. Freud and his practice of psychiatry and his writings made him a target of the newly elected Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler. He is no longer safe in Vienna. This is the long unknown tale of his escape to London.
October 17, 2022
Historian Andrew Nagorski tells the fraught tale of the escape of an aged intellectual giant from the Nazis. Freud and his practice of psychiatry and his writings made him a target of the newly elected Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler. He is no longer safe in Vienna. This is the long unknown tale of his escape to London.
February 13, 2025
A few fun facts I learned from reading this book: Anna Freud lived with her female partner Dorothy “much like a married couple” for 28 years and Freud’s personal doctor who cared for him in the last years of his life ultimately moved to NYC after Freud died and worked at Bellevue in the department of Syphilology and Dermatology.
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