Wilhelm Reich's self‐censorship after his arrest as an enemy alien: The chilling effect of an illegal imprisonment

Abstract

After discussing Wilhelm Reich's place in psychoanalysis, the article explores his arrest as an ‘enemy alien’ in December 1941. Reich's emotional responses to his imprisonment (which was illegal and which lasted nearly a month) are explored. A number of scholars have suggested that many European radical psychoanalysts refrained from sharing their former political ideas once they emigrated to the United States. Following a brief discussion of this pattern of ‘silencing,’ it is argued that Reich's withholding certain documents from publication was due to a self‐imposed censorship, motivated in part by the fear of further governmental interference with his life and work. This fear, however, did not extend to his discussion of his newly developed theory of orgone energy.

Translations of summary

Wilhelm Reichs Selbstzensur nach seiner Inhaftierung als feindlicher Ausländer: die abschreckende Wirkung einer gesetzwidrigen Gefangenschaft

Nach einer Diskussion von Wilhelm Reichs Platz in der Psychoanalyse untersucht der Aufsatz Reichs Inhaftierung als „feindlicher Ausländer” im Dezember 1941. Reichs emotionale Reaktion auf seine Gefangenschaft (die gesetzwidrig war und sich über fast einen Monat erstreckte) wird hier untersucht. Eine Reihe von Wissenschaftlern hat die Vermutung geäußert, dass viele radikale Psychoanalytiker darauf verzichtet haben, ihre früheren politischen Vorstellungen mitzuteilen, nachdem sie in die Vereinigten Staaten emigriert waren. Nach einer kurzen Diskussion dieses Verhaltensmusters des Verstummens wird argumentiert, dass Reich aufgrund einer selbstauferlegten Zensur bestimmte Dokumente von der Veröffentlichung zurückhielt. Dies war teilweise in seiner Angst vor weiterer staatlicher Einmischung in sein Leben und seine Arbeit begründet. Diese Angst erstreckte sich jedoch nicht auf seine neu entwickelte Theorie über die Orgonenergie.

La autocensura de Wilhelm Reich luego de su arresto como extranjero enemigo. El efecto desalentador de un encarcelamiento ilegal

Luego de examinar el lugar de Wilhelm Reich en el psicoanálisis, el artículo explora su arresto como ‘enemigo extranjero’ en diciembre de 1941, analizando la reacción emocional de Reich a su encarcelamiento (que fue ilegal y duró casi un mes). Varios estudiosos han sugerido que una vez instalados en Estados Unidos, muchos psicoanalistas europeos radicales se abstuvieron de comunicar sus ideas políticas anteriores a su emigración. Luego de un breve análisis de este patrón de ‘silenciamiento’, el autor arguye que Reich se negó a publicar ciertos documentos debido a una censura autoimpuesta que fue motivada, en parte, por el miedo de que el gobierno volviera a interferir con su vida y su trabajo. Sin embargo, este miedo no se extendió al desarrollo de su nueva teoría de la energía orgónica.

L'auto‐censure de Wilhelm Reich après son arrestation en tant qu'ennemi étranger. L'effet de glaciation d'un emprisonnement illégal

Après avoir discuté la place de Wilhem Reich dans la psychanalyse, cet article détaille son arrestation en tant qu' « ennemi étranger » en décembre 1941. Les réactions émotionnelles de Reich à son emprisonnement (illégal et qui dura presque un mois) sont explorées. Certains chercheurs qui ont étudié en profondeur cette question ont suggéré que de nombreux psychanalystes radicaux européens se sont retenus de partager leurs idées politiques d'avant l'émigration aux USA. Après une brève discussion sur cet échantillon d' « auto‐mise au silence », l'auteur soutiendra l'idée que le fait que Reich se soit retenu de publier certains documents a été lié à une auto‐censure motivée, en partie, par la crainte d'une ingérence gouvernementale supplémentaire dans sa vie et dans son oeuvre. Cette crainte, cependant, ne s'étendit pas jusqu'à la discussion de sa théorie, nouvellement développée, de l'énergie de l'orgone.

L'autocensura di Wilhelm Reich dopo il suo arresto come nemico straniero: L'effetto dissuadente di un imprigionamento illegale

Dopo aver discusso l'impatto di Wilhelm Reich nel mondo della psicoanalisi, il lavoro prende in considerazione il suo arresto come ‘nemico straniero’, nel dicembre del 1941. Viene esplorato l'effetto emotivo che questo imprigionamento illegale, durato quasi un mese, potrebbe aver avuto su Reich. Diversi studiosi sostengono che molti psicoanalisti radicali europei, una volta emigrati negli Stati Uniti, abbiano cercato di nascondere le proprie idee politiche. Dopo una breve discussione su questa tendenza al ‘silenzio’ si avanza l'ipotesi che il fatto che Reich abbia sottratto certi suoi lavori alla pubblicazione sia dovuto a una censura che lui stesso si sarebbe imposto. Censura dovuta in parte al timore di ulteriori interferenze governative nel suo lavoro. Questo timore non gli impedì, tuttavia, di divulagare più tardi la sua teoria dell'energia orgonica.

Key words:

• Wilhelm Reich
• psychoanalysis
• self‐censorship
• Immigration and Naturalization Services
• enemy alien
• orgone energy

Acknowledgements

For careful proof‐reading, I wish to thank Prof. Wendy R. Kohli of Fairfield University; she also provided essential personal support. Dr. Jonathan Koblenzer, a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City, read the section on Reich as psychoanalyst, provided helpful suggestions, and offered his translations of the letters from Freud to Reich quoted in the text. Personal communication with Håvard Friis Nilsen of Oslo on Reich's work in that city is deeply appreciated. My research assistant, Jan Claas van Treeck, a PhD candidate in German at Yale University, provided helpful translations, especially of the recently published book by Andreas Peglau of Berlin. Peglau's book and personal communications have informed much of my research on Reich's psychoanalytic activities and political travails, especially before Reich's immigration. I am deeply indebted to him for his friendship and scholarly collaboration.

Notes

1. An English translation can be found in (Reich, 1975).

2. This Funktion is very different from the popular Function of the Orgasm, first published in 1942 (Reich, 1942[1973]). The 1927 Funktion, with revisions made by Reich between 1937 and 1945, has been published in English as Genitality – in the Theory and Therapy of Neurosis (Reich, 1980), in an effort to avoid confusion between the two texts.

3. Here and elsewhere I am relying upon the very careful and thorough online bibliography of Reich's work, maintained by Peter Nasselstein of Hamburg, Germany, which I recommend as an invaluable resource for Reich scholars. Available from: http://www.orgonomie.net/hdobiblio.htm#1927 (accessed 2 Aug. 2012). Though less complete, it is also illuminating to explore Reich's own bibliography (Reich, 1953).

4. For a sample, see O. Spurgeon English's (1977) description of his analysis with Reich.

5. The letter (and the next to be quoted) are from Reich's Archives, the Archives of the Orgone Institute, housed in the Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard University, as reproduced in Johler, 2008, pp. 32–3, 38). The translations are generously provided by Dr. Jonathan Koblenzer, via personal correspondence, dated 11 December 2012.

6. I am indebted to Dr. Koblenzer for clarification on this point.

7. Reich's initial statement that he joined the Party in 1927 in the manuscript, Menschen im Staat, written in 1936–37, was edited by him in 1944–45, and again later in 1952. What was initially the simple statement that a Communist physician enrolled him in the Party was modified to say that he allowed himself to be enrolled in Arbeiterhilfe [Workers' Help], a ‘front’ group not all of whose members belonged to the Party. I would suggest that this modification is an instance of the kind of censorship or the ‘rewriting of history’ motivated at least in part by fear of the US government discussed at length below.

8. A section of this pamphlet was printed in the Almanach der Psychoanalyse for the year 1930, distributed in September or October, 1929 (Peglau, 2013, fn 56, p. 41).

9. His various speeches in the spring of 1930 are recorded in the Austrian Rote Fahne, the organ of Communist Party: Rote Fahne, 1, 7 March, and 16 April (Fallend, 1988, pp. 191–2). In the Rote Fahne, 19 October 1930, under the headline ‘The struggle against Fascism,’ there appeared a list of Party candidates for the parliament, including “Dr. Wilhelm Reich, physician” running to represent the 7th district in Vienna.

10. Andreas Peglau (2013, p. 281) has noted that this is not the full sentence, and that Waelder's complete statement is somewhat less definitive, but the important point is how Reich interpreted this remark, not if Jacoby's use of it is completely fair to Waelder.

11. It should be noted that by ‘denaturalization’ I am not referring to the loss of citizenship: all German Jews were denied citizenship by the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, but they remained German subjects (Koessler, 1946, p. 65; Lipstadt, 1986.

12. In addition to arranging for Reich's emigration, Wolfe was Reich's first English translator and beginning in 1942 the editor of Reich's first English language journal, the International Journal of Sex‐Economy and Orgone Research.

13. The final volume in this series, Where's the Truth?, covering the years 1948–1957, has recently been published (Reich, 2012).

14. This document is the single longest one in Reich's voluminous FBI file; it runs to 16 pages and is dated 24 December 1941. It originated with the FBI's New York Field Office and was sent to the Washington headquarters of the FBI and to the Immigration office at Ellis Island.

15. The material seized was returned to Reich with an apology by the FBI agent in charge of his case in February 1942 (Reich, 1999, p. 140).

16. Both Reich and Rocker were in Berlin at the same time, but I have not found any evidence that the two knew each other.

17. There are two undated English translations of Weitere Probleme in Reich's archive, P/T, Box 11. A more recent translation has been published serially in the Journal of Orgonomy, beginning with Vol. 21, No. 2, November 1987 through Vol. 24, No. 2, November 1990.

18. The student laboratory is now a conference center; today Orgonon includes a museum devoted to Reich's work: for more, see: http://www.wilhelmreichtrust.org/

19. While Reich often referred to the two pamphlets collectively as ‘Work Democracy,’ the context would suggest that this is a reference to Further Problems; recall that Neill had received a translation of The Natural Organization of Work in 1939.

20. Reich explicitly noted the need for this kind of ‘flexibility’ in a journal entry written some time later. In June 1948, Reich wrote out guidelines for surviving in what he saw as an insane world. He listed six points, the last one of which reads: “Never yield to the expediencies of life except where it is basically harmless or where the main line of development is not impeded for the duration of one's life” (Reich, 2012, p. 13; journal entry dated 7 June 1948).

21. Though the index to Reich's archives is not a finished product, there is no manuscript listed entitled Natural Work Democracy. For the index see: http://www.wilhelmreichtrust.org/archive_index.pdf (accessed 14 December 2012).