In the previous chapter Reich’s break with the psychoanalytic organization was dis-
cussed largely in terms of the scientific disagreements and the “opposition movement.”
Here it is important to emphasize how bitter was Reich’s personal disappointment that so
few colleagues and friends supported him at the Lucerne showdown. Once theanalyst rec-
ommended to many American students, he had plummeted to one with hardly any backing
as he faced exclusion.
The older analysts were either for his exclusion or quite willing to go along with
those who sought this step. However, next to the rejection by Freud, the worst blow for
Reich was the passivity on the part of the younger group of analysts, many of them his
friends. Grete Bibring felt that she should remove herself from the dispute precisely on the
grounds that, as a friend of Reich, she was insufficiently neutral^30. Edith Jacobson, who
shared so much with Reich in Berlin, felt that she was too young an analyst to carry any
weight in the proceedings^31. I have little information about what Fenichers precise actions
at Lucerne were. According to Reich, Fenichel submitted a “lame resolution” at the business
meeting, most probably on behalf of Reich since it was quickly tabled^32. Only Nic Hoel
made a spirited speech in Reich’s defense.
After Reich’s exclusion, Anna Freud reportedly said: “A great injustice has been
done here.”^33 But she herself took no steps to prevent its passage. (A few years later, when
someone asked for her opinion of Reich, she was to say: “A genius or ... ,” her pause indi-
cating that the concluding word was “madman.”)*^34
With the exception of the Scandinavian group and all the members of this group—
were new friends,not old ones—there was no one who came to Reich’s aid when he most
needed it,after the many years of comradeship and recognition in Vienna and Berlin. It is
not surprising that he later spoke of this lack of support as “the hardest blow of my scien-
tific career”(and this was said in 1945 when,from other perspectives, far more dangerous
events had occurred)^35.
After the Congress, Reich and Elsa left for Oslo. The children returned to their
grandparents in Vienna. Annie went back to Prague, where she lived with Thomas
Rubinstein, a former official in Alexander Kerensky’s short-lived 1917 Russian government,
whom she would later marry.A dour,compulsive man, he was disliked by Eva and Lore, in
part because he worked at home on research and insisted on quiet and perfect order. Willy
and he loathed one another, Thomas referring to Reich as “the skunk.”^36 Annie appears to
have chosen a second husband who was the opposite ofReich save in his capacity to hate.
It is difficult to tell how Annie felt about Reich’s exclusion from the analytic organ-
ization at the time. There were fights and tensions between them at Lucerne. Not long after
the Congress, Annie would say that Willy could only tolerate close relations with people who
15 : Personal Life: 1930-1934 193
*Reich may well have been especially disappointed over Anna Freud’s lack of support for him at Lucerne. I recall
his pleasure when he mentioned several times in the 1950s that during the twenties she had once sent him a post-
card in which she described him as a spintus rector (“inspiring teacher”).