Glückel von Hameln: Bertha Pappenheim's Idealized Ancestor

In recent years, various writers have rekindled interest in the life and fate of Bertha Pappenheim, one of the most famous patients in history. Little was known of her by the analytic community until Jones (1953) revealed that the Anna O. of Breuer was Bertha Pappenheim, the well-known pioneer of the European women's liberation movement. As part of an ongoing research of the Breuer-Freud-Pappenheim relationship (Pollock, 1968), I became interested in two figures idealized by Miss Pappenheim. One was her ancestress, Glückel von Hameln, the subject of this report. The other, to be discussed in a later study, is Mary Wollstonecraft—the famous writer and fighter for the rights of helpless women and men. Both of these esteemed figures were independent women whose courage Bertha Pappenheim admired and whose major works she translated and published. It is my thesis that Bertha Pappenheim identified with each of these women, but for different reasons. Bertha Pappenheim seemingly had the capacity for significant identifications which could be modified or transformed. Glückel of Hameln, who lived in seventeenth and eighteenth century Germany, was an effective mother, devoted wife, successful business woman, pious Jewess, and inspired humanitarian. Glückel's memoirs were translated into German by Bertha Pappenheim over sixty years ago. Bertha seemingly utilized Glückel as a model for her own work with young people, and as an identification figure that assisted in the consolidation of her feminine self.

Bertha Pappenheim began her social work career in 1895, the year that her history appeared.1 During her treatment,