New evidence reveals that Sigmund Freud documented his belief in the central role of sex by his own behavior. A Swiss hotel register shows that he signed in with his wife’s sister as “Dr Sigm Freud u frau,” the German abbreviation for “Dr. Sigmund Freud and wife.” While an affair with the sister, known as “the Minna matter,” as opposed to his wife, the Martha matter, has long been the subject of conjecture, the hotel record seems to confirm that he did enjoy a sexual dalliance with the other lady Bernays. Of course, since the days of the ancient Greeks, the greatest proof a philosopher can provide for beliefs is to live them. But Freud was drawn to an especially touchy topic, and the psychiatric community, apparently still harboring its own variety of repressions, is largely unwilling to grant Freud his indulgence, even though at the time he was a relatively young practitioner of 42 and she was 33. “Psychoanalysis has invested a great deal in a certain idealized image of Freud,” commented Dr. Peter L. Rudnytsky, a psychiatrist who is a professor of English at the University of Florida. “Freud dealt with issues considered suspect – sexuality – things that made people uncomfortable, so Freud himself had to be a figure of impeccable integrity.” He did go on to say, “Things that happen in people’s intimate lives are important. It’s very Freudian.” On a more sympathetic note, Peter Gay, a Freud biographer and traditional skeptic on the Minna matter, said that he is now inclined to revise his work. Referring to the hotel log, he said, “It makes it very possible that they slept together…. It doesn’t make him or psychoanalysis more or less correct.” Of course, all would have been to the greater glory of Freud as an impeccable icon if he had been married to her instead of to her sister. Yet would such behavior have gone as far to confirm the central role of sex? We understand Minna always felt guilty about the matter. But we also can’t help wondering if the good doctor and frau had an good, unrepressed time.
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