The first training analysis in history occurred in 1908 when a young medical intern underwent five weeks of intensive study to standardize clinical practice.
Clinical Education and Early Practice
Eitingon’s professional trajectory began following his education at Leipzig University, supplemented by studies in Halle, Heidelberg, and Marburg. He gained initial psychiatric experience at the Burghölzli hospital in Zurich under Eugen Bleuler. His 1902 dissertation examined the impact of epileptic attacks on mental associations. After moving to Berlin, he integrated into the city's medical circles and married Mirra Jacovleina Raigorodsky in 1913. During World War I, he served as a doctor for the Austrian army, employing hypnosis to address war-related trauma in soldiers.
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A pivotal figure in organizing the field, Eitingon co-founded the Berlin Psychoanalytic Polyclinic in 1920, serving as its president until 1933. He held significant leadership roles, including the presidency of the International Psychoanalytic Association from 1927 to 1933 and the directorship of the Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag between 1921 and 1930. He famously championed the requirement that all practicing analysts must undergo personal analysis themselves, a mandate formalized within the Polyclinic curriculum to ensure professional standards.
Standardization and Emigration
At the 1925 Bad Homburg Congress, Eitingon successfully proposed the creation of the International Training Commission. As its president from 1925 until his 1943 death, he aimed to establish global standards for psychoanalytic education. Following a cerebral thrombosis in 1932 and the rising influence of Nazism, he relocated to Jerusalem in 1933. There, he founded the Palestine Psychoanalytic Association in 1934 and contributed to the establishment of the Psychoanalytic Institute of Israel, though he remained without a university chair.
Allegations of Intelligence Activity
Historical discourse has periodically linked Eitingon to Soviet intelligence operations, specifically regarding the deaths of Ignace Reiss, General Yevgeny Miller, and Lev Sedov. While historians such as Robert Conquest noted the lack of direct evidence linking him to these murders, suspicions remained due to his family connections with Leonid Eitingon and Nikolai Skoblin. These allegations persist in literature despite the absence of definitive proof regarding his personal involvement in such political activities.
Fast facts
- Born: 1881, Mahilyow
- Died: 1943, Jerusalem
- Education: Leipzig University
- Primary Field: Psychoanalysis
- Citizenships: Soviet Union, Russian Empire, German Reich
- Burial Site: Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery
- Key Role: President of the International Psychoanalytic Association (1927–1933)
Questions readers ask
What was Eitingon's main contribution to psychoanalysis?
He established the requirement that practicing analysts must first undergo their own analysis and founded the International Training Commission to standardize global psychoanalytic education.
Was Max Eitingon involved in Soviet espionage?
Several historians have investigated claims of his involvement in political assassinations, citing his connections to intelligence figures, though no direct proof exists.
Achievements
- Fields: psychoanalysis
