15 : Personal Life: 1930-1934The Berlin years proved unhappy ones for Reich’s family life. The marriage between
Annie and Willy, already deteriorating in Vienna, became worse in Berlin. Eva remembers
“big, noisy fights” between her parents^1. Even in good times the parents were very busy
and the children always had to be quiet in the apartment while the Reichs saw patients. (The
combination of living and office quarters, begun in Vienna, was carried on in Berlin.)
Annie continued to participate in many of Reich’s endeavors, if without any great
enthusiasm. The income from her private practice enabled Reich to spend more time in writ-
ing and political activity than might otherwise have been possible.
Reich involved not only his wife but also his children in his concerns. His older
daughter Eva,who was between six and nine during the Berlin years, recalls how her father
used to urge her to join in the Communist marches, something she was reluctant to do. Once
when she was marching with a children’s group, shouting in unison: “Hunger! hunger! Give
us bread,” a passer-by noticed her and pinched her plump cheeks, saying, “You are not hun-
gry!” And it was true, she thought, I am not hungry, I am lying^2. As often happened with
Reich, he tried but failed to impose on others the enthusiasm he felt for a cause. In this
instance, his enthusiasm backfired completely, leaving Eva with a lasting distaste for politics.
A more serious family dispute concerned the children’s education. At one point
during the Berlin years, Reich felt strongly that they should be brought up in a Communist
children’s collective.He may also have felt this was important because Eva was suffering
from certain symptoms—night terrors, temper tantrums, and obsessive ideas. A collective
education would ameliorate the intensity of the Oedipus complex, he believed. Annie
opposed the idea but eventually gave in to pressure. So the children went to live at the col-
lective; for how long is not clear, but at least one summer and for some months during the
regular school year^3.
Eva recalls her father visiting the center. All the children were very excited about
his new car. Time was limited and he could not take all of them for a ride in it, so he divid-
ed the group in half and flipped a coin to see which children would be given a ride. Eva was
not in the half that won, and she naturally felt very badly. As an adult she understands her
father’s thinking —he loved all children, it was a collective, fair was fair; but at the time it
was hard.
Both children disliked the residential center—the poor food, the dirty living condi-
tions.Lore, who was only around four at the time, left earlier than Eva. But Eva did not stay
long.On a visit to her parents she walked around the apartment and argued that there was
184 Myron SharafFury On Earth