kind of influence in America that he had had in Scandinavia. Still, once again he found the
good news in the bad: “I will have time to work in peace.”
Seen through Bye’s remarks, Reich’s early American weeks convey a kind of “mora-
torium,” some respite before his work momentum was reestablished, which allowed him
time to reflect upon his past, present, and future. The first weeks in America were similar to
his experience at Davos in the winter of 1927. Once again there were scars to heal, this time
from his Norwegian scientific upheavals and his conflicts with Elsa. He took long walks in
what was then the countryside around Forest Hills, where shortly after his arrival, with the
help of Wolfe and the trusty Gertrud Gaasland, he rented a house on Kessel Street. Once
settled in, Reich would be able to pursue his myriad activities within one setting.
Ilse Ollendorff has described the house:
It had a small basement which was used for animal experiments, and a
large room on the first floor which served mainly as Reich’s office but also had to
function as dining room, living room and as accommodation for the seminar [with
his American students] every other week. The regular dining room adjoining the
kitchen was made into a laboratory with microscopes, oscillograph, electroscopes,
and other instruments.The maid’s room on the other side of the kitchen was used
both as office and as preparation room for the laboratory cultures and media. The
two bedrooms on the top floor were shared by Gertrud and the maid, and of the
three small rooms on the second floor one was used as Reich’s bedroom and the
others for psychotherapy^3.The setup of Reich’s home reflected his increasing commitment to laboratory
experimental work. His natural-scientific research, begun in Norway, was to shape the basic
design of his life in America. It also shaped his new relationship with Ilse Ollendorff. In the
beginning of October that year, Reich met Ilse through their mutual friend, Gertrud
Gaasland.In Germany in the early 1930s Ilse had been involved in the small Socialist
Workers Party; then she had emigrated to Paris, where she met Gertrud and Gertrud’s lover
ofthat time,Willi Brandt.* All three were members of the leftist party in exile^4.
When Gertrud and Ilse renewed their friendship in the United States, their com-
mon interest soon became Reich and his work. Gertrud in her enthusiasm about both urged
Ilse to meet Reich. In Ilse’s words: “I met Reich briefly and was very impressed by him, even
a bit awed. He was a striking figure with his grey hair, ruddy complexion, and white coat.”^5
At the time oftheir meeting, Ilse was divorced and not deeply involved with any
20 : Getting Settled in America: 1939-1941 247
*Brandt,whose major residence after Hitler’s coming to power was in Norway, had some contact with Reich in
the late 1930s, when he was a volunteer subject in one of Reich’s bio-electrical experiments. From Spain, Brandt
wrote Reich a letter about the political situation, including some comments regarding the poor status of women in
the Loyalist Army, but their relationship was never a close one, personally or intellectually. Shortly before Reich left
Norway, he wrote Gertrud that he had recently seen Brandt. The two men had good contact. However, Reich felt
that Brandt did not grasp the biological essence of his work.