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Freud and Zionism

Posted by Habibi (Guest) - Tuesday, July 13 2004, 6:45:23 (CEST)
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Edward Said loved Freud, and now I can see why. The following is from the book "Freud: A Life for Our Time" by Peter Gay.

'Freud... watched the development of Zionism with benign interest, but did not become active in the movement. "Zionism," he wrote to J. Dwossis, in Jerusalem, who was translating some of his writings into Hebrew, "has awakened my strongest sympathies, which still attach me to it. From the beginning," he noted, he had been concerned about it, "something the present-day situation seems to justify. I should like to be mistaken about this." (Freud to Dwossis, December 15, 1930) His most sustained comment on Zionism came in a letter to Albert Einstein. Apparently Einstein had asked Freud to make a public statement on the issue, and Freud refused: "Whoever wants to influence a crowd, must have something resounding, enthusiastic to say, and my sober appraisal of Zionism does not permit this." He professed his sympathy for the movement, declared that he was "proud" of "our" University of Jerusalem and took pleasure in the flourishing of "our" settlements. "On the other hand I do not believe that Palestine will ever become a Jewish state, and that the Christian or the Islamic world will ever be prepared to leave their shrines in Jewish hands. It would have seemed more comprehensible to me to found a Jewish fatherland on new, historically unencumbered soil." He was aware, he added, that such a "rational" attitude would never enlist "the enthusiasm of the masses and the resources of the rich." But he regretted to see the "unrealistic fanaticism" of his fellow Jews awakening the suspicions of the Arabs. "I can muster no sympathy whatever for the misguided piety that makes a national religion from a piece of the wall of Herod, and for its sake challenges the feelings of the local natives." (Freud to Einstein, February 26, 1930)'

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